"Are there any GPs in this practice any more?"

I agree with some of the more negative recent reviews of this practice. The fact that the surgery has failed to respond to any of them tells its own tale. Though both my wife and I have long-term conditions it has become impossible to see a doctor: instead, we are fobbed off with ancillary staff who are not always able to help. The 8.30am scramble on the phone for a telephone appointment is a disgrace, and the practice will not book an appointment any further ahead even for a follow-up or prescription review. If you ring after 9am you are told to ring again next day.

I am truly uncertain if GPs actually work there any more, except perhaps to sign prescriptions. None of those listed on their website was present on the two occasions when I received my Covid injections, though a retired GP was. The rest of those giving the jabs were non-medical staff. The practice does not respond to emails even when it is they who have requested information from the patient, and on the rare occasions when blood tests are performed they do not inform you of the results.

Some years ago, I made a formal complaint to the senior GP and was assured by him in writing that the practice was about to improve access, appointments and much else. None of it has happened. It is only because friends tell me that their own practice is as bad or worse that I have not sought to register elsewhere.

Some of the fault undoubtedly lies with national policy, but there is no evidence of local effort to ameliorate matters. And before anyone tells me that GPs are very hard-pressed and overworked nowadays I would say to them that on the contrary GPs have never had it so good, with far lower patient list sizes, far higher numbers of support staff, and far higher pay. It's high time for Whiteacres to shape up.