Unanswered phones deter visits to doctor

 More than a third of patients have given up on making a doctor’s appointment because surgeries take too long to answer the phone, a poll has found.

Many people are going without seeing their GP because they find it too difficult to get through, the research suggested.

More than a third (36 per cent) of people surveyed said they have gone without seeing their doctor in the past 12 months because they could not get through, Octopus Healthcare said.

About one in five said they have gone without seeing their GP more than once in the past year, the Censuswide poll of more than 2,000 over-16s found.