UK fares worse than RWANDA for GP access: Just one in three Brits ‘can get an appointment within 24 hours’

Patients in the UK face some of the longest waits in the world to see a GP, and even those in Rwanda are seen faster, a study reveals.

Only one in three people in the UK (35 per cent) say they can get an appointment with their GP within 24 hours.

This compares to a global average of two in three (67 percent) in the 40 countries included in The Economist’s Health Inclusivity Index.

Only French (34 percent) and Canadian (31 percent) patients faced longer waits than British patients, while those from Turkey (88 percent) and Rwanda (87 percent) reported the quickest access.

Almost one in five patients in the UK (17 per cent) say they have to wait more than a week to see their GP, more than double the global figure of 7 per cent.

Overall, Britain came first in the rankings when evaluating health services offered and inclusive policies, but fell to third place after taking into account patients’ real-life experience.

Less than a quarter of people in the UK (23 per cent) said they can access dental services within 24 hours, compared to 56 per cent globally.

And only 24 per cent of people in the UK said they can access sexual health services within this timeframe, compared to 51 per cent globally.

Overall, 63 per cent of people in the UK said they experience barriers to healthcare inclusion, such as lack of available appointments, inconvenient hours, distance and cost of travel.

However, only 9 percent say they have been denied access to services, compared to 19 percent globally, according to the survey of 42,000 people.

Australia topped the overall table and Sweden came in second, after taking patient experience into account.

Jonathan Birdwell, global head of policy and ideas at Economist Impact, the consulting arm of Economist magazine, said: ‘Measuring a country’s ability to provide quality healthcare involves assessing its policy but also the ability of its population to use your health care services.

‘That’s why we’re pleased to add these indicators of lived experiences to Economist Impact’s Health Inclusivity Index.

“The results from this phase of the Index show that high-income countries still have many improvements to make if they want to effectively translate their policies into actions.”

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, President of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘GPs and our teams share our patients’ frustrations when they have to wait too long to access our care and services.

‘This is the result of years of underfunding in general practice, where the vast majority of NHS patient care is carried out, and poor workforce planning, meaning we are increasingly providing care with less.

“In September, GP teams offered more than 32 million appointments, almost 5 million more than in the same month in 2019, but with 827 GPs less qualified and full-time.”

The study also found that British patients had a lot of confidence in the health information provided to them, especially through the NHS website.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “It is vital that the public can access primary care services when needed and we are making it easier for patients to see and contact their GP, with 29 more appointments in each GP practice, by year.day, compared to 2019.

“To help beat the 8am rush, we are investing £240 million to support practices to adopt the latest technology and, through measures like this, the government has recruited more than 2,000 additional doctors and 31,000 more staff than in 2019.

“We are also moving forward to boost NHS dental services – compared to the previous year, 1.7 million more adults and 800,000 more children receive NHS dental care in England.”

A spokesperson for NHS England said: ‘NHS GPs and their teams are working flat out for patients offering a record number of appointments.

‘Patients benefit from half a million more appointments each week compared to before the pandemic, with 40 per cent of appointments taking place on the same day.

“Easier access to GPs and their teams is a priority for the NHS; therefore, to offer even more appointments, we have recruited an additional 31,000 staff to GP teams since 2019, meeting our targets in advance”.