Rishi Sunak is registered with a private GP practice offering 250 consultations | Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak is registered with a private GP practice which guarantees that all patients with urgent health concerns will be seen the same day.

The west London clinic used by the Prime Minister charges £250 for a half-hour consultation and, unlike most NHS GPs across the country, offers evening and weekend appointments -end, as well as consultations by e-mail or telephone which cost up to 150.

Patients can request home visits from doctors for which they are charged between 400 and 500, depending on the time of day or night. The clinic, which The Guardian has chosen not to name, also charges up to £80 for prescriptions.

The latest figures from NHS England show most patients are having to wait longer for an appointment. Only 41.5% of GP appointments in September took place on the same day, with a further 8% taking place the next day. About 19% of appointments took place between two and seven days after the appointment was made, while 13.5% of patients had to wait up to two weeks, and 5% more than a month.

Last week, the Sunaks government re-engaged on a promise from Thrse Coffey, the health secretary under Liz Truss, that no patient would wait longer than two weeks to see a GP. The government has also pledged that anyone needing an urgent appointment can get one the same day.

Sunak declined to answer questions at the G20 summit in Bali last week about whether he had private health care, saying only that it was not appropriate to talk about his family’s health care.

At Prime Ministers Questions earlier this month, he dodged the question when MPs asked if he would use a GP or accident and emergency service if he or a family member fell ill or would pay privately to see someone faster. He responded by praising the team at NHS Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton in his constituency, who he said had provided excellent care for his family, but did not fully answer the question.

Sunak was also pressed during the summer leadership campaign on when he and his family last used health services. He said: You wouldn’t expect me to talk about my children’s medicine [history]but of course we use the NHS.

Downing Street declined to comment on the Prime Ministers’ decision to use a private GP practice.

Margaret Thatcher revealed in 1987 that she had private health insurance, saying it was vital to go to hospital on the day I want, at the time I want and with the doctor I want. David Cameron made it a virtue to use the NHS during his time at No 10, while Boris Johnson claimed it saved his life when he caught Covid.

In last week’s Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a $3.3billion increase in NHS funding to save the health service from collapse this winter, along with plans for a review major factor in the efficiency of the NHS.

Paul Evans, director of the NHS Support Federation, an independent group of researchers and journalists, said: The NHS can consistently provide adequate care for the whole population, but only when properly funded. Private health care is not a realistic option for most people. Of course, the Prime Minister can go private if he wants, but it reminds us that we need politicians who have long-term belief in the publicly run NHS that most of us rely on.

Dr Ellen Welch, GP and co-chair of the Doctors Association UK, said: If general NHS practice continues to be neglected and private practice becomes the norm, it is the less well-off who will suffer.

Dr John Puntis, co-chair of campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, said: It should come as no surprise that Rishi Sunak has private medical care arrangements; this will be the norm for many rich and powerful, those who make decisions about vital public services are often the least likely to use them, which of course reinforces their ideological animosity.