Getting doctor's appointment is UK postcode lottery - find out reality where you live

Half of GP appointments are done face-to-face - but only third are with actual doctors, new figures show.

NHS Digital figures show 65 per cent of consultations were made in-person across England in July, compared to more than 80 per cent before Covid.

The new data highlighted the worsening postcode lottery when it comes to GP treatment in England.

The rate of in-person appointments has fallen to as low as 50 per cent in Somerset for instance.

Just 32 per cent of appointments in the region were over the phone, while 16 per cent were listed as 'unknown' — meaning they could have been in-person, at home, on the phone or online.

NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board had the next lowest in-person number of appointments, with just 56 per cent.

Jointly NHS South East London Integrated Care Board had 56 per cent, followed by NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board at 57 per cent and NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board at 59 per cent.

Just 32 per cent of appointments in the region were over the phone, while 16 per cent were listed as 'unknown' (Getty Images)

Best-performing areas included were Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, where three-quarters of all consultations were done in-person.

The lack of action in some areas has led to anger among campaign groups - who claim the Government is failing in its "promises of intervention".

Figures also showed fewer than half of appointments across the country were with a fully-qualified GP.

The number of appointments patients actually had with a GP was also the fifth lowest recorded since the start of the Covid pandemic.

Dennis Reed, director of elderly charity Silver Voices, told MailOnline there has been "no improvement at all since the end of the pandemic" in parts of England.

The number of appointments patients actually had with a GP was also the fifth lowest recorded since the start of the Covid pandemic (Newcastle United via Getty Image)

He said: "Despite Government promises of intervention to increase the number of face to face appointments, these statistics show no improvement at all [in parts of the country] since the end of the pandemic.

"The postcode lottery on such appointments is largely caused by the random distribution of GPs across the country.

"There is no system in place to monitor where more GPs are needed and no national incentives to get newly trained doctors where the GP deserts exist."