"lack of appointment times"

when recently i needed a appointment I was told there were no appointments available and would HAVE TO RING ON THE MORNING AT 8.AM.

then when i tried to ring i was on the phone constantly from 7.59 until 12 minutes past 8 waiting to be answered at which point i was then told all that days appointments had been allocated and would have to try again next day.

This has all occurred since the  amalgamation  of 2 Practices which I believe went against the wishes of its patients despite the assurances that the service would improve not deteriorate which has happened.

prior to all this there was never any problem getting an appointment i had never been told there wasn't an appointment time available.

when i confronted a staff member I was told that there was not enough doctors to cope with the amount of 3,000 patients(are they all ill at the same time?)  

this despite the fact there are now 3 doctors for the practice where as before there was just the one. They also stated that other practices were all the same (does that mean because they have a problem then this practice should be copying them?)

The fact that this practise was one of the best but now seems to have gone down the only constant being the good reception staff who have to suffer this and pass the bad news onto patients.Totally dissatisfied patient.