GP online access changes: Practice stops pre-bookings and receptionist ‘in tears’
2 October 2025
Credit: Getty Images/sturtiBy Claudia Tanner
The changes to online access at GP surgeries coming into force today (1 October) have been hailed “a major step towards the government’s ambition of ending the 8am scramble” by the government.
However, a GP leader warned that the policy could backfire. “On the face of it, from a patient perspective, it sounds like it's a good idea,” Dr Steve Taylor, the Doctors' Association UK’s GP spokesperson told Doctors.net.uk. “But personally, it looks like a really bad idea.”
He recalls how during the pandemic, his practice enabled patients access to online consultation systems throughout core hours. “Having unlimited access can cause quite a lot of issues. What we found was that we just got inundated with increasing numbers of requests often some people repeating requests... so asking one question, then later on asking something else, and asking another. It became a problem.”
"It's possible that larger practices are going to manage it OK because they've got the sort of resources people to manage it,” says Dr Taylor. “But I think some of the smaller practices are going to really struggle.”
At his old practice he says there’s been a receptionist “in tears” ahead of the changes coming into effect.
He’s also heard of another practice that has stopped all pre-bookable appointments for the whole of October. “They're going to be total triage for the first time and they haven't done that before so they've decided that because they don't know what the new demands going to be.
“Other practices I've heard are cutting the number of face-to-face appointments initially.”
Critics argue that the changes could hinder implementation of Jess's Rule, a new initiative requiring GPs to arrange face-to-face consultations for patients with persistent health concerns when previous appointments were conducted remotely, and to perform comprehensive physical examinations.
'A top-down approach'
Dr Taylor has accused health secretary Wes Streeting of being out of touch with the challenges GPs are facing in their roles.
"Despite his protestations of a listening and bottom-up approach to healthcare this is very much like an imposed top-down approach," he said.
"GPs don't really think that Wes Streeting has actually listened to any of those concerns. He thinks they’re just whinging and that the concerns aren’t valid."
Dr Taylor feels there’s a potential risk of patients falling through the cracks because patients can submit online requests right up until 6:30pm to their GP while practices are simultaneously trying to prepare handover information to out-of-hours services. “Practices are effectively still going to be required to somehow monitor something that might become urgent. There's quite a lot of concern over that aspect.”
He points to figures showing general practice delivered 8 million more appointments this year. "That 8 million is four times the number of A&E attendees a year,” he said. “It's not shifting care from hospitals to the community, it's asking community to do more with less funding.”
On Tuesday, Mr Streeting was steadfast. “We’re reforming general practice so patients can request appointments online at any point during the day.
“Many GPs already offer this service because they’ve changed with the times.
“Why shouldn’t booking a GP appointment be as easy as booking a delivery, a taxi or a takeaway? And our policy comes alongside a billion pounds of extra funding for general practice and 2,000 extra GPs.
“Yet the BMA threatens to oppose it in 2025. Well, I’ll give you this warning; if we give in to the forces of conservatism, they will turn the NHS into a museum of 20th century healthcare.
“We will always stand up for the interests of patients, and we won’t back down.”
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