Access to a GP

I have been told that 90% of men in a survey wanted to see their GP either in the evening or at weekends. In an ideal world this would be great but it is just not possible given the shortage of doctors and nurses in the UK. There are not enough hours in the day. I know there’s been millions of extra pounds given to the NHS but most GPs honestly cannot see many extra doctors or nurses in the system. What this means is that we just can’t open 24 hours a day to see patients as we are over loaded from 8am to 7pm as it is.

My practice allows patients to book in advance for some of our appointments in each surgery but we also see every patient who wishes to be seen that day. This can cause enormous demand on our appointments. Quite often our staff are verbally abused by patients who can’t get an appointment at a convenient time for them and the abuse can be quite demoralising for our hard working staff. Sometimes they are even close to tears by the nasty comments from patients!

So please bear in mind the constraints of the NHS and have some sympathy. We really are doing our best for you!