Sheffield GP appointments: Waits to see family doctors in Sheffield among longest in UK, claims law firm

But NHS officials in the city do not recognise the figures, and say over 40 per cent of city patients see the doctor the same day they got in touch,

Legal firm Slater and Gordon say they spoke to 2,000 people across the UK to find out how long they have to wait to see their GP and if it’s within the Government target of two weeks.

The survey found the average wait time to see a GP in the UK was 2.35 weeks, and the organisers described the Sheffield figure of 2.44 weeks as sixth longest of the major UK cities where they conducted the survey.

They said they found 36 per cent of people in Sheffield said they don’t bother trying to get in touch with their GP anymore, and one in five in Sheffield (18 per cent) had considered going private.

The figures in the survey for waiting times were Belfast 3.33 weeks, Bristol 2.69 weeks, London 2.63 weeks, Southampton - 2.60 weeks, Norwich 2.47 weeks, Sheffield 2.44 weeks, Newcastle 2.39 weeks, Leeds 2.31 weeks, Birmingham 2.25 weeks, Liverpool 2.24 weeks, Edinburgh 2.19 weeks, Nottingham 2.13 weeks, Manchester 2.10 weeks, Cardiff 1.89 weeks, Brighton 1.79 weeks, Plymouth 1.71 weeks, Glasgow 1.66 weeks.

Emma Doughty, head of clinical negligence at Slater and Gordon, said: “Whilst struggling to get a GP appointment isn’t necessarily negligent, delayed appointments leading to delayed referral and diagnosis can have serious implications for patients. If, for example, cancer was suspected and the appointment was delayed, it could spread and consequently the prognosis may differ than if the patient had been seen and referred swiftly.” She said her firm had created an ‘advocacy hub’ with downloadable template letters to share with healthcare providers reporting poor levels of care.

Dr Ben Allen, Sheffield GP and clinical director for primary care at NHS South Yorkshire (Sheffield) said NHS South Yorkshire worked within the official NHS England and NHS Digital data for primary care and do not recognise the data used published by Slater and Gordon.

He said: “Appointments in general practice are collected on a monthly basis and the most recent data shows that of the 258,557 appointments in April 2023 just over 40 per cent of those appointments took place on the day the appointment was booked while 62 per cent were within seven days of booking.

“The last GP Patient Survey conducted nationally in England in 2022 of over two million people also found that 74 per cent of patients in Sheffield surveyed were satisfied with the appointment they were offered compared with the England average of 72 per cent.

“We do know that, as in the rest of the country, Sheffield’s GP practices have faced unprecedented increases in demand over the last few years which has increased pressure on many practices. Practices prioritise their appointments based on their assessment of clinical need which means that those who need an appointment are offered one as soon as possible. GP surgeries are busy but I’d like to be clear that practices prioritise anyone with urgent health needs and people who need to be seen will be.”