Table 1 . Changes to English NHS general practice appointment modes and totals during the COVID-19 pandemic. 3 .
| Consultation mode | February 2020 appointments | March 2020 * appointments | April 2020 appointments | May 2020 appointments | August 2021 appointments | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| millions | % | millions | % | millions | % | millions | % | millions | % | ||
| Face-to-face | 19.229 | 80 | 15.921 | 67 | 7.480 | 47 | 7.730 | 47 | 13.711 | 58 | |
| Telephone ** | 3.322 | 14 | 6.637 | 28 | 7.651 | 48 | 7.814 | 48 | 9.128 | 38 | |
| Video/online | 0.173 | 1 | 0.127 | 1 | 0.044 | 0 | 0.042 | 0 | 0.096 | 0 | |
| Home visits *** | 0.227 | 1 | 0.173 | 1 | 0.101 | 1 | 0.112 | 1 | 0.152 | 1 | |
| Unknown mode | 0.858 | 4 | 0.914 | 4 | 0.559 | 4 | 0.678 | 4 | 0.668 | 3 | |
| Total consultations | 23.810 | 100 | 23.772 | 100 | 15.835 | 100 | 16.375 | 100 | 23.754 | 100 | |
Selected months shown for illustrative purposes. Full data available from NHS Digital. 3
*
NHS Standard Operating Procedures to mitigate COVID-19 were introduced during March 2020.
**
Telephone consultations; telephone triage may also be included if logged as individual, rather than block, appointments.
***
Home visits included if logged as individual, rather than block, appointments.