Skip to main content

General Practitioners: Telephone Services

Question for Department of Health and Social Care

UIN 90851, tabled on 18 November 2022

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to encourage general practices to call patients a second time when they miss an initial telephone appointment.

Answered on

24 November 2022

Individual general practitioner (GP) practices are responsible for managing appointment booking systems to meet the reasonable needs of registered patients. NHS England’s guidance advises GP practices to provide a specific timeframe or exact appointment time for telephone or video appointments.

Named day
Named day questions only occur in the House of Commons. The MP tabling the question specifies the date on which they should receive an answer. MPs may not table more than five named day questions on a single day.