Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of mandating extended online consultation use at GP surgeries on the availability of face-to-face appointments.

The changes to the 2025/26 GP Contract that came into force on 1 October requires practices to make all routes for contacting the practice, including online consultations, available throughout core hours, 8:00am to 6.30pm. This is intended to provide more consistent access for patients and help manage the 8:00am scramble.

In 2024/25, 85% of primary care networks reported that all their practices already provided online consultations during core hours and did not raise concerns about an impact on the availability of face-to-face appointments. Online consultation systems support triage so patients can be directed to the most appropriate response, including face-to-face appointments where clinically necessary

In July 2024, only 61% of patients found it easy to access their GP. Today, it’s nearly 77%.