Lack of GP appointments leaves Kent residents angry
People sit in doctor's waiting room. One woman looks a medical brochure and a man uses his smart phone to make a call.
GP surgeries across Kent are becoming overwhelmed with patients. Many are still operating largely through telephone appointments, which started happening more during Covid-19.
Residents in Kent are becoming increasingly frustrated as they try to book appointments but can not due to them all being taken.
Lisa Sullivan lives in Gillingham and works full-time. She is annoyed because when she calls her GP she is held in a cue for up to two hours on some occasions.
“I can’t sit on a phone for an hour or hour and a half in the morning, on the off chance that I may get an appointment or may not get an appointment on that day,” said Miss Sullivan.
Lisa suffers with pains in her stomach and was upset when she could not get an in person appointment.
“You can see in someone if they are unwell, their skin, their colour, their eyes, just generally, you can’t do that over the phone,” said Mrs Sullivan.
Staff members who work in GPs are being put under extreme pressure as they have to try to squeeze in as many patient appointments in as possible, but more often than not, somebody will have to try again tomorrow.
Julian Spinks is a doctor who works at Maidstone Road Surgery in Chatham, Kent and he has said just how much pressure GP staff are under at this current time.
“The demand for appointments has gone up, there is already about ten percent more appointments than we were at prior to Covid. In fact now the latest figures are actually doing more face to face appointments, since Covid,” he said.
Even though the lack of appointments is not down to GP staff members many find themselves being shouted at, as patients take out their frustration.
“As it’s got more difficult to offer people appointments, the receptionists get the grumbles and sometimes the aggression. It’s like trying to book a seat on a flight, which is full and the answer is you can’t actually put more people in,” said Mr Spinks.
It does not look like the shortage of appointments is going to be fixed anytime soon, due to an overall shortage of GP doctors. Hospital waiting times are also currently at an all-time high, and the overall NHS system and staff are under immense pressure.
