YOUR GP.

The person you trust and turn to in times of trouble – but who you avoid like the plague if you can help it! No-one wants to be ill, but if you are you just want to see your doctor as quickly as possible, get a diagnosis and a prescription and start on your road to recovery.

I’m lucky. I have no complaints about my local surgery, But for some people it seems it would be easier to get an audience with the Pope, than see their GP.

Why oh why, after all these years and umpteen different systems, hasn’t the health profession not come up with the best way to get patients seen as quickly and painlessly as possible and then spread that best practice across the country?

Recently, my partner and I both needed to see our GPs – different surgeries, different ailments. Mine routine, my partner’s far more painful after a game of football.

I phoned at 8am and the helpful receptionist offered me a 10am appointment! When I said that an appointment later in the day would be really helpful to me... lo and behold she offered me 5.15pm and I snapped it up.

This is the kind of service I receive whenever I call.

My partner phoned his surgery at 8am and was told the earliest appointment he could have was in three days’ time.

When he explained he was in quite a bit of pain, he was told if it got any worse to go to A&E!

Is it always easier for me because there are more GPs at my surgery? Fewer patients per GP?

I thought I’d check with a few colleagues and friends who are dotted around Cheshire to see how they fare when trying to get an appointment.

One said: “I needed to get my child seen by the doctor a few weeks back. Surgery opens at 8.30am and phone lines are constantly engaged until 9.30am when all the appointments had gone for that day. I was asked if it was an emergency, to which I replied no. I was informed I would have to try again tomorrow as I couldn’t pre-book an appointment for a new illness. This went on for three days! When I finally got an appointment I then waited 40 minutes after my appointment time as they were running late. It took the doctor two minutes to give me a prescription. To say I was unimpressed is an understatement.”

One poor colleague revealed: “When I ring up I often can’t get an appointment for at least five days.”

And another added: “I am not always guaranteed an appointment with my own doctor as she works part-time, so if I am ill on a Wednesday or Thursday, I’ve had it because she’s not in then.”

It seems to me that it’s a bit of a postcode lottery when it comes to getting a doctor’s appointment, but surely there shouldn’t be such disparity in patients’ experiences?