Chesterfield revealed as worst place in country for GP wait times – with almost 9,000 patients facing month-long delays

Data released by the NHS shows that 8,775 people in Chesterfield faced a wait of 28 days or more to see a GP last month. Over 14% of Chesterfield patients were subjected to month-long waits – ranking Chesterfield as the worst area in the country.

A further 9,845 residents were forced to wait more than two weeks for an appointment. This meant that a total of 18,620 people – 17.9% of Chesterfield borough’s total population – were left waiting longer than 14 days to see their doctor.

The Brimington Surgery on Church Street – rated as good and outstanding for care by the Care Quality Commission as well Practice Team of the Year at the Primary Care Awards 2021 – was ranked as the worst for wait times, with 17.7% of its patients waiting more than 28 days for an appointment with their GP. This was followed by Inspire Health Avenue House on Saltergate, where 17.6% of patients faced month-long waits.

The Chatsworth Road Medical Centre was ranked as the surgery with the third longest wait times, with 16.7% of patients being forced to wait 28 days for their appointments. For The Surgery at Wheatbridge, that figure stood at 15.5%, with the Calow and Brimington Practice coming in at 15.2%.

A total of 15% of patients at the Whittington Moor surgery faced 28-day waits for appointments – with figures of 14.4% for Royal Primary Care Chesterfield West, 11.5% for Newbold Surgery, and 10% for Royal Primary Care Chesterfield.

But NHS Derby and Derbyshire said this data shows when appointments were booked, and does not mean patients were ‘waiting’ for an appointment. Across North East Derbyshire in January, 10.9% of patients had to wait 28 days or more for a GP appointment. The figures for other parts of the county were lower – with 7.3% for the Derbyshire Dales, 6.7% in Amber Valley, 6.5% in Bolsover and 5.8% across High Peak.

Although Chesterfield patients may face longer wait times than other parts of the country, the town does rank among the best places to live for those who want face-to-face appointments.

Across the borough, 84% of patients were able to see their GP in person – a figure that ranks Chesterfield as the joint 11th best area nationally for the proportion of in-person appointments.

Across the country, 1,249,776 people had to wait more than 28 days in January alone, while a further 3,025,823 had to wait more than two weeks.

At the same time, the number of qualified GPs has fallen to a record low, leaving patients in a desperate scramble to be seen. Since 2015, more than 2,000 GPs have been cut.

Toby Perkins, MP for Chesterfield, urged the Government to implement Labour’s plans to double the number of medical school places.

“Patients in Chesterfield are finding it impossible to see a GP when they need to. Among those, thousands are waiting more than a month or not getting an appointment at all, there will be conditions going undiagnosed until it is too late.

“Anyone who has had to rely on the NHS recently can see it is desperately short of staff. The NHS is backing Labour’s plan to double medical school places. Why isn’t the government?

“Patients should be able to see the doctor they want, in the manner they choose, when they need to. Labour will put patients first and get them seen on time again.”

Labour has called on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to adopt its proposals to double the amount of available medical school places – and to incorporate the funds to train 10,000 extra nurses and midwives as part of his budget.

The party’s plans also include doubling the number of district nurses qualifying each year and providing 5,000 new health visitors.

Labour is also promising that patients will be guaranteed a face-to-face appointment with a GP if they want one.

A spokesperson for NHS Derby and Derbyshire said: “We’re proud of the tremendous efforts being put in by staff across all of Derbyshire, including the teams in the Chesterfield constituency.

“Two of these practices were rated as Outstanding overall in their most recent review or inspection by the Care Quality Commission, with the others all rated as Good overall.

“Data on appointments in isolation should always be treated with caution, especially when comparing practices, because every practice has unique circumstances of demographics, geography and workforce.

“It is very important to note that this data shows when appointments were booked, and does not mean patients were ‘waiting’ for an appointment. It includes planned follow-ups, appointments booked around a patient’s holiday and routine check-ups, so this indicates practices are flexibly meeting demand.

“Each practice makes decisions on how best to deliver care for its patients. The nine practices in Chesterfield offer more booked appointments in advance because this works best for their patients, and they also have one of the highest rates of face-to-face appointments in England. This exemplifies the choices which practices make to meet local needs.”

“General practices are under intense pressure to deliver more appointments, and it is important to treat this experimental data on GP appointments with caution.”