Publication, Part of Appointments in General Practice
Appointments in General Practice, May 2026
Official statistics in development
Upcoming changes to reporting of Appointments in General Practice data
From the publication of June 2026’s data (scheduled for release on 30th July 2026), the Appointments in General Practice publication will include additional data to support the reporting of the following metrics:
- clinically urgent appointments seen on the day of booking
- non-urgent appointments seen within seven days of booking
- non-urgent appointments seen within fourteen days of booking
The following additional data will be included:
- Additional rows in Table 1a of the Summary file showing the time series for these metrics at national level
- New tables in the summary file showing these metrics for the current month at national, regional, ICB and sub-ICB level
- New tables in the practice level summary file showing these metrics for the current month at practice level
25 June 2026 09:30 AM
Summary
The aim of the publication is to inform users about activity and usage of GP appointments historically and how primary care is impacted by seasonal pressures, such as winter. NHS England publishes this information to support winter preparedness and provide information about some activity within primary care. The publication covers historic appointments, marked as attended or did not attend, from national to practice level coverage. The aim is to inform users, who range from a healthcare professional to an inquiring citizen, about appointments within primary care. The publication includes data from participating practices and Primary Care Networks (PCNs) using EMIS, TPP, Eva Health formerly known as Microtest (up until February 2021), Informatica (up until December 2024), Cegedim (previously Vision, up until January 2025), Babylon (up until December 2024), Medicus, Evergreen Life and Archvale GP systems. NHS England produce this information monthly, containing information about the most recent month and previous months. The publication includes important information, however it does not show the totality of GP activity/workload. The data presented only contains information which was captured on the GP practice and PCN appointment systems. This limits the activity reported on and does not represent all work happening within a primary care setting or assess the complexity of activity. No patient identifiable information has been collected or is included in this release. Between December 2020 and present the data contained in this publication will no longer contain covid-19 vaccination activity collected from GP System Suppliers as part of the General Practice Appointments Data. These appointments have been removed using the methodology outlined in the supporting information. In order to gain a more complete picture of general practice activity we will publish covid-19 vaccination activity carried out by PCN’s or GP Practice’s from the NIMS (National Immunisation Management Service) vaccination dataset. This publication now includes statistics on the duration of appointments, SDS role and the recorded national category, service setting and context type of the appointment. Both HCP Type and SDS role are currently presented for comparison purposes, but moving forward the intention is to only publish SDS Role Groups and remove HCP Type. Further information can be found in the supporting guidance below. Appointments recorded in Primary Care Network (PCN) appointment systems are included within this publication at national level from June 2023.
Key Facts
Appointments Recorded in GP Practice and Primary Care Network Appointment Systems
30.0 million appointments were recorded across General Practice. Of these, 29.0m (including Covid-19 vaccinations) were recorded in General Practice appointment books from 98.9% of GP Practices.
Same Day Appointments
44.9% of appointments in May 2026 took place on the same day that they were booked.
Appointment Status
89.6% of all appointments were attended in May 2026
Appointments with a GP
44.5% of all appointments in May 2026 were carried out by a GP and 18.4% were carried out by nurses.
Appointment Mode
60.5% of all appointments in May 2026 were carried out face to face.
Resources
Last edited: 25 June 2026 2:06 pm