Many of us have found ourselves waiting, frustrated, to speak with our GP on the phone at 8am along with countless other patients. But turns out, doctors may be as fed up with the system as we are.
Securing a GP appointment is becoming an uphill battle for many as countless Brits find themselves redialling their surgeries at opening time multiple mornings in a row, often to no avail.
Dr Charles Levinson vented his frustration on X (formerly Twitter), decrying the “mad rush” each morning and claiming that ill patients should not be subjected to the ordeal.
Dr Levinson expressed via his post: “We live in Britain in 2024, there should not be a mad rush at 8am in order to speak to a doctor. It’s just ludicrous how this has not been resolved, across all surgeries yet. How many don’t even bother, knowing the hassle? It is absolutely amazing that this is still going on.”
Even those lucky enough to get through frequently discover the 10-minute slots available barely suffice for a comprehensive healthcare discussion.
And while many agreed with Dr Levinson, others said even attempts to improve the rush – such as online booking platforms – were not helping.
One persin said: “Quite…..but in most cases the 8am phone rush is no more….it has been replaced by the 8am online rush although, instead of queuing requests for a consultation, they shut the system down by 10am!!”
A frustrated Twitter user exclaimed, “I’m surprised they haven’t brought back the fax machine or required you to write a letter for an appointment.”
Someone else agreed: “I love the idea of the online form but it’s crazy it gets closed down after an hour or two each day, especially for non-urgent and admin related queries. I’m a night owl so it’s usually closed when I wake up, if I query it they simply say get up earlier! Awful use of tech.”
A third chimed in: “It doesn’t matter what day of the week you try and get a GP appointment at my GP Surgery you got almost zero chance of getting one. Took me nearly 3 weeks just to get a call back appointment that they text me to book.”
However, some patients did report a more positive experience, where their GPs had begun using apps for appointments. They explained: “My GP does have a great system, only if you can use the NHS app. You send a message on the app in the morning about what’s wrong, a GP looks at it and decides if you need to be seen. They will usually call back that same day and next steps are taken. I had an appt same day.”
