Mike Weatherley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weatherley on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of missed GP appointments; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Daniel Poulter

Information is not collected centrally on the number of missed general practitioner (GP) appointments. This is a matter for local organisations. However, NHS England estimates that each year around 12 million GP appointments are missed, at a cost to the system of £162 million.

In order to reduce the number of missed GP appointments, the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund is supporting pilots to ensure appointments are as convenient as possible for the patient. The pilots will offer millions more patients evening and weekend GP appointments, as well as introducing initiatives, such as email and Skype consultations.