GP consultations in Britain are among the shortest in Europe and it will take 70 years before the NHS achieves 15 minute appointments, a study published today shows.

Patients in Lithuania, Belgium and Portugal all enjoy longer visits to their doctors than Britons who on average are seen for just 9 minutes and 22 seconds.

British patients also see their family doctor for less time than patients in the USA, Sweden, Canada, Spain and Japan.

Available data shows the average appointment in the UK is increasing by just 4.2 seconds a year, according to the study by Cambridge University, which was published in BMJ Open.

The British Medical Association has previously called for 15 minute appointments, claiming it is impossible to make a thorough diagnosis in less time. But if current trends continue, that target will not be reached until 2086.

The analysis looked at 67 countries across the world for which appointment data was available and found that 28 had longer consultations than Britain.

The average appointment varied from just 48 seconds in Bangladesh to 22.5 minutes in Sweden.

Those in Lithuania, Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg, Iceland, Cyprus and Peru currently enjoy 15 minute consultations, a third longer than in the UK.