"Generally ok but so hard to get appointments"

I have been registered for 12 years and on a scale of 1-10 would rate it 6. The doctors, if and when you do get to see them are amazing. The access to your doctor has consistently been deterioting over the years. From having a morning in person walk in triage when I registered to now having to wait for weeks for an appointment and that too only if the practise deems it necessary! My main issue is how hard it is now to get face to face appointments. A mandatory phone triage service made sense during the pandemic , but a near total ban on seeing patients in person without having a telephone consultation after all Covid restrictions have been lifted nationwide is going to have long term detrimental impact on individual healthcare. It may be great for operations efficiency to never see a patient in person where deemed unnecessary by the practise, but is really difficult for patients who want to be able to see their doctor in person and discuss their concerns instead of only ever being able to call and rely on their judgement ( and time targets) on whether a visit is necessary or not.

I recently had an experience of a bad foot injury, it took me 3 calls to the practise and then a chat with 111 to convince the practise I really needed to see a doctor. Even then I only got a telephone call and advice to just take antibiotics and see how it goes. I eventually ended up at Urgent care my foot got so swollon I could hardly walk , the nurse at Guys asked me why I didnt go see my GP earlier!