The proportion of patients seeing GPs face-to-face in September is back to levels not seen since early in the pandemic, NHS Digital data for England reveals.
Some 68.1% of GP appointments were done in person at surgeries last month, compared with 66.2% in March 2020.
The return to face-to-face consulting comes as the NHS delivers another double vaccination campaign against Covid-19 and flu. In February 2020 around 80% of general practice appointments were face-to-face.
GP numbers continue to fall, with 26,867 permanent qualified GPs working in September, down from 27,065 in the same month last year.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “The landscape in which we practice as GPs has always been on the move, more recently because of Covid. We have all worked through this together to be there for patients, even more so than ever.
“GP locums are particularly experienced and skilled at working in rapidly changing environments, with it not being unusual for a locum to work in 30 different practices a year. That’s why it is so important that we each have as much personal control as possible when working in different practices, who themselves are also undergoing change.
“Our advice to members if they are being asked to work in situations that they are uncomfortable with is to review their booking settings on LocumDeck to make sure they continue to have full control over exactly how they practise, especially now that winter pressures are fast approaching.”