Beyond the ‘8am scramble’: what the latest GP Patient Survey tells us about the future of general practice

There is genuinely encouraging news for general practice in the latest GP Patient Survey (GPPS) findings, based on responses from more than 650,000 patients in England.

After several difficult years, patients' experiences appear to be moving in the right direction. More people reported positive experiences of contacting their practice and of general practice overall, and trust in health care professionals remains exceptionally high. 

These improvements follow a sustained policy focus on improving access to address the ‘8am scramble’ for GP appointments – and the latest survey, which ran between January and April this year, suggests these efforts may be starting to pay off.

Signs of improving access

More patients said it was easy to contact their practice: 57% by phone (up from 50% in 2024), 58% via the practice website (up from 48%) and 54% via the NHS App (up from 45%). Nearly three-quarters had a good experience of contacting their practice, and the same proportion knew what would happen next within 2 days. 

The way patients interact with general practice is changing rapidly. Use of any online GP services increased to 79% (from 69% in 2024), driven by greater use of functions such as accessing test results, booking appointments and viewing medical records. Online contact with GP practices rose to 31% of last contacts (from 17%), while phone contact fell to 54% (from 68%). Encouragingly, this shift towards digital access has also been accompanied by a rise in face-to-face appointments, which rose to 74% (from 69%), while phone appointments fell to 23% (from 29%) over the same period. 

There is a marginal rise in patients trying something else before contacting their practice. Over 6 in 10 (62%, up from 61% in 2024) reported doing so, most commonly treating themselves or looking online for information. This may be positive, reflecting greater self-care and use of digital resources. However, previous public polling suggested that concerns about access can deter people from seeking care altogether, highlighting the importance of distinguishing between informed choice and unmet need.

But access remains a challenge for many

The survey does not tell a simple story of success. Around 3 in 10 patients still do not report a good experience of contacting their practice and 10% said their needs were not met ‘at all’ at their last appointment. Persistent inequalities are clear. Younger people, those living in deprived areas, disabled people, those with multiple long-term conditions and people living with frailty all reported poorer experiences. This was also the case for gay, lesbian and bisexual patients, as well as those who preferred not to say about their sexual orientation, and people from some minority ethnic groups. 

A separate carers report shows carers fare worse than non-carers overall, and are more likely to live with long-term conditions, mental health problems and frailty. There is also substantial regional variation, with a 10 percentage-point difference in the overall experience of general practice between integrated care systems.  

The visibility of other policy changes is less clear

Around 6 in 10 patients (63%) said their last appointment was with a GP. However, this does not align with NHS appointments data, which point to only around 45% being delivered by a GP. The gap may suggest that patients are not always aware of the role of the clinician they are seeing, or that patients define appointments differently. Either way, the finding raises important questions about how visible workforce changes are to patients.

Satisfaction with pharmacy services remains high – higher than general practice – with 89% of patients describing their overall experience as good compared with 77% in general practice. Yet use of pharmacist advice has moved very little (22% in 2026 versus 21% in 2024). These findings suggest that reforms aiming to increase the use of community pharmacy have, so far, not fundamentally changed where most patients seek care.

Beyond access

These improvements in access should be welcomed. But they raise a bigger question: what happens when access becomes the dominant policy goal? Recent scrutiny of services for people living with frailty highlights the risk that general practice is being asked to deliver expanding access targets while caring for increasingly complex patients, potentially at the expense of continuity of care.

This matters because continuity of care is associated with better outcomes, better patient and clinician experience and greater efficiency. While particularly important for people living with frailty and multiple long-term conditions, continuity benefits patients of all ages and backgrounds. Yet under a third of GPPS respondents reported having a preferred health care professional (31%, down from 33% in 2024), and among those who do, most still cannot see them consistently. As practices grow and workforce models evolve, approaches such as microteams may help preserve continuity while maintaining access.

The findings are also highly relevant to the government's emerging neighbourhood health agenda. If neighbourhood health is to deliver more integrated and personalised care closer to home, it will depend not only on improving access and coordination between services, but also on maintaining the relationships and continuity of care that patients value.

The workforce challenge

Ultimately, better access and continuity both depend on workforce capacity. Trust in clinicians remains one of the survey's strongest findings: more than 9 in 10 patients reported confidence and trust in the health care professional they saw. The forthcoming NHS workforce plan will be critical, and needs to make general practice a sustainable, attractive career, with retention at its heart.

The latest GPPS offers grounds for cautious optimism: access is improving and trust remains high. But reform must now look beyond the front door – to continuity, equity and retention – if neighbourhood health is to succeed.

Figures from the GPPS have been rounded in this article.