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 impact of levels of access to GP appointments in influencing patients’ decisions to attend accident and emergency departments for non-emergency conditions.

National Health Service guidance is clear that patients should only attend accident and emergency (A&E) for emergencies that cannot be dealt with by a patient’s general practice (GP), NHS 111, or walk-in centres.

GPs are independent contractors to the National Health Service and are required to provide care during core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. Evidence suggests that when practices are closed, patients are more likely to seek care elsewhere. The 2025 GP Patient Survey found that 23.4% of respondents reported attending A&E when they wanted care or advice from a healthcare professional and their GP was closed. Though the survey does not qualify whether the attendance was due to urgent or non-urgent care being needed.

The Office for National Statistics’ Health Insight Survey shows that the proportion of patients who find it easy to access their GP has increased significantly, from 60.9% in July 2024 to nearly 77% more recently. As part of efforts to improve access, from 1 October GPs were required to make online services available throughout core hours. For the first time, the Office for National Statistics’ data shows that more patients surveyed are now contacting their GP online than by telephone, with 44.6% contacting practices online compared with 38.9% by phone. There has also been a 17.9%, or 1.3 million, increase in online consultation submissions in January 2026 compared to December 2025. This expansion of access routes is intended to make it easier for patients to receive timely advice and care from GPs, supporting appropriate use of urgent and emergency services

The 2026/27 GP Contract also makes it explicit that any requests identified as clinically urgent, as determined by the GP, must be dealt with on the same day.

Out of hours services are those provided outside of these core hours, from 18:30 to 08:00 on weekdays, all weekends and on bank holidays. Practices may provide out of hours services or opt out of providing these with their commissioner’s approval.

Where a practice has opted out of delivering these services, the commissioner, such as an integrated care board, must commission the services from an alternative provider for that practice’s registered patients.

Last year we invested £80 million in Advice and Guidance. We are now embedding this money in core contract funding. As a result, since April 2025, we have avoided 1.3 million patients ending up on a waiting list.