Manchester woman called GP 673 times in one morning to be told to ‘try again tomorrow’

A woman from Manchester recently shared her experience when trying to book a face-to-face GP appointment, saying she called over 600 times to be told to ‘try again tomorrow’.

Francine Jury, a health researcher, took to Twitter to explain how difficult it was to get an appointment via the telephone at her local GP surgery.

She wrote: “Just Dialled GP 673 times over 28 minutes to get into phone queue at position 9. Waited further 20 minutes to speak to receptionist to be told there are no appointments left and try again tomorrow #primarycare is broken. #NHS”.

Francine later followed up her tweet by explaining that her frustration wasn’t with the NHS staff themselves, but with the ‘broken’ system that manages appointments.

She wrote: “The incredible NHS primary care staff are working in a completely broken system. Needs better funding and GPs need more flexibility… GP practices know their patients and communities best and how best to serve them.

“Give them the support they need to make the system work for everyone. Founding principle of NHS- healthcare free at point of NEED, needs better support at primary care level.”

This comes just one week after Rossendale Borough Council raised concerns over the current booking systems and availability of in-person appointments since the pandemic.

Councillor Alan Neal said that patients are visiting NHS walk-in centres and accident and emergency departments as an alternative to the lengthy waiting times to see their own doctors.

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He said: “This is not a criticism of the medical profession. It is a criticism of the organisational system. A few years ago, CCGs [clinical commissioning group] were were set up across the country but, sadly, that system is not fit for purpose.”

Health secretary Sajid Javid recently urged GPs to scale down phone consultations now the height of the crisis is ‘way past’.

He told MPs last week that the government ‘intends to do a lot more’ to ensure in-person consultations go ahead, but did not reveal what specific actions ministers would take.