More than 51million GP appointments lasted five minutes or less last year as patients were ‘rushed’ out the door, official figures suggest.
Patients are typically offered ten-minute consultations but more than one in six (17.2 per cent) were ended after less than half that time.
Campaigners warn doctors who cut visits short risk missing symptoms and storing up more serious problems for the future.
The House of Commons Library analysed NHS data on the duration of in-person and remote GP consultations from March 2022, when the figures were first published, to February 2023.
It reveals that the proportion of consultations lasting between one and five minutes in England ranged from 16 per cent this February to almost 21 per cent last October.
Patients are typically offered ten-minute consultations but more than one in six (17.2 per cent) were ended after less than half that time (stock)
Regional variations were also seen around the country, with patients in some areas more than twice as likely to have a short consultation than others.
The Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the study, said the Government’s failure to recruit more GPs has meant patients are ‘waiting for weeks to get an appointment only to be rushed through in a matter of minutes’.
West Suffolk, home to former Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s constituency, had the highest proportion of short GP appointments than anywhere in the country with 21.8 per cent lasting five minutes or less.
Other areas with the highest percentage of short appointments were West Leicestershire (20.9 per cent), Ipswich and East Suffolk (20.9 per cent), and North East Lincolnshire (20.4 per cent).
This contrasts with Fylde and Wyre in Lancashire, where just one in ten (10.4 per cent) GP appointments were shorter than five minutes.
Research has previously found that Britain has some of the shortest average GP appointments among similarly wealthy countries around the world.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which campaigns for elderly people, said: ‘Shortening appointment times because of the pressure on GPs is a surefire way of missing hidden symptoms.
‘GP practices commonly allocate 10 minutes per appointment, to provide time for GPs to explore the general physical and mental well-being of the patient and not just the presenting symptoms.
‘Perhaps some patients do go on a bit when they get a rare chance to see their GP, but a revolving door policy can never be appropriate for older patients with multiple conditions.
‘Cutting corners with patients stores up more acute problems for the future.’
The new analysis marks the first time that an annual figure has been put on the number of short appointments and produced a regional breakdown.
The Royal College of General Practice has called for standard GP appointments to be at least 15 minutes by 2030, with longer appointments for those with complex needs.
The Liberal Democrats want the government to recruit 8,000 more GPs and have set out plans to give patients a legal right to see a GP within seven days.
Daisy Cooper MP, the Liberal Democrat’s health spokesperson, said: ‘Many patients need time to properly talk through their symptoms with a GP, especially when they have complex health problems.
‘But the government’s failure to recruit the extra GPs they promised has meant doctors are being forced to cram in more and more short appointments.
‘People are being left waiting weeks to get an appointment only to be rushed through in a matter of minutes.
‘Entire communities are paying the price for years of neglect under the Conservatives, who have driven local health services into the ground.
‘Liberal Democrats have set out a plan to boost GP numbers and guarantee people a right to an appointment within one week, so people can finally get the care and attention they deserve.’
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘GPs and our teams are working exceptionally hard in the face of intense workload and workforce pressures to ensure their patients receive safe, timely and appropriate care.
‘Over the timeframe the Lib Dems have analysed, 345.8 million consultations were delivered in general practice and almost 40 per cent lasted longer than 10 minutes.
‘Increasingly, GPs do need more time with patients, particularly if they have complex or multiple health problems.
‘This is why the College has called for 15-minute GP appointments as standard, and longer for those who need it.
‘However, this is not to say every patient will need this time as some simple conditions can be dealt with in less, particularly if it is not the GP they are seeing – for example, a simple blood test might only take a few minutes of a practice nurse’s time – so patients should not feel as though they are being ‘rushed through’ if they have a short appointment.
‘But years of underfunding and inadequate workforce planning means that GPs and our teams are struggling to see all the patients who need our care and give them the time they need, especially when seeing 50 or more patients in a day, which many GPs report is a common occurrence.
‘Imposing a legal requirement for all patients to be seen within a week would likely make this worse as it would force GP practices to reduce the length of each appointment to meet the target.
‘There are simply not enough GPs or other members of the team to make it work – and not every patient will need or want to be seen within a week, or even two.’
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘To make sure patients get the care they need we are boosting capacity with hundreds more doctors in general practice than last year, record numbers in training and we have almost reached our target of delivering 26,000 additional primary care staff.
‘We are making progress in improving access towards ensuring patients who need an appointment are seen within two weeks, and those with urgent needs are seen on the same day and will set out details of further support soon, through our primary care recovery plan and our long-term workforce plan.’
For all the latest health News Click Here
