GP appointment data in general practice has revealed that there were over 1.2 million more GP appointments via online or video means in April 2026 than the same month last year.
Just under 3.5 million online or video appointments were recorded in April 2026, with 18.8 million face-to-face appointments held. In April 2025, these figures were close to 2.3 million for video/online, and 18.5 million for face-to-face.
The total number of appointments recorded across all delivery methods in April 2026 was 31 million, up from 29.2 million in April 2025.
In February of this year, NHS England published its latest changes to the GP Contract for 2026/27, looking to build on existing work around improving access for patients, and making changes to QOF, vaccinations, and “enabling practices to prioritise clinically urgent needs”.
Online consultation systems should not cap the number of requests that can be submitted during core hours, to ensure online consultations “operate with the same parity as telephone and walk-in access”, NHSE outlined. Contract regulations will also be amended to require practices to provide timely data and information on online and video consultation services to improve consistency in the monitoring of access, patient experience, and system performance. “The intention is not to performance manage practices, but to support a clearer understanding of access, highlight where improvement may be needed and help identify inequalities,” NHSE added.
Wider trend: GP IT
NHS England has published the latest version of the GPIT Operating Model alongside a new ICB practice agreement, to outline the terms around the provision of digital services in general practice. The updated ICB practice agreement sets out that ICBs are responsible for providing at a minimum the digital services to meet core and mandated requirements for practices. At least once per year, ICBs should formally review digital services with practices, incorporating discussion of performance, implementation plans, training requirements, business continuity or incident management arrangements, and plans for future delivery of digital services.
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust has noted the impact of robotic process automation to process GP referrals. According to the latest national figures for March 2026, 77 percent of people at the trust are now receiving planned treatment within 18 weeks following a GP referral, South Tyneside and Sunderland shares, placing the trust “well above” the national average of 63.5 percent. A number of new ways of working efficiently have reportedly been introduced, including new digital systems to help book appointments faster, and the “latest technologies” in treatment and diagnostics to expand the number of people who can be seen for tests and scans.
Suffolk and North East Essex (SNEE) ICB has published a contract with a total value of £5.2 million, seeking an IT provider to support with GP IT modernisation in alignment with the Primary Care Digital Services Model. The ICB focuses on securing the right technology and support for GP practice and PCN staff, with the selected supplier to deliver “a stable, flexible IT system to support a collaborative, productive workforce”. Key requirements include supporting the ability for staff across the system to work from any location, ensuring mobile devices can interface with functionality and software in practices, and enabling certain IT tasks to be undertaken locally by practice staff to reduce delays to end user local service provision Suppliers should also be able to leverage the benefits of cloud architecture to deliver “innovative” GP IT support, according to the ICB.
