TY - JOUR T1 - Is the shift to urgent appointments in general practice what patients really want? JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 122 LP - 122 DO - 10.3399/bjgp22X718673 VL - 72 IS - 716 AU - Richard Armitage Y1 - 2022/03/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/72/716/122.abstract N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented demands on general practice in a variety of forms: first, to provide a variety of clinical services specifically designed to combat the pandemic; second, to adapt to remote ways of working facilitated by digital technologies; and, third, to maintain ‘everyday’ general practice under immense patient demands, a fatiguing workforce, and increasing staff shortages. A seemingly unintended by-product of these adaptations is the significant shift towards providing general practice appointments that take place on the same day as or 1 day after their booking.Data from NHS Digital reveal that, before the COVID-19 pandemic (data available from June 2019–March 2020), 68.3% of total monthly general practice appointments in England took place on the same day or 1 day after their booking on average. This figure increased by 14.8% to 78.4% after the pandemic (data from April 2020 to November 2021), reflecting 1 285 498 more appointments of this type per month on … ER -