"Patients made to feel like an inconvenience"

Had to leave this practice as it was bad for my health!  Speaking to the staff on the phone (if you can ever get through to the practice), you get stonewalled.  Urgent issue?  No appointments.  Really urgent issue?  Nothing we can do.  All urgent appointments have gone.  Try again at 8 tomorrow and join the hour long phone queue (presumably, if you're still alive - they never even bother to suggest alternative resources).  Worried?  Scared?  Nothing we can do - no appointments.

In my experience, there is no empathy, no humanity from the customer facing staff, only a 'computer says no' attitude. You never see the same doctor or practitioner twice, so when you are already anxious about your health, you have to explain it every single time you go back.  It feels like dealing with a faceless, impersonal machine and not a local GP practice.  I would find myself not seeking medical advice when I should because I just couldn't face waiting on the phone for hours, or having to explain over and over again. 

The alternative is to go through an automated system on the app which does admittedly give you more success of getting a callback, but at the expense of feeling like you're dealing with even more of a machine.  And for those who are not comfortable with technology, this represents a brick wall. In my opinion, reception staff should not be used to medically triage or judge a patient's need, and whilst this may have been a necessary and pragmatic response during Covid, it has now become fully embedded in the culture of the practice, as has a process-driven rather than patient-driven model, in my view.