Where Greater Manchester areas rank in England's GP postcode lottery

New figures show that over 1.5 million appointments across England in March happened over four weeks after they were booked

As many as one in 10 patients in some parts of England have to wait four weeks or more for a GP appointment, data shows. Over 1.5 million appointments happened over four weeks after being booked, equating to around 5 percent of appointments in England overall.

But where you live in England has a dramatic impact on whether you may have to wait more than four weeks for an appointment.

North Central London comes in at the lowest, with just 1 percent of patients affected, while the highest is NHS Gloucestershire with 11 percent of patients impacted, a difference of some 10 percent between the highest and lowest.

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For its part, Greater Manchester falls largely in the middle of this ranking with a difference of 4 per cent between the most and least affected areas.

Services across Greater Manchester mostly fell into around 4 per cent of patients waiting four weeks or more for their GP appointment, with Oldham, Stockport, Trafford, and Heywood, Middleton, and Rochdale all being 4 percent.

Meanwhile, the average across Greater Manchester was 4.6 percent, below the 5 per cent average for England overall.

However, two areas in Greater Manchester did fall above this average.

These were NHS Tameside and Glossop, which came in at 6 per cent, with the highest being NHS Bury at 7 per cent. Meanwhile, NHS Bolton was dead on the England average of 5 per cent.

Professor Bola Owolabi, a GP and NHS England director of healthcare inequalities, drew attention to new ways that patients can access GPs aside from the 8am rush on the phone.

She said: “Improving access to general practice is an NHS priority and GP teams are delivering 30 million appointments every month – up almost a fifth since before the pandemic.

“Thanks to GPs and their hardworking teams, more than a million appointments were delivered each working day last month, up by almost 20% compared with the same period pre-pandemic with plans in place to improve access even further.

“Patients can also use the NHS app to order repeat prescriptions and view their test results without needing to contact their family doctor.”

Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services, echoed this, saying: "For some patients contacting their practice using online methods can be more convenient and easier to access care for their health needs and it’s great to see practices, such as Lingwell Croft Surgery, making advances in the use of technology to support this shift for people who are confident to do so, and have digital access.

“However there’s still more to do to make it easier for patients to contact and see their local GP, which includes making even better use of new technology to improve patient care.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting reaffirmed Labour's commitment to "fixing our NHS".

He said: “Through Our Plan for Change, we have reformed the GP contract, so more patients can book appointments online and request to see the same doctor at every appointment. It will take time, but this government is doing the work so the NHS can again be there for you when you need it.”

Here are the figures for all of the NHS areas in Greater Manchester:

NHS Bury - 7pc

NHS Tameside and Glossop - 6pc

NHS Bolton - 5pc

NHS Oldham - 4pc

NHS Stockport - 4pc

NHS Trafford - 4pc

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale - 4pc

NHS Manchester - 3pc