The 2026/27 general practice contract requires that any request identified as clinically urgent — as determined by the GP practice — must be dealt with on the same day. The requirement is designed to support timely access to care where a delay could result in harm or deterioration for the patient.
For practices, this brings a recording requirement alongside the clinical one. Same-day appointments for all clinically urgent patients need to be recorded consistently, so that the work practices are already doing to prioritise urgent need is properly captured and reflected nationally.
To help with this, guidance and support has been published covering:
- Recording same-day appointments for clinically urgent patients
- A national category mapping quick guide, to help practices align local coding with the national categories
- A frequently asked questions guide, available via FutureNHS (login required)
- A recording of a practice webinar covering the technical and system support for clinically urgent same-day recording (login required)
For practice managers, this is a good moment to check that clinical system templates and coding are set up correctly, and that reception and triage staff understand how clinically urgent requests should be recorded once identified. Getting the coding right at the point of triage avoids rework later and gives a more accurate picture of same-day demand across the practice.
If your practice hasn’t yet reviewed how clinically urgent requests are being recorded against the national categories, the mapping guide and FAQ are worth working through with your clinical and admin teams together, so everyone is applying the same definitions.
As same-day access continues to be a focus for 2026/27, getting the recording right now will make it easier to demonstrate the work practices are already doing to meet clinically urgent need.