We all know the frustrations of booking a GP appointment, so it was comforting to learn that Sussex had a record number of same-day appointments in March, according to the primary care appointment data.

A total of 408,000 appointments took place on the same day they were booked in March. During that month, more than 972,000 primary care appointments took place in Sussex.

To improve access to general practice appointments there have been better phone systems put in most practices, including a cloud-based system that assists in better managing the demand for calls in the morning. Other options available to book appointments include e-Consultations,  call-back request and online appointment booking.

It is now possible to get an appointment between 8am and 8pm Mondays to Fridays and between 9am and 5pm on Saturdays. The additional appointments are provided by primary care networks (groups of practices in the same area).