Appointments

It is true to say that many things have changed on how we access our GP services in the last twenty years. Covid 19 made telephone consultations the norm (though face to face appointments did continue on a much-reduced basis), and this inevitably changed ways of thinking about appointments. So, telephone appointments are now offered almost routinely unless there is an obvious need for a face-to-face appointment, an emergency referral, or a recommendation to go directly to the Hospital. You can still request a face to face appointment with your GP, regardless. The main purpose of the new system is to make the most appropriate appointment for the problem that the patient has described.

But, you might say, in the ‘good old days’ we saw the doctor for everything. Yes, it is true that 50 years ago the doctor saw everyone – we sat in dingy waiting rooms, catching whatever someone coughed at us – sometimes for hours! However, thankfully, things have moved on considerably since then, and support staff such as nurses and dispensing staff are far better qualified and experienced than in those days, and it may be more appropriate to see a nurse than the doctor, or even another member of the Practice Team. Demand for GP practice services is at an all time high, and the NHS is delivering. According to NHS digital, the PCN (Patients Care Network) Appointment Systems for England recorded  that GP practices delivered 29.7 million appointments in June 2023, which was 642,000 more than in 2022. Of those appointments, 46.8% of all appointments were carried out by a GP and 20.7% were carried out by nurses. 69.0% of all appointments in June 2023 were carried out face to face. Source: Appointments in General Practice, June 2023 - NHS Digital

As it is, the practice staff are working flat out all day to provide you with the best service they can. However, they are only human, and can only do so much in a day. The average GP has an appointment time of 10 minutes to deal with any medical issue (minor or very serious) that you can come up with (the average Optometrist appointment is usually at least twice that, and they only have to worry about your eyes!). On top of that they must check and sign every prescription issued, write referral letters, check every test result as it comes in, write various reports, oversee vaccination programmes and see to any admin problems that arise. In their own time, they have to keep up to date with the latest medical treatments, investigations, research and recommended protocols etc, etc etc.

So, yes, you can get a ‘face to face’ appointment with a GP, but maybe a telephone one might suit just as well. As we go forward, your NHS GP practice team will continue to give you the best service they can. Yes, it probably won’t be like it was in ‘the good old days’. It most likely will be a lot, lot better.

NHS digital for England is putting a lot more statistical data on line, so that ‘the bloke down the pub’ may have to revise some of the fake news about the NHS circulating at the moment. If you would like to access some of the facts you can go to https://digital.nhs.uk, and check out the data yourself.

Bernadette Adams (retired Optometrist)