GP appointment

Our surgery does have a phone queuing system, but last year they got a new number and it costs 4p per minute for the privilege of waiting.

Government meddling and tons of NHS managers have certainly not helped one little bit- and actually made things much much worse.

It's good that patients have become more aware and want to take an active part in their treatment. However, when they come armed with 20 or 30 pages printed of 'some' site on the internet- and insist they know better than a doctor after 8-9 years of training and many years of experience, and insist they are given 'xyz' kind of treatment, such and as such a drug or two, and of course anitbiotics on top- it does turn into a nightmare.

I know one who for sure thinks that he left just at the right time, and would not want to go back for all the tea in China- despite loving his job and the NHS with a passion.

Seems to be huge variation across the country. I have moved from one extreme, in SE, where it was very difficult to get an appointment (no bookable appointment for weeks and you can't get one on the day unless you are emergency) to a GP that gives a great service here in Wales. She nearly always runs late as she takes her time, ponders and doesn't rush consultations. She's part time in a smallish practice.
Some of this comes down to the way they manage their practices in terms of booking, employing enough nurses etc. I guess they are not all management-minded and don't pay a lot for practice managers.
Some of it comes down to targets. Under the previous government they were supposed to offer you an appointment within a short time scale (2 days i think). This was also a pain if you were working and wanted to pre-book for a day when you could get there. Tories got rid of the target. I think Labour said they would bring it back.
Some of it comes down to hugely increased demand. We go to the doctor far more than we used to. Multiple factors I suspect:
More older people.
More young families living a long way from gran.
All the awareness raising that tells people to go to their doctor - visits by the worried well? (my upstairs neighbour, in her late 70s i guess, the other day said she was on her way to the doctor because she had twisted her knee while she was away. it was getting better but she was going to the doctor to get it checked. she did not limp up the road!)
GPs get extra money for screening BP etc. Dr Margaret McCarthy, in The Patient Paradox, argues that this is concentrating GP resources on the middle classes who dutifully go and get their BP checked etc and taking them away from the people that are actually ill. Maybe the pharmacists should be the ones doing the screening instead.
And last but not least they we are not training enough of them are we, and to be honest, most of the home grown ones elect to work in more desirable areas. A huge proportion of them went to public school, so they are not going to instantly head for the inner city jobs are they.
Here is my small sample from England:
Leafy Solihull - lovely, mainly UK trained doctors, charming and obliging.
Leafy but less desirable Milton Keynes - majority of doctors overseas trained some better than others
Black country - all overseas trained and consistently not impressive
Almost from the outset the NHS has relied on importing doctors from commonwealth countries and it still does. (My GP comes into the category of overseas born/trained and lovely but even here in the distant corner of Wales half the doctors are overseas born )
Oh sorry this has turned into rather a long post. I think GN should get a minister or shadow minister on to talk about this.

Good idea, to have a GN webchat about this.

Yes, good idea - it had crossed my mind to suggest it when writing the OP.
I should add that at my surgery the on call GP does call you back at the end of the morning if the problem is urgent and often the patient is at the surgery within the hour if necessary so obviously there are a number of appointments kept back for such 'emergencies'; it is the ridiculously complicated appointment bookings system that infuriates me. No wonder hospital casualty departments are bursting at the seams.
I know GP receptionists are often abused by frustrated patients, but sometimes getting past the 'Rottweilers' at the desk (just speaking generally!) is a major effort......

My surgery is in a small town not an inner city area. You have to ring at 8am for an appointment it's a bit of a rush, but they do have a surgery triage nurse you can talk to or go and see. If you ring too late all who are left are the doctors no one wants to see.

When I was working and it was non urgent I could usually get a dated appointment by pointing out that at 8am I needed to be on my way to work and that having to drive a 36mile round trip in the middle of the day was near impossible to organise.
Fortunately I have reasonable good health and don't need many urgent appointments.
My OH can be one of those "I must see a GP" about things that could easily be assessed by an experienced nurse.

My freind was a practice nurse in a much more working class town a few miles away and felt a lot more of her surgeries patients went to the GP over all sorts of minor ailments that people where we live would have sorted out for themselves.

There are two good GPs in our surgery one is Egyptian, he very thorough medically and very kind as well. The woman GP I am registered with has become burnt out is useless. I would only go to her if I know exactly what I want/need in advance.