Complaints about GPs and dental care reach ten-year high as patients struggle to get appointments

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

• The number of complaints about GPs and dental care are at their highest in a decade - more than doubling in 10 years

• Of the 112,189 complaints about GPs, over one in five (21%) were about waiting for or being able to get an appointment

• The Liberal Democrats are calling for a legal right for patients to see their GP within a week and if urgent, 24 hours

Complaints to the NHS about GPs and dental care have more than doubled in the past ten years, with a stark rise in complaints from patients struggling to get appointments, shocking new figures have revealed.

There were 125,584 complaints about primary care including GPs and dental in 2022-23, an increase of 138% from ten years ago.

23,567 of the 112,189 complaints about GPs centred on waiting times for an appointment, being able to obtain one, or the availability and length of appointments. 

Complaints about dentists have also shot up to 16,087, up a third from when they were first recorded five years ago.

Separate figures show the number of fully qualified GPs has fallen again compared to last year, despite repeated Conservative pledges to boost the amount of GPs. The Liberal Democrats are calling for patients to be given a legal right to see their GP within a week and 24 hours if in urgent need. 

To fix dental care, the Lib Dems have proposed reforming and increasing funding for the NHS dental services contract, to ensure it: encourages and incentivises dentists to take on NHS patients, meets patient need and demand rather than arbitrary targets and puts an end to ‘dental deserts’.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP said:

“These soaring levels of complaints show that patients have been badly let down by this Conservative government and they know it. 

“Everyday, thousands of people across the country are struggling to book an appointment with their GP or dentist. It is simply unacceptable. 

“Ministers have brought the health service to its knees, failed to recruit the GPs we need and made seeing a dentist on the NHS almost impossible. 

“It is absolutely fundamental that people can see their doctor in time. That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for patients to be given a legal right to see their GP within a week or 24-hours if in urgent need.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The NHS stats on written complaints can be found here. 

The NHS stats on GP workforce numbers can be found here (September 2023) and here (September 2022).