One in four patients who see a GP have given up on trying to schedule an appointment, mainly because it was impossible. “too difficult”.
This shocking NHS poll has revealed a figure that is almost twice the number last year.
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Patients are less satisfied with GP practices than ever before. Only 56.2 percent said that they had a positive experience in getting to see a doctor. This is a decrease from 70.6% in 2021.
28.1 percent of respondents were dissatisfied about their appointment options. This figure is up from 18.3 percent last year.
Nigel Edwards, the chief of the Nuffield Trust think-tank for health, stated: “It suggests the crisis we have long feared is arriving.”
Family doctors warn they don’t have enough staff to meet demand.
Many patients come to Covid with severe conditions that were not treated during Covid.
Beccy Baird, from the King’s Fund think-tank, said: “For many of us, general practice is the front door to the NHS.
“These results show that patients are finding that door increasingly hard to push open.”
Dr Farah Jamel, the top GP at British Medical Association said: “We also feel dissatisfied after years of under-investment, ever-increasing workload and a government who has not been listening to us.”
A spokesperson for NHS said that the NHS had invested record-breaking amounts “including offering a new telephone service which increases the number of phone lines practices have for patients”.