The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 1 October 2025.
From today, patients will be able to request appointments online throughout the day rather than calling their surgery or visiting in person.
- Phone lines unclogged as all GP practices in England now required to keep online consultation tools open from 8am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday
- Move takes best of the NHS to rest of the NHS – with one surgery already cutting waits from 14 to 3 days and most patients seen within one week
- Comes alongside an extra £1.1 billion funding for general practice and over 2,000 more GPs hired
GP phone lines across the country will be freed up as practices are now required to keep their online consultation tools running throughout the day, in a major step towards the government’s ambition of ending the 8am scramble.
From today (1 October 2025), patients will be able to request appointments, ask questions and describe symptoms online throughout the day rather than calling their surgery or visiting in person. This will help free up practice phone lines for those who need them most, and make it more convenient to access appointments.
Online access is not consistent across the country and is especially difficult in overlooked areas. Some GP practices turn online requests off when they reach a certain number, while others only have the online function available for a few hours a day. When patients can’t get through on the phone, 6.6% end up in A&E, which is worse for them and more expensive for the taxpayer. By fixing the front door of the NHS, these reforms will help to ease pressures on other parts of the health service.
Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said:
We promised to tackle the 8am scramble and make it easier for patients to access their GP practice – and through our Plan for Change, that’s exactly what we’re delivering.
We are bringing our analogue health service into the digital era, giving patients greater choice and convenience. We’ve learned from GPs who are already offering this service and reaping the rewards.
We’ve invested an extra £1.1 billion in general practice – the biggest increase in over a decade – and hired an extra 2,000 GPs across England. There’s more to do, but this government is fixing the front door to the NHS.
This change was agreed with the BMA back in April, as part of the reforms the government made to the GP contract.
To ensure all GPs provide this service and meet demand, the government is providing unprecedented support for general practice and shifting care and vital resources to the community. This includes investing an additional £1.1 billion in general practice – the biggest increase in over a decade – and hiring an extra 2,000 GPs since July 2024. This has led to 5 million more appointments being delivered this year compared to last, with latest ONS data showing 3 in 4 patients now find it easy to contact their practice.
The new requirement for online access represents best practice that some GP practices across England have already adopted successfully. Evidence shows that where practices have moved to this ‘modern general practice’ approach, both staff and patients report improved service quality.
One London GP surgery that adopted this approach to online requests reduced waits from 14 days to just 3, with 95% of patients seen within a week.
Online patient submissions have grown significantly, with almost 6 million submissions in July 2025 compared to 3.4 million in July 2024, demonstrating growing patient preference for digital access options that fit around their daily lives.
Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England, said:
Improving access to general practice is a top priority for the NHS and while latest data shows a record 3 in 4 people found it easy to contact their GP, there is much more to do – which is why requiring all practices to keep their online consultation tools open during core hours is so vital.
This step will help modernise general practice by making online access as easy as calling or walking in to your practice, ensuring the phone lines are available for those who need them most and making it easier for practices to triage patients based on clinical need.
NHS England has provided extensive support to help practices implement the changes, including a peer support programme and case studies from practices already offering online access throughout core hours.
Practices are now also required to publish a new patient charter dubbed ‘You and Your GP’ on their websites – informing patients what they can expect from their practice and how to give feedback or raise concerns. Practices are now required to have clear processes in place to receive patient feedback or concerns so they can be swiftly addressed.
Jacob Lant, Chief Executive of National Voices, said:
Online booking systems are a fundamental building block of a 21st century NHS, but until now implementation has been frustratingly patchy.
The best GP practices have shown what’s possible. Through this announcement the government, in keeping with the founding principles of the NHS, is rightly making this offer universal.
It is true that primary care is under immense pressure, but the answer to managing demand has to be in using these digital systems more effectively.
Dr Duncan Gooch, GP and chair of the Primary Care Network at the NHS Confederation said:
We know that access to GP services has consistently topped the public’s priorities. The ‘8am GP scramble’ is one of the most frustrating issues for the public when trying to book an appointment, and for practices – resulting in a strain on primary care. Providing patients with a range of routes to access their practice – such as by telephone, online or walk-in – can help ensure fair access to advice and treatment.
We also recognise that GPs may fear that this will lead to uncontrolled demand which impacts on patient safety. However, many of our members are operating in this way already and have been positive about the impact – not only on patients, but on the workforce too. Managing demand and providing better access has reduced stress on staff, conflict with patients and created a positive environment where job satisfaction is high.
This is not to take away from the fact that we still need more investment into general practice and GPs to help stem the increasing turnover and provide patients with the service they need.
Louise Ansari, Chief Executive of Healthwatch England, said:
Patients often tell us how frustrating they find the early-morning scramble for on-the-day GP appointments. Many people are stuck in long phone queues, only to be told all the appointment slots have gone. People also tell us that online booking systems can be unpredictable – switched on and off at different times during the day with little notice.
Giving people the ability to contact their GP using the booking method that most suits them, at any time during their surgery’s core hours, is a welcome shift. This move will help improve consistency, give patients greater choice, and mean they can fit appointment booking around work or caring responsibilities.
It’s now up to NHS commissioners to ensure this change is felt nationwide so patients no longer face a postcode lottery when booking a GP appointment.
To make sure those most in need are prioritised, GPs are now also being incentivised to identify patients who would benefit most from seeing the same GP at every appointment, so more patients see their regular doctor each appointment.
Patients will also benefit from over 8.3 million more appointments each year as over 1,000 doctors surgeries receive a bricks and mortar upgrade to modernise practices under the government’s Plan for Change.
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