The NHSE online service could lead to 180,000 fewer calls to GPs and up to 30,000 fewer general practice appointments each year. 

Dr Claire Fuller, NHS national medical director said: ‘GPs are available for any pregnant women who have concerns about their pregnancy they need to discuss, or other health conditions that need monitoring, but in many cases, GP teams don't need to be the first point of contact when someone finds out they're pregnant.

‘This quick and easy tool can help ease pressure on practice teams, who won't need to make the referral themselves, and by freeing up that time there will hopefully be a benefit for other patients who are looking to make an appointment with their GP.'

The new NHS drive to help speed up access to pregnancy care follows data showing only 62% of first appointments with maternity services happened within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy in 2023/24.

Early data shows that nearly 60,000 newly pregnant women have started their referral online since the new tool first began to be rolled out in March – with over three quarters of trusts in England now connected to the service to support hundreds of thousands to access maternity services faster. Nearly 85,000 (84,678) people have accessed the portal in total to receive information and support.

The NHS maternity self-referral portal can be found here: Refer yourself for NHS pregnancy care - NHS.