My surgery has a 'phone at 8' policy, which has been there since before Covid. If you get through, which is by no means a given, you might get a telephone appointment if it is deemed necessary, but as often as not the phone rings off the hook.
If you are granted an appointment, there is no indication of when it will be, so you can't plan your day. People could be on the way to work, in a meeting, looking after children, in the same room as an abusive partner or parent, and have to discuss personal issues. I am ok now, as I can be in my own house all day, and there is space if I want to be private - plus there is only me and Mr Dog at home. But by no means everyone is in that position. My guess is that most people are not.
When we came to this surgery the doctors would come out to visit patients who couldn't get to the surgery, you could get an appointment the same day, and with a named doctor the next day at the latest. There were Saturday surgeries for people who worked through the week, and you could turn up at 11.00 without an appointment and wait to be seen if you didn't have one booked. There was also an hour a day when you could speak to a GP on the phone. None of those things still applies.
I have recently been given an appointment to speak to a pharmacist who will review my medication. I have no idea who this will be, and am not very happy about it. When did pharmacists get access to patient records, and were we asked about this? It feels that more and more is being done by people other than doctors, so more and more people are being given access to our records, which are supposed to be confidential.
Meanwhile, our surgery website has a note saying that they are still accepting NHS patients and to make an appointment to discuss any particular needs before deciding to join the practice! I know they are businesses, but why keep taking patients whilst simultaneously cutting the services for the ones they have? And how do people get pre-registration appointments when there are none for the sick?
Scottish political mess. Is Devolution working?