NHS ambulance, London. Image by Tim Sandle
The locations in England that have to wait the longest for a GP appointment have been assessed in a new poll. This indicates that London has the shortest waiting times. In contrast, NHS North Central London ICB is at the bottom of the list with just 1.16% of appointments taking in excess of 28 days.
The new study comes from the healthcare firm GuardianCarers.co.uk and it reveals that NHS North Central London patients have the shortest wait for a GP appointment in the country.
The study analysed NHS data from England’s 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICB) on GP appointments from December 2022 to May 2025 to identify the one with the longest wait times based on the percentage which took more than 28 days.
NHS Gloucestershire is first on the list, with 408,968 appointments that took over 28 days to occur, which translates into 8.59% of all appointments. The percentage is well above the other regions below, with almost a 2% difference between the first and second spots. There are 73 GP practices within the region, all of which are members of the board.
Second is NHS Dorset with 6.88% of appointments that took over 28 days. The value results from 370,827 appointments over 5,391,002, which were processed by approximately 80 practices that are active in the area.
NHS Norfolk and Waveney takes third place with 347,781 appointments over 28 days, over a total of 6,500,498, resulting in 5.35%. The ICB comprises 105 GP practices and five GP provider organisations.
Further down on the list, NHS Somerset is fourth with 4.96%. This figure comes from 189,052 appointments out of 3,813,285, taking over 28 days to happen.
NHS Sussex closes the top five by a whisker, as its percentage of appointments that took over 28 days is 4.86%, only 0.1% less than Somerset.
The NHS practice areas that have the longest waiting times in England
| NHS Area | Number of Appointments That Took Over 28 Days | Total Number of Appointments | Percentage of Appointments That Took Over 28 Days |
| Gloucestershire | 408,968 | 4,758,638 | 8.59% |
| Dorset | 370,827 | 5,391,002 | 6.88% |
| Norfolk and Waveney | 347,781 | 6,500,498 | 5.35% |
| Somerset | 189,052 | 3,813,285 | 4.96% |
| Sussex | 584,570 | 12,028,518 | 4.86% |
| Derby and Derbyshire | 356,925 | 7,780,078 | 4.59% |
| Nottingham and Nottinghamshire | 377,367 | 8,276,001 | 4.56% |
| Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland | 359,997 | 8,084,803 | 4.45% |
| Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes | 269,512 | 6,271,119 | 4.30% |
| Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin | 143,653 | 3,352,596 | 4.28% |
On the other side of the list, NHS North Central London registered the least amount of appointments that took over 28 days, only 1.16%. This location is closely followed by NHS South East London with 1.30% and NHS North East London with 1.32%.
Will such results be reacted to? With many debates on funding ongoing within the government across numerous health sectors, it will be interesting to see if any funding is granted to the NHS areas that rank highly on this list.
