More accurate human papillomavirus (HPV) testing will enable millions of women and people with a cervix in England to benefit from more personalised cervical screening from next month, the NHS has announced today. From July, younger women (aged 25 to 49) who test negative for HPV, meaning they are at very low risk of cervical […]

Around 3 in 4 patients find it easy to contact a GP, up more than 10% since last summer as the NHS drives to improve access. Almost every (99%) GP practice in England now has a digital telephone system in place to make it easier for people to get through to their family doctor. Office […]

All new patients registering at GP practices are to be asked if they had a blood transfusion before 1996, as part of an NHS drive to find undiagnosed patients affected by the contaminated blood scandal. Each year, around 400,000 people born before 1996 – around half of new sign-ups online – will now be asked […]

GPs are providing millions more appointments to people in England and better access through upgraded technology, the NHS has said today. New figures, published today, show that there were 31.4 million GP appointments in March – up 6.1% on the same period a year earlier with the figure a fifth (19.8%) higher than pre-pandemic. At […]

Millions of patients can now register with a new GP at the touch of a button via the NHS App and online as part of a major health service drive to make care more convenient and free up staff time. New figures show the number of practices where patients can join online has more than doubled in the […]

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, Ashley Dalton MP, has today made a Written Ministerial Statement to the House of Commons regarding steps being taken by the NHS to ensure all eligible people are invited for screening. Steve Russell, NHS national director for vaccinations and screening, said: “The NHS is contacting 5,261 people […]

Dr Amanda Doyle, NHS National Director for Primary Care and Community Services said: “As some practices continue collective action, it is vital that patients continue to come forward for care in the usual ways – practices remain open and services are still running. “We will be monitoring the impacts of this action to ensure practices […]

NHS staff working in A&E departments are in the middle of their busiest summer ever with a total of 4.6 million attendances over the last 2 months – higher than any other June and July, new figures show today. The latest performance data shows that the 3 busiest ever months for A&E staff have been […]

The NHS is asking the public to still come forward as usual for care during collective action by GP services which starts today (Thursday 1 August). GP services across England will begin collective action on Thursday 1 August for an indefinite period of time, and while there may be some disruption to services practices will […]

GP teams delivered more than 28.7 million appointments in June 2024 – up one fifth on the same period pre-pandemic, new figures published today show. Excluding vaccinations, this means practices are delivering a fifth more appointments than in June 2019, when 22.8 million appointments took place. NHS services have provided 372.3 million appointments, which is […]