‘Massive Increase’ As Isle Of Wight GP Appointments Rise By Almost 75,000

Hampshire and the Isle of Wight saw nearly 75,000 more GP appointments in September 2025 than in the same month last year, an NHS board meeting heard yesterday (November 5).

Lara Alloway, chief medical officer at NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight, told the forum at Omega House in Eastleigh of the “massive”, almost eight per cent increase, over half of which were “face to face”.

In March, an update paper on primary care access issued by the integrated care board (ICB) flagged a 700,000 increase in appointments in 2024 compared to the year before.

Ms Alloway said:

“A huge amount going on in primary care. In general practice, colleagues have raised the concern around, from October 1 that online services need to be switched on between 8am and 6.30pm.

“And that I’m pleased to say has been achieved across our system in 121 of 128 of our practices – the seven who are struggling are being supported to achieve that and are close to being able to.

“That is meaning quite a lot of change in GP surgeries in order to manage online triage, getting people to the right person, but also having their doors open so that people can walk in and book or be directed to where they need to go.

“Overall, there were 75,000 more GP appointments…in this last September compared to the September before which is massive so massive thank you to everyone in general practice.”

In September, James Roach, director of primary care and local care at the ICB, said GPs in the region were “working harder than ever before” and seeing “record numbers of patients each week”.