“My doctors surgery is open 6 days a week. Two of those days they are open until 8pm.”
Lucky old you. Mine is open from 8:30am to 6pm four days a week and shuts from 12:30pm to 2pm for lunch. Doctors’ appointments are 9am to noon and 2:30pm to 5pm. On the fifth day (Thursday) it shuts at 12:30pm entirely.
If I phoned my doctor (a) I’d be very fortunate too get through and (b) I’d be told to come in (appointments available in three to four weeks). But don’t come in if you’ve got a cold, cough, sore throat or, in short, if you’re ill.
The practice has just spent the thick end of a million pounds on a rebuild (most of which was funded by the NHS with just a token amount slung in by the “partners”). But still the same hours prevail, still they will not take a blood sample for analysis (it’s two buses from where I live to a hospital that will. No fun if you’ve had to fast overnight, get two buses and then queue up for two hours).
It’s an utter disgrace. GP practices should be run under a mandate from the Department of Health which stipulates hours of opening and services to be provided and all GPs should be salaried employees of the NHS. Those standards should apply across the country and should not vary depending on where you live. They should not be run on the whim of a few chancers who see the opportunity to make a very handsome salary for very little work. In most cases GPs are unnecessary anyway. In my experience I’ve usually been prescribed a packet of asprins with the advice “Take these. If you’re not dead or better in a fortnight, come back and I’ll send you to see somebody who knows what they’re talking about.” Better to direct me to a website with the headings “Guts, Lungs, Knees, Elbows, etc. Click here for the contact details of people who know about these things.”
if my experience is anything to go by It’s little wonder that people are pitching up at hospitals when they are ill. I certainly cannot depend on my GP’s services to sort me out should I need any attention. Anything trivial cures itself before I can get an appointment and anything worse will deteriorate long before they agree to see me. Loadsamoney for very little old rope.