David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on average patient waiting times of the use of closed waiting lists at GP surgeries.

Alistair Burt

The Department has not assessed waiting times for appointments, as each practice decides how to operate in order to meet the contractual requirement to meet the reasonable needs of their patients. The needs of patients can vary considerably from one practice to another.

NHS England does not routinely collect data on either general practitioner (GP) appointment or GP registration waiting times. NHS England is currently establishing a new collection process to gather information on closed patient lists routinely. Therefore, it is not able currently to assess the impact of a practice closing their list on appointment waiting times.

Practices may only close their lists to new patients with the approval of NHS England.

NHS England works with GP practices to ensure patient lists remain open wherever possible. It is possible that the reasons for closing a practice list impact on the flow of appointments to existing patients e.g. with the sudden loss of a GP, but such effects will often be temporary.

Any patient struggling to find a practice accepting new patients can contact NHS England’s Customer Contact Centre for support.