"Appointment System"

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to get an urgent appointment. Being told by the receptionist at the surgery that "i can't give you an appointment when there aren't any", followed by "go and see a pharmacist" and "if it becomes urgent go to an Urgent Treatment Centre, and if it becomes an emergency go to A & E" leaves us with no confidence whatsoever that we can get any help when needed. Contact by telephone usually results in the call being cut off somewhere in the long queue, and coming to the surgery for 8am (when the emergency appointments for that day are released) is not always an option for someone who is ill. The earliest non- emergency appointment was one week hence. We did go to to the UTC, who were excellent in every respect - for which we were very grateful as we had no help whatsoever from the surgery. The appointment system does not work, it is unhelpful, inflexible and certainly not patient-friendly.