Almost 43,000 people spent more than 28 days waiting for an appointment at their GP surgery in a single month this year, figures have revealed.
New statistics have been published showing how long patients are waiting for primary care in Norfolk and Waveney.
The figures showed that in June alone, 42,825 people waited more than 28 days to be seen after contacting their practice for an appointment.
READ MORE: Annual GP patient survey results revealed
This number equates to one in every 14 appointments across the month - with 603,484 scheduled in total.
The figure is the highest it has been since November, when there were around 44,000 and the largest number recorded this year so far.
It relates to the length of time between somebody requesting an appointment and when it takes place - with 229,860 taking place on the same day.
At one practice, Mattishall Surgery - almost a quarter of all people faced waits of more than 28 days - 943 out of 4,141 appointments.
The surgery with the largest number of these waits was Vida Healthcare - a group of practices in the King's Lynn area - with 3,170. This equated to 15pc of all appointments.
The statistics do, however, include instances when patients have intentionally made an appointment in the future, for example for regular check-ups or follow-ups.
A spokesman for NHS Norfolk and Waveney said: "GP practices in Norfolk and Waveney are continuing to work hard to provide prompt and quality care in ways that suit all their patients' needs.
"When patients contact the practice to request an appointment they go through a clinical triage process.
"That process determines whether the patient needs an urgent or same-day appointment, or if their condition is less urgent then they may be offered an appointment at a later date or signposted to an alternative service.
"The data shows the time between booking and the appointment taking place, which may not actually be a wait, but an appointment booked ahead.
"These are particularly useful if patients need regular appointments."
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