"The Frustration of Accessing Healthcare: A Broken…"

Today, we spent the entire afternoon trying to get an appointment for my grandad, and the experience was nothing short of frustrating. Every time we called, we were met with the same message: “Queue capacity full”—and then the call would just hang up. No option to hold, no way to get through.

We also tried using the Health Copilot system, but, unsurprisingly, that wasn’t working either. It seems like every possible way of contacting the practice is either broken or completely overwhelmed.

After numerous attempts, we finally managed to get into the phone queue. We waited patiently for 31 minutes, watching as we moved up the queue, until we were finally next in line. Then, just as the call started ringing, they hung up on us. No explanation, no way to reconnect—just another dead end.

It’s absolutely useless. Nothing works, and it’s impossible to get hold of anyone. We’ve wasted an entire afternoon just trying to speak to a doctor’s office—something that should be simple and straightforward. This level of service is completely unacceptable, especially when trying to arrange care for an elderly patient.

If this is the standard of patient care, it’s deeply concerning. Something seriously needs to change.