Waiting times for a routine appointment at GP practices could be as long as 18 working days, an Examiner investigation reveals today.

Patients of the Kensington Group Practice on Westmoreland Road, Douglas, have the longest waiting time for the next available routine appointment.

Our data was based on requesting an appointment on February 5.

For Kensington, the earliest available slot was 18 working days later.

This would mean a patient booking an appointment on Tuesday last week would have to wait until about March 1 to see a GP.

Southern Group Practice on Castletown Road, Port Erin, had the second longest waiting time with 14 working days, which would suggest the next appointment from the same date would be February 25.

Promenade Medical Centre on Chester Street, Douglas, had the shortest waiting time with the next available routine appointment being on the day (February 5).

However, this would only be possible if an advanced nurse practitioner was available.

The nurses have the ability to see and treat patients with certain conditions in the same way as a GP. If not, then there would be a wait of two working days to see a GP.

The Examiner obtained the figures following a Freedom of Information request.

A spokesman from the FoI team said: ’It is also important to appreciate that the next available routine appointment is with any doctor in the practice; patients wishing to see a specific GP may find the waiting time increases.

’Practices increasingly have systems in order to identify those patients who require an urgent appointment. Some practices operate a doctor-led triage system.’

Ramsey Group Practice and Ballasalla Medical Centre both had a short waiting time until the next available routine appointment from the same date, with patients having to wait one working day to see a GP.

The Examiner had originally requested information on the average waiting times for a GP appointment and emergency appointment per practice for each quarter of 2018.

It was highlighted in the FoI response that the Department of Health and Social Care collected this information on individual surgeries during contractual reviews.

The spokesman added: ’This information is something that the department does intend to collate on a quarterly basis from April 1, 2019 onwards.’

Urgent appointments were shown to be available on the day (February 5) by all GP practices across the island.

Last week the Examiner reported findings from an FoI request that revealed a wide variation in the number of patients per doctor across GP surgeries in the island.

Promenade Medical Centre currently had the lowest number of GPs per patient of any practice in the island.

It has a total of 1.5 GPs and 4,308 patients. This would mean about 2,872 patients would be assigned to each GP.

The data at the time stated that Snaefell Surgery in Cushag Road, Douglas, had the highest number of GPs to patient with 3,126 patients and 2.2 GPs, which suggested that about 1,421 patients would be assigned to each GP.

Snaefell Surgery contacted the Examiner after the article was published to put forward its own figures of 5,517 currently registered patients, giving a ratio of 2,507.

The FoI spokesman said: ’Upon review of the disclosure made on the January 29 the original figures regarding Snaefell Surgery were incorrect. The department apologises for any inconvenience this may have caused.’

It gave a revised figure of 5,509 being registered with the practice as on December 31, 2018, meaning 2,504 patients would be assigned to each GP.

With this change, Palatine Group Practice on Strang Corner Field, Braddan, is shown to have the best GP (six) to patient (9,608) figure with approximately 1,601 patients assigned to each GP.