DEMAND at GP surgeries in Bradford district and Craven rose in June, figures show, with activity closer to pre-coronavirus levels.

The Patients Association welcomed rising numbers of people accessing their local doctor across England, but warned continuing use of remote sessions must not become “the new normal” without assessing the benefits to patients.

NHS Digital data shows patients booked 277,338 appointments with practices in the NHS Bradford District and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group area in June – 27 per cent more than in May.

While this was still eight per cent fewer than during the previous June, demand in May was down by 33 per cent year-on-year. The picture was similar across England as a whole, where 20.6 million appointments were made in June – up 4.3 million on May.