On a wet morning in Oldham town centre, pensioner Alan Ingham takes shelter in a nearby shop door as he waits for his wife Margaret to go about her daily errands.
He is in recovery from prostate cancer and both he and his wife are diabetic. Despite this, Alan says he hasn't been able to see his GP, in Shaw, face-to-face since before the coronavirus pandemic.
Maria Mycock and her husband David have had an all too similar experience - spending hours on the phone from 9am - only to be cut off because there are too many people calling for an appointment.
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At their doctors surgery in Failsworth, the couple face a torturous game every time they call, they say - as they risk being cut off the line if they reach number 21 in the queue.
Maria, 64, stresses she doesn't blame her GP and recognises the "immense" pressure they are under. "The doctors are very good, it's just getting to see them," she adds.
It comes as some doctors in Greater Manchester have told the M.E.N they are considering industrial action over "relentless" working hours and poor pay - as they struggle to clear the backlog of patients presenting problems that went untreated during the pandemic.
Tameside GP Dr Faisal Bhutta said he and his colleagues are being asked to do 'more and more' including starting a seven day working week, and yet have seen their pay rise frozen for the last five years.
And despite the introduction of new contracts which demand doctors offer more appointments in the evenings and weekends, people in Oldham say it's still "impossible" to see their GP.
"We've given up with the GP where we live because we haven't been able to see a doctor for god knows how long," says Alan Ingham.
"When my wife had a swollen ankle we phoned up the doctor and they called us back and told her to take painkillers and rub cream in it. We did that for five days and it didn't get any better so we went to hospital and she had a blood clot.
"If she hadn't gone she could have been dead. Since then we haven't been to the doctor. I am getting over cancer and we are both diabetic but they couldn't care less.
"You ring up in the morning and they are fully booked. It's just ridiculous at the moment. Since covid it's been ridiculous. We haven't been able to see a GP face-to-face."
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Maria and David Mycock say they have spent countless hours on the phone to their local GP surgery but often find when they eventually get through, all the appointments are booked.
"At our practice you have to phone up at 9am and if you are more than 21 in the queue they cut you off," says Maria, 64. "You phone up and you'll get so far and then it says unfortunately you're number 21 in the queue and the phone cuts off.
"It's still telephone consultations and you don't get to see a doctor at all unless they feel it's quite an urgent scenario. They just chat over the phone and prescribe you medication or send you to A&E."
And the situation at accident and emergency departments across the region is even bleaker. Maria said they have spent more than 12 hours at a time waiting to be seen with her 93-year-old mother.
"The doctors have just got too many people on their books and they are obviously under immense pressure," adds David, 69.
"They are overwhelmed. Why would you stay in a job like that? It's the same with the dentists - they are not taking any patients on and a lot of them haven't been able to cope so have gone private," says Maria.
"NHS staff are being dumped on and blamed for a lot of the downfalls of the government. They should be getting a proper pay rise so they can live properly, but they don't even get their car parking covered anymore. It's disgusting."
Mum-of-two Vicky Marlor described the wait time to see her GP as 'horrendous,' and claims she is currently facing a six-week wait to have a suspicious mole checked out.
"I've been ringing up every day for a cancellation," she said. "Since covid I haven't been able to see a GP. Mine is a queueing system and you can be in for about 50 minutes to get through and often when you get through there are no appointments.
"My four-year-old daughter has had reoccurring tonsillitis and we've been told it will be 18 months before she can have them removed. She's had a sleep study saying it's dangerous for her in the night and it's still taking this long."
Marjorie Winnard, 70, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but says she hasn't been able to see her doctor since before the coronavirus pandemic.
"You can ring up and talk but I've never had an appointment," she said. "I've thought about moving but my partner has a different GP closer to home and that's even worse, so mine is the lesser of two evils.
"It was okay before Covid but It's one of those where you phone up at 8am when everyone else is phoning in so it's difficult. I do get my prescriptions okay though, so I just put up with it."
Janet, who lives in Uppermill, says she wasn't able to see her doctor when she had shingles and was asked to go and see a local pharmacist to provide her with advice.
"My GP waiting times are terrible," she said. "I never see a doctor - I ring them and then they ring me back. I suppose they would see me if it was something really serious but with shingles I suppose I would expect to be seen."
While residents in Oldham we spoke to claim they have struggled to get a GP appointment or see a doctor face-to-face, one passer-by reported a different experience in neighbouring Tameside.
Irene Russell, 65, says she hasn't had any issues with her doctors surgery in Mossley. "They have been fine on the phone, I haven't had any problems," she said. "I usually get something on the day or the next day. I know other people have had problems but I've generally found it okay."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "GP teams are working incredibly hard and in June they delivered over 26 million appointments, including lifesaving Covid jabs.
"Guidance is clear that GP practices must provide face to face appointments, alongside remote consultations – with 62.6% of appointments across the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board area face to face in June 2022.
"We made £520 million available to improve access and expand general practice capacity during the pandemic, and there are record numbers of GPs in training as we work to create 50 million more appointments a year."
The M.E.N approached Oldham Council's Director of Public Health but they declined to comment.
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