GP practices must keep their online consultation tools running throughout core hours from today, allowing patients to request appointments, ask questions and describe symptoms online.
The changes to the GP contract come into effect from October 2025 with the aim of freeing up GP phone lines and helping to end the morning rush for appointments.
They follow polling from the Health Foundation and Ipsos, published in September 2025, which found that the public’s top priority for the NHS is making it easier to get GP appointments.
Stephen Kinnock, care minister, said: “We promised to tackle the 8am scramble and make it easier for patients to access their GP practice – and through our Plan for Change, that’s exactly what we’re delivering.
“We are bringing our analogue health service into the digital era, giving patients greater choice and convenience.”
However the plans have been not been popular with doctors and the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned that they could cause a spike in doctors’ workloads and create waiting lists.
The BMA’s GP committee in England has entered into dispute with the government over the plans, after giving Wes Streeting, health secretary, 48 hours to implement safeguards to prevent patient harm and allow practices to operate safely.
However the government says that the changes were agreed with the BMA in April 2025 and it is providing “unprecedented support” to ensure that GPs provide the service and meet demand.
“We’ve invested an extra £1.1 billion in general practice – the biggest increase in over a decade – and hired an extra 2,000 GPs across England,” Kinnock said.
NHS England has provided resources to help practices implement the changes, including a peer support programme and case studies from practices already offering online access throughout core hours.
Dr Amanda Doyle, national director for primary care at NHSE, said: “This step will help modernise general practice by making online access as easy as calling or walking in to your practice, ensuring the phone lines are available for those who need them most and making it easier for practices to triage patients based on clinical need.”
According to government figures, online patient submissions have grown with almost six million submissions in July 2025 compared to 3.4 million in July 2024.
One London GP surgery which adopted this approach to online requests reported that it had reduced waits from 14 days to three, with 95% of patients seen within a week.
Dr Duncan Gooch, GP and chair of the Primary Care Network at the NHS Confederation said that he recognised doctors’ fears that the changes will “lead to uncontrolled demand which impacts on patient safety”, but added that some of its members are operating in this way and “have been positive about the impact”.
“Managing demand and providing better access has reduced stress on staff, conflict with patients and created a positive environment where job satisfaction is high.
“This is not to take away from the fact that we still need more investment into general practice and GPs to help stem the increasing turnover and provide patients with the service they need,” Gooch said.
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