General practice activity: July to September 2024

Between July and September 2024

• There were an estimated 4.7 million appointments scheduled in general practices, a decrease of 4.9% from the same period in the previous year. 
• 94.8% of appointments were attended, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from the same period in the previous year.
• There were an estimated 72,000 appointments scheduled per working day, a decrease of 6.4% from the same period in the previous year, and an estimated 68,000 appointments were attended per working day, a decrease of 6.1% from the same period in the previous year.
• 65.7% of attended appointments were face-to-face, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the same period in the previous year.
• 33.0% of attended appointments were remote, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points from the same period in the previous year.
• 1.3% of attended appointments were a home visit, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the same period in the previous year.
• 66.7% of attended appointments were with a GP or independent prescriber, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the same period in the previous year.
• 33.3% of attended appointments were with a nurse, allied health professional or other clinical staff member, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the same period in the previous year.
• 63.8% of attended appointments were for chronic, planned or non-acute reasons, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the same period in the previous year. 
• 36.2% of attended appointments were for urgent or acute reasons, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the same period in the previous year.

In addition to appointments, there were:

• 400,000 referrals for specialist services and 160,000 fit notes issued.
• 6.5 million calls received, equivalent to 100,000 per working day. Six out of ten calls were answered within two minutes.
• 1.8 million letters or emails issued, 1.8 million text messages sent and received, and 1.5 million digital requests submitted.

This publication is based on data extracted from the Primary Care Information Portal on 29 November 2024.

Data for October 2023 to June 2024 have been revised in line with our planned revisions policy. There were small changes at Wales level with changes ranging between less than 0.1% and 0.4% for the appointments data and between less than 0.1% and 2.9% for selected additional activities data.

The data for January 2024 to September 2024 will be revised in the next publication.

Statistician: Craig Thomas
Email: stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099