NHS patients waiting over two weeks to see a GP, shows survey

[Northerner]

The average wait for a routine GP appointment in the UK has risen above two weeks for the first time, according to an annual survey of doctors.

The poll, for Pulse, found the average waiting time was almost 15 days. More than one in five of the 901 GPs who responded said the wait for a routine appointment exceeded three weeks, while more than one in 20 said it was more than four weeks.

In response, NHS England said the findings did not tally with official statistics.

Commenting on the findings, Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “Our patients should be able to see a GP when they need to – and the fact that this is becoming increasingly difficult is frustrating for GPs and our teams, as we know it is for them.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society...iting-over-two-weeks-to-see-a-gp-shows-survey

 

[SueEK]

I wish this surprised me but sadly it doesn’t, personally I would be happy to pay a bit more in taxes if it was specifically to fund the NHS but it would prob get eaten up by the fat cats!

 

[Ralph-YK]

My GP practice only allows you to make an appointment within the next two weeks. Often I've had to wait several days for the next back of appointments to come up.
I have had same day emergency. And once got one the next(?) day. (Made at 1am done online. I guess it was a cancelation.)
About 3 years ago things were really bad, at all the practices around here, for getting an appointment and GPs running late (an hour or more).

 

[Ljc]

Due to a shortage of Gps the last few years here their have been a couple of amalgamation's of practices that resulted in at least one Gp practice closing each time . The most recent one this year includes our practice they have only just decided which practice is to close , fortunately not ours .
They allow 10 minutes for routine appointments so the GPs are always running late usually an hour,

For quite a few years now we have to wait at least two weeks for routine appointments though we can usually get an on the day appointment for sudden problems or emergencies, we also have a Gp or a paramedic appointment at our minor injury unit on sat and Sunday mornings we have to phone our out of hours service to get an appointment .
If we request a home visit it might be a paramedic based at our community hospital that attends .
So though we don’t have enough GPs here, I feel that they are really doing their best , how long they can continue though is any bodies guess.