If the health service is going to thrive, patients must use the system more efficiently by keeping their scheduled appointments
The patient in front of me is five minutes late for her 10-minute appointment. As she sits down she tells me she is feeling suicidal, as her father has just been diagnosed with cancer and she is about to be evicted from her flat for non-payment of rent. It is 9.05am on a Monday and the waiting room is already standing room only. This is a slightly extreme scenario, but it does happen.
Whenever general practice is discussed in news reports, the main complaint seems to be that people cannot get appointments with their GP. There are many reasons for this. Chronic underfunding, combined with ever-increasing unfunded work being dumped on us are two major reasons why it is harder to see your family doctor.
We don't have any spare consulting rooms and there's no extra funding to hire consultants
Related: Getting lost in hospitals costs the NHS and patients
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