Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time was for a GP appointment in (a) Bristol East, (b) Bristol and (c) the UK in each of the last five years.

Information on the average waiting time for general practitioner (GP) appointments at local and national level is not collected or held centrally.

The GP Patient Survey, published by NHS England, asks respondents how long it took for them to see a GP or a nurse after contacting their practice. The full set of survey releases can be found here:

https://gp-patient.co.uk/surveys-and-reports

The Government is committed to improving access to general practice. By 2020, everyone will have access to routine evening and weekend appointments. In Bristol there are a number of initiatives in place to increase GP access. For example, network practices, such as One Care Consortium, are currently offering extra pre-bookable GP appointments on weekends and bank holidays.