Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients have waited more than 21 days for a GP practice appointment in (a) rural and (b) urban areas in 2025.

NHS England publishes monthly data on general practice appointments (GPAD), including the approximate length of time between appointments being booked and taking place, although this is not a proxy for “waiting times”. There are a number of factors which can influence the timing of appointments, and it is not possible to estimate the time between the patient’s first attempt to contact their surgery and an appointment.

In England, in September 2024, 44.1% of appointments took place on the same day as they were booked, and 81.8% took place within two weeks of booking, 88.8% within 21 days, and 10.8% occurred after more than 21 days. NHS England does not include information on rurality in this publication.

In our newly published Medium-Term Planning Framework we have set an ambitious new target to deliver all urgent appointments on the same day, helping to ensure the patients who need urgent care will be prioritised.