Fewer Scots able to get appointment with doctor within 48 hours – survey

Fewer Scots who need to see a GP are able to get an appointment within two days, a report has revealed.

Figures for 2023-24 showed that 84% of people who needed to either see or speak to a doctor or nurse “quite urgently” were able to be seen within 48 hours.

That is down from 85% in 2021-22 – during the Covid pandemic – and lower than in 2019-20, when 86% were able to be seen within two days.

Figures contained in the latest health and care experience survey, which was published by the Scottish Government, also showed the number of people being offered face to face appointments was still lower than before Covid.

Of those who had an appointment with their GP during 2023-24, 62% said this was face to face – up from 37% in 2021-22, but lower than the 87% of people who had such appointments in 2019-20.

Meanwhile, just over a third of people (34%) had their appointment over the phone.

This was down from 2021-22, when almost three out of five (57%) of appointments were over the phone, but is much higher than the 11% of appointments that were carried out in this way pre-pandemic in 2019-20.

More than 107,000 people across Scotland who are registered with a GP took part in the survey – with almost seven out of 10 (69%) saying their overall experience of their general practice was either good or excellent.

This was up slightly from 67% in the last survey in 2021-22, but down from 79% in 2019-20.

Regarding out of hours care, almost three quarters (73%) rated their experience as being either good or excellent.

This was up from 67% in 2021-22, but was lower than the 79% recorded in 2019-20.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the survey showed how “the SNP Government has brought the NHS to its knees and decimated local health services”.

He stated: “There was a time when you could see your GP at the first time of asking, but people are now ringing their surgeries hundreds of times to try and get an appointment.”

Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “The Scottish Government published the General Practice Access Principles report in November. This sets out a clear framework for the core principles of how GP services should be delivered.

“We expect everyone who needs a face-to-face appointment with their GP to get one as soon as possible. This survey shows an increase of 25% of people whose last appointment was face-to-face from the 2021-22 survey.”