More than a quarter of patients who need appointments avoid making one because they find it too difficult, according to a new survey.
The NHS GP Patient Survey 2022 showed a sharp rise in people struggling to get through to GP practices over the phone. Since last year, the share of respondents saying it was not easy to make contact with anyone jumped by nearly 15 percentage points to roughly 47% in the previous 12 months.
Social media is full of memes about the obstacle of a GP's receptionist and the struggle of the 8am phone queue for a same-day appointment. But behind the humour is falling patient satisfaction and a growing struggle to access what is, for many, the first port of call for medical help, revealed this year by the survey.
