"Downhill since the merger"

I used to be very happy with my neighbourhood practice at Belmont Hill, but since merging into The Lewisham Care Partnership everything seems to be going downhill. No doubt part of this is down to the shameful withdrawal of NHS funding, but it is devastating to see. Almost impossible to get an appointment on the day, chaotic administration (in my case resulting in repeated times when the prescription for the meds I rely on to keep alive were not sent to the chemist). More than once I had to take my child to A&E after repeatedly failing to get an appointment (as happened again today). Now the telephone queuing system no longer works, so I had to call the practice 11 times, as the call kept dropping and I had to redial, meaning that it's no longer a case of first-come first-served, but a totally random allocation of people who call around 8 am. I started calling just before 8 and my call was finally answered at 8.20 to tell me that no appointments were available. The staff, if you get to see them, are all great, but they seem to have lost all control over the way they are administered and the impersonal, impenetrable in which access to the practice is policed makes it almost pointless to continue to be registered there. It is a microcosm of how the tory government has decimated a once great institution, profoundly depressing to witness.