I work full-time and am a parent to very young children. Suffering from depression and anxiety, it tried to make an appointment to see a GP. Phonelines are closed during for lunch (also my lunch hour) so it was difficult to speak to someone. I called on various days over several weeks and (when I got through) I was told that it was not possible to arrange an appointment with a few days (or even a week's notice) and that I could request a same day appointment if I needed urgent advice. Despite explaining it was not urgent, I was urged to simply say it was urgent so I could have a same day appointment. Due to the nature of my work (a lot of client meetings), I am not able to arrange a same day appointment. Furthermore, I needed to arrange childcare due to the nature of my illness as I cannot openly discuss such issues in front of my toddlers. Eventually when things reached breaking point I managed to get to a same-day appointment (I had given up by then and my partner had to call). Other people in the village have had a similar experience. Why have a system where patients are forced to exaggerate their symptoms in order to see a GP?
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