Appointments in General Practice data for September 2026, published 29 October 2026 · Page updated 1 November 2026
GP appointment waiting times in England
In September 2026, 45.0% of 34.13 million GP practice appointments in England took place on the day they were booked, 68.7% within a week and 80.8% within two weeks. 6.3% were booked more than 28 days ahead. This measures booking to appointment, not first contact.
The figures come from GP practice appointment systems. They count the time from when an appointment was booked to when it took place, so an appointment booked weeks ahead on purpose, such as a planned review, counts as a long wait. They do not show how long it took to get through to the practice.
How long do people wait for a GP appointment?
| Time from booking | Appointments | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Same Day | 15,358,891 | 45.0% |
| 1 Day | 2,489,596 | 7.3% |
| 2 to 7 Days | 5,609,935 | 16.4% |
| 8 to 14 Days | 4,106,560 | 12.0% |
| 15 to 21 Days | 2,574,514 | 7.5% |
| 22 to 28 Days | 1,833,734 | 5.4% |
| More than 28 Days | 2,134,073 | 6.3% |
| Unknown / Data Quality | 26,781 | 0.1% |
What share of GP appointments are face to face or with a GP?
59.9% of appointments were face to face, and 45.2% were with a GP (the rest were with nurses and other practice staff). 89.4% were attended and 4.2% were missed (“did not attend”).
Are GP waits getting longer or shorter?
| Month | Appointments | Same day | Within 14 days | Over 28 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 34,134,084 | 45.0% | 80.8% | 6.3% |
| August 2026 | 28,856,228 | 45.0% | 81.6% | 5.6% |
| July 2026 | 33,935,575 | 44.7% | 82.0% | 5.4% |
| June 2026 | 33,846,799 | 45.0% | 81.7% | 5.3% |
| May 2026 | 29,066,449 | 45.0% | 81.7% | 5.2% |
| April 2026 | 31,031,051 | 44.6% | 80.9% | 6.3% |
| March 2026 | 33,999,075 | 44.8% | 82.4% | 5.0% |
| February 2026 | 30,866,993 | 44.4% | 83.1% | 4.3% |
| January 2026 | 32,767,727 | 45.1% | 82.7% | 6.0% |
| December 2025 | 30,870,403 | 46.0% | 82.8% | 4.9% |
| November 2025 | 31,147,910 | 43.1% | 81.2% | 5.7% |
| October 2025 | 39,343,847 | 38.7% | 75.1% | 10.4% |
How do GP appointment waits vary by area?
By integrated care board (ICB), the NHS body that plans services for an area, grouped by region.
| ICB | Region | Appointments | Same day | Within 14 days | Over 28 days | Face to face |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHS North East London Integrated Care Board | London | 1,170,509 | 46.4% | 89.6% | 2.2% | 56.5% |
| NHS South East London Integrated Care Board | London | 867,761 | 45.0% | 86.7% | 2.8% | 51.7% |
| NHS South West London Integrated Care Board | London | 800,206 | 45.8% | 85.2% | 3.7% | 56.2% |
| NHS West and North London Integrated Care Board | London | 2,306,917 | 48.2% | 88.2% | 2.6% | 58.5% |
| NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board | South East | 1,187,668 | 42.9% | 77.8% | 7.1% | 54.6% |
| NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board | South East | 994,904 | 40.1% | 77.4% | 7.5% | 59.4% |
| NHS Surrey and Sussex Integrated Care Board | South East | 1,736,566 | 45.7% | 78.3% | 7.6% | 55.8% |
| NHS Thames Valley Integrated Care Board | South East | 1,192,497 | 45.0% | 81.5% | 5.1% | 57.3% |
| NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board | South West | 596,078 | 40.1% | 74.0% | 8.8% | 60.5% |
| NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board | South West | 524,245 | 37.0% | 76.5% | 6.0% | 62.3% |
| NHS Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board | South West | 400,925 | 45.0% | 77.2% | 8.2% | 55.8% |
| NHS Devon Integrated Care Board | South West | 846,451 | 45.3% | 79.6% | 6.9% | 52.2% |
| NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board | South West | 535,206 | 43.4% | 73.4% | 11.2% | 59.6% |
| NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board | South West | 428,306 | 41.5% | 72.0% | 12.4% | 61.2% |
| NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board | South West | 323,174 | 40.8% | 76.2% | 8.2% | 62.8% |
| NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 912,732 | 50.8% | 87.5% | 3.7% | 59.5% |
| NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 784,004 | 51.5% | 86.7% | 4.2% | 61.0% |
| NHS Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 570,341 | 53.3% | 88.6% | 2.8% | 52.4% |
| NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 622,089 | 39.3% | 74.9% | 10.5% | 65.1% |
| NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 494,884 | 44.5% | 78.8% | 6.5% | 59.8% |
| NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 726,627 | 40.4% | 75.8% | 8.0% | 68.6% |
| NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 523,889 | 44.5% | 76.4% | 8.6% | 59.9% |
| NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 477,524 | 45.6% | 81.3% | 5.9% | 56.1% |
| NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 761,766 | 45.2% | 76.5% | 9.4% | 60.5% |
| NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 284,132 | 48.3% | 82.4% | 5.1% | 60.6% |
| NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board | Midlands | 613,077 | 48.0% | 84.3% | 4.2% | 63.2% |
| NHS Central East Integrated Care Board | East of England | 1,950,038 | 47.6% | 81.3% | 6.4% | 58.6% |
| NHS Essex Integrated Care Board | East of England | 1,025,765 | 45.3% | 81.5% | 5.2% | 66.0% |
| NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board | East of England | 1,077,198 | 41.4% | 73.7% | 9.9% | 65.6% |
| NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board | North West | 1,460,278 | 48.0% | 83.2% | 4.7% | 57.1% |
| NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board | North West | 1,533,138 | 44.2% | 81.9% | 5.4% | 63.3% |
| NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board | North West | 928,623 | 42.0% | 79.3% | 6.4% | 66.8% |
| NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board | North East and Yorkshire | 1,053,692 | 42.4% | 78.4% | 7.3% | 60.7% |
| NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board | North East and Yorkshire | 1,869,877 | 41.9% | 77.9% | 7.4% | 65.0% |
| NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board | North East and Yorkshire | 900,076 | 45.8% | 78.6% | 8.2% | 61.8% |
| NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board | North East and Yorkshire | 1,652,921 | 46.1% | 80.1% | 7.3% | 62.8% |
Download as CSV. ICB figures cover practice appointment systems only.
What can I do if I cannot get a GP appointment?
You can contact your practice by phone, online or in person, and ask about appointments with other staff such as pharmacists or nurses. For urgent problems when the practice is closed, use NHS 111. If you are unhappy with access to your practice, you can raise it with the practice manager or your integrated care board.
Not medical advice. If your symptoms change or get worse while you wait, contact your GP or the team treating you. If it is not an emergency, NHS 111 online or calling 111 can tell you where to go, including urgent treatment centres, which often have shorter waits. Call 999 or go to A&E for life-threatening emergencies such as chest pain, difficulty breathing, severe bleeding or signs of a stroke.
Frequently asked questions
Does “same day” mean I got through on the day I called?
No. It means the appointment happened on the day it was booked. The statistics do not record how long it took to contact the practice.
Why are some appointments booked more than 28 days ahead?
Some are planned in advance on purpose, such as reviews of long-term conditions or vaccinations, so a long gap is not always a delay.
Are these figures for my practice?
This page shows England and ICB totals. NHS England also publishes practice-level data.
Do they include Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?
No. These are NHS England statistics for England only.
How should I cite these figures?
Waiting Times UK, “GP appointment waiting times in England”, NHS England Appointments in General Practice, September 2026, https://waitingtimesuk.co.uk/waiting-times/gp-appointments (accessed [date]). Where possible, cite the official publisher too.
Who wrote this page and where do the figures come from?
Written and maintained by the Waiting Times UK editorial team at Oaknest Media Ltd, an independent publisher that is not part of the NHS. Every figure is taken from an official publication, shown with its date, and linked below; where we add up or compare figures ourselves we say so. This page has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not medical advice. Page last updated 1 November 2026, from the data files named below. Figures change when the publisher releases new data.
Appointments recorded in GP practice appointment books (practice systems only; PCN appointment systems are not included in the ICB breakdown). Time is from booking to appointment date, not from first contact.
- NHS England: Appointments in General Practice, September 2026 (published 29 October 2026)
Official statistics are reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See data sources and methods and about Waiting Times UK.
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