More than 40,000 Nottingham patients had to wait more than 21 days from booking to appointment at their GP practice.
But health managers stress that 50 per cent of patients who ring up their GP practice will get an appointment on the same day.
NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which is responsible for GP services, have released the figures.
This is ahead of a meeting where councillors will challenge whether enough is being done to ensure Nottingham patients have good access to their GPs during the pandemic.
There are 124 GP practices across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
The latest data for the month of August alone shows 20,048 patients had to wait more than 28 days from booking to appointment compared to 14,854 in August 2020.
There were also 22,084 patients that had to wait 22 to 28 days in August compared with 13,724 the same month the year before.
There were also 34,092 patients waiting up to 21 days, and 56,688 waiting up to two weeks.
However, 85,337 were seen between two days and a week, 29,227 seen within a day and 206,755 seen on the same day.
The CCG will meet councillors at the next Nottingham City Council Health Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, November 11.
The committee says it wants to use the information it gathers to consider whether it is satisfied with the current position or if further scrutiny is required.
The CCG says it has received messages from local MPs and councillors stating that “access continues to be a concern with their constituents, particularly the ability to secure a face-to- face consultation.”
Figures for the whole year have not been included in the data prepared for the meeting. But the number of face-to-face GP visits had increased, said the CCG.
There was 263,103 in August 2021 compared to 211,162 in August 2020. There were also 164,427 telephone appointments compared to 164,253 in August 2020.
The CCG said it had awarded nine new Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) over the last year.
This includes at Parliament Street Medical Centre, Bilborough Medical Centre and Kirkby Community Primary Care Centre.
A report prepared for the meeting states: “The way patients book appointments changed as a result of Covid.
“During Covid face to face appointments were based on clinical need so triage and remote consultations became the primary way to see and treat patients.
“Returning to ‘business as usual’, practices are now offering more face-to-face appointments; practices do still operate a triage system but will arrange a face to face appointment where there is a clinical need.
“Data indicates that there has been an increase in the number of appointments provided by practices (higher demand than before Covid) and 50 per cent of appointments are same day.”
The CCG says work is also under way to appoint ‘Additional Roles staff’ to work in general practice to supplement the work of practice GPs and nurses, further improving access.
