Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of unlimited online consultations on the ability of GPs to meet patient demand.

From 1 October, we extended access to general practice (GP) online services throughout core hours, which are from 8:00am to 18:30pm. According to the Office for National Statistics, for the first time ever, more patients are contacting their GP online rather than by phone, at 42.3% and 41.3% respectively. For GPs already offer online services, we are asking them to extend this service throughout core hours to bring online access in line with walk-in and phone access. GPs already using online systems have seen big improvements. One London GP surgery reduced waits from 14 days to just three, with 95% of patients seen within a week. The National Health Service continues to support those practices needing assistance with implementing these changes.

We understand that practices require additional resource to deliver services to their patients. That’s why we have invested £1.1 billion into GPs, with £160 million of this to expand the GP workforce, which has added 2,000 more GPs since October 2024, and £102 million to create more clinical space which will enable the delivery of 8.3 million extra appointments.