United Kingdom
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While it certainly seems like a bunch of idiots taking the piss - the reality is that our GP system is in utter shambles, and has essentially forced people into using A&E as an intermediate.
Think about it. Besides pensioners and SAHPs, who actually has the time to sit by the phone at 8am in the morning and call the split second the GP opens for just a chance of seeing them that day at a time that is most likely going to be during your work day - meaning you'll need to get permission just to go!
Oh, and almost no GP has an option to book appointments in advance, and those that do often have them weeks in advance.
So what exactly are you supposed to do?? Fight on the phone every day, possibly for multiple days on end, or wait so long for an advance booking appointment that you may very well end up needing to go to A&E anyways!
The only other option that has recently opened up is going to your pharmacist, but they're already busy enough as is, and will likely end up buggered the same way if we don't fix our GP system first.
It's now a requirement to be able to book appointments online I believe?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjed4qvzjeyo
Yeah, good luck with that. GP businesses ignore this requirement widely, the Care Boards are too dysfunctional to make them comply and the Department of Health seems too broken to fix the Care Boards. The new government seems to be starting to fix things, but it's like turning a charging mammoth around and the Treasury don't really want to give them enough pull anyway because the right-wing press are trying to scare financiers already about how much they're spending.