Our practice will only give you an appointment to see the doctor on the day. You have to phone at 8am and because many other patients are trying to get through, the line is continually engaged. When you do get through there are no appointments left. I have had to redial their number in the past, always in high double digit number of times before getting through and on one occasion redialed over 100 times. Friends have told me that they dial the practice on more than one phone to try to get through. Once you do eventually get through the practice gives a spiel of dos and donts in excess 1 minute before you are given a choice of about 6 extensions to choose from! You then have to convince a receptionist that you need to see a doctor and, if you are lucky, you will get a telephone appointment “sometime today”. I hope that due to all GP practices being partnerships rather than being NHS, that something can be done. Maybe we need another point of contact for patient care run by NHS where it is easier to get help and advice rather than what we have now.
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