GPs in Bolton carried out around 10,000 more face-to-face appointments at the start of this year compared to last despite mounting demands on their resources.

This comes amid both a nationwide recruitment crisis facing GPs but also alongside a drive by NHS England to shift focus back to “routine care” in late January following the end of lockdown.

Bolton West MP Chris Green, who has long called for a return to pre-pandemic services, welcomed the news, especially given the roles that family doctors play in local communities.

He said: “I welcome the return to normality where constituents can have a face-to-face appointment with their GP.

“Often this is preferable for people, they find it more comfortable but then there have been big strides made with online appointments, telephone appointments and so on.”

But he acknowledged that GPs were expected to deliver this service alongside a stretch on resources that, in Bolton, has seen just one doctor care for an average of more than 2,000 patients.

The figures from NHS England show that around 27,000 face-to-face appointments were carried out by Bolton GPs in January 2022, soaring by 10,000 from the 17,000 carried out in January the previous year.

This has put GPs under pressure all across the country.

Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi said: "With an extra 10,000 face to face appointments in Bolton, this will have a huge mental and physical impact on our hardworking GPs in our borough and the Government must extend an arm of support"

In response the local clinical commissioning group said it was also helping people getting in touch by other methods, as well as by seeing doctors face-to-face.

Appointments of all kinds by GPs rose from 64,000 in January 2021 to 69,000 this January.

NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group chief officer Su Long said: “Practices are working tirelessly to deal with a large increase in the number of patients who are contacting them by phone and online.

“Some patients may have put off contacting their practice during lockdown; for others, their mental and physical health has worsened during the pandemic or while they wait for delayed procedures.”