According to Consumer Choice Center research processed by Statista, waiting times for general practitioner appointments and non-emergency surgeries vary significantly across several countries, but are generally quite long.
In the United States (US), scheduling an appointment with a general practitioner averaged 21 days in 2023, the longest among the countries studied. The waiting time for non-emergency surgeries was 28 days.
Statista reports that US waiting times to see a general practitioner are two to ten times longer than in Europe.
"For example, in that year, the average waiting time for a medical consultation was two days in Switzerland, six days in France, and ten days in the United Kingdom and Italy," wrote Statista author Tristan Gaudiaut, as translated by Anna Fleck on Tuesday (September 17, 2024).
Italy and the United Kingdom had the longest waiting times for general practitioners after the US, at 10 days. However, non-emergency surgeries required an average wait of 29 days in Italy and 62 days in the UK.
Switzerland had the shortest appointment time for general practitioners, at 2 days. Similar to the US, the waiting time for non-emergency surgeries was 28 days.
The longest waiting time for non-emergency surgery was in Spain, averaging 77 days or 2.5 months. Appointments with general practitioners in Spain averaged 9 days.
Note that this research only included 9 countries.