Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there is a target for the proportion of GP patient appointments which are delivered face to face.

There is currently no target for the proportion of appointments in general practice which must be delivered face to face. However, practices should respect preferences for in person appointments unless there are good clinical reasons.

Commissioners use information collected locally alongside data gathered from other sources, such as the Quality and Outcomes Framework, to plan and improve general practitioner (GP) services. NHS Digital publishes GP appointment data, from planned activity recorded in GP appointment book systems, which includes face to face appointments at clinical commissioning group level. As set out in ‘Our plan for improving access for patients and supporting general practice’, NHS Digital is working to publish activity and waiting time data at individual practice level as soon as possible. This will include the proportions of appointment by different professions and by different appointment modality.