Why is it so difficult to get an appointment to see your GP?

THE Mail’s front page story ‘Is there any point ringing your GP any more?’ coincided with me trying to make an appointment with my practice of ten GPs. I was expecting to wait seven days, but was told I could not make an appointment for the foreseeable future because it is the school holidays. name supplied, Rhyl, Flintshire. I AM tired of the attacks on general practice, which has been broken by successive governments and NHS reorganisations. I retired from

the NHS aged 59, after being ground down by a system that required me to use an online questionnaire to assess depression. If a patient had found the courage to see me, burst into tears and said they couldn’t cope, I was supposed to look at a screen rather than hold their hand and listen. I chaired a Primary Care Group and, just as it began to deliver results, it was replaced by Primary Care Trusts (employing many non-clinical staff) and then Clinical Commissioning Groups. Hospitals became trusts with

more pen-pushers. I fear for the future of general practice. How do we get back to what we once had? Dr KEITH SUMNER, Castle Donington, Derbys.

STATISTICS don’t reveal if patients who can’t get a same-day appointment really need it or if waiting for a few days will make a difference. The problem at my GP practice is that seeing a nurse or nurse practitioner requires a GP referral. This creates a bottleneck instead of allowing the nurses to deal with minor problems such as coughs, colds and ingrowing toenails. It is time that the NHS gets a grip on

the whole system instead of clinging on to outdated practices.

R. HAVENHAND, Nantwich, Cheshire. MY EXCELLENT GP works just two mornings a week so it is virtually impossible to get an appointment to see her. The average waiting time in my local practice is three weeks and then you must agree to see any doctor, who is often a locum.

MIKE PILKINGTON, Wigan, Lancs.

I AM so lucky. At my GP surgery in Hackney, East London, if you phone for an appointment and say it’s urgent, you will be seen that day. Otherwise, it’s within 48 hours.

Name and address supplied.

IF I HAD to wait a week for an appointment, I would consider myself lucky. I’ve had to wait two-and-a-half

months to see my doctor. It was two weeks to see any GP at the practice.

ANNE DUCKER, Shepshed, Leics.

I HAD a recent health scare and the care from my GP and hospitals has been exemplary, with six consultations and two scans within a month.

G. DELANEY, Kentford, Suffolk. WHY is so difficult to see your doctor? There is a notice at my GP surgery stating that patients failed to show up for 90 appointments in the past month. DEN McCHRISTAL, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear.