'I've been ringing every morning at 8am and still can't get one.': Gazette readers share their struggles to get an appointment

We asked Gazette readers what their experiences were of booking appointments to see their doctor.
'Ive been ringing every morning at 8am [and] still cant get one.': Gazette readers share their struggles to get an appointment'Ive been ringing every morning at 8am [and] still cant get one.': Gazette readers share their struggles to get an appointment
'Ive been ringing every morning at 8am [and] still cant get one.': Gazette readers share their struggles to get an appointment

Many responded with stories of long waits and fully booked surgeries.

Steve Reilly said: “I rang to book an appointment three weeks in advance to be told that they don’t give appointments that far in advance.

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“I rang a week later to book for two weeks in advance to be told that they were already booked up for that week.”

'Ive been ringing every morning at 8am [and] still cant get one.': Gazette readers share their struggles to get an appointment'Ive been ringing every morning at 8am [and] still cant get one.': Gazette readers share their struggles to get an appointment
'Ive been ringing every morning at 8am [and] still cant get one.': Gazette readers share their struggles to get an appointment

Allison Hunton said it took her three weeks to see a doctor when she was having chest pains.

“It took longer to get the initial appointment than it did for the appointment for an angiogram and the appointment for my heart surgery,” she added.

Yvonne Brown said: “[I’ve] been ringing every morning at 8am [and] still can’t get one. by the time I get through they have gone.”

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Another reader replied to say she had to wait a week to see a doctor when she found a lump in her breast.

And David Martin said: “On the July 6 I couldn’t get a general appointment until the beginning of August, almost four weeks away.

“I couldn’t get an emergency appointment for three weeks and would have to wait two weeks for either a telephone appointment or a home visit.

“Not so much as having trouble making an appointment, but getting one within a reasonable time frame is impossible.”

However, not everyone reported having trouble seeing a GP.

One reader said they had never had to wait in 12 years with their current surgery, while Annabelle Jade Hartley added: “My doctor’s is amazing. Most of the time it’s same day or next day.”

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