More appointments on offer in general practices, new figures show

The number of appointments available at general practices in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes continued to rise in the three months to November 2025, according to new data published by NHS England.

Figures show that the area’s practices offered more than 1,894,000 appointments between September and November 2025, an increase of over 224,000 (13.5%) compared with the same period a year earlier.

Over the year to November 2025, the number of patients registered with a general practice in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes increased by 5,605, to a total of over 1,149,000.  This means that the area’s general practices offered 1.65 appointments per registered patient over the three-month period, compared with 1.46 a year earlier.

From September to November 2025, on the average weekday, more than 29,100 people had an appointment with a healthcare professional in general practice.  This means that each day, one in every 39 registered patients booked a consultation with general practice, compared with one in 44 a year earlier.

The figures also reveal that 64.0% of primary care appointments were face-to-face, compared with 72.0% over the same period in 2024, reflecting the growing use of technology to offer appointments online or by phone, without the need to see the patient face-to-face.  42.7% of appointments were booked for the same day, compared with 39.0% a year earlier.

Unfortunately, on the average weekday, 1,161 (4.0%) people did not attend their booked primary care appointment, although this was lower than the 4.3% who did so in the same period in 2024.

Maria Wogan, director of neighbourhood health and partnerships at Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, said:

“Residents already know that NHS staff are working incredibly hard to offer more appointments in order to meet their needs.  Increasingly the workload can be spread among different clinical roles: for example, a pharmacist will carry out medication reviews, and a practice nurse will have been trained to help patients manage their long-term conditions such as asthma or diabetes.

“This allows your practice to make the best use of all their staff’s expertise and time, and it frees up your GP to deal with patients who need more complex care.

“The number of missed appointments remains something we would like to improve upon with the help of residents.  Every time a patient fails to keep an appointment, that’s a slot which could have been offered to someone else, so if you no longer need your appointment, please make sure you cancel it in good time.”