"Useless, cannot get an appointment"

I'm sorry to hear that you have had difficulty getting an appointment.

Unfortunately, Devon Road is not immune to the pressures of patient demand and we, along with all other surgeries have can have a longer wait for routine pre-bookable appointments.

We are a primary care service not an urgent care service.

Patients with urgent problems who cannot get an appointment with their own GP need to access urgent care services, i.e. the Walk in Centre, A & E or we now have extended access appointments available at various surgery 'hubs' in Dartford, Swanley and Gravesend but obviously the patient has to travel to these.

Because we [along with most other surgeries] now have a mixed clinical team, receptionists have to ask what the basic problem is to ensure they offer the most appropriate and timely appointment.

We have nurse practitioners who can prescribe and like I mentioned, the Hubs which will see 'acute' problems such as yours.

I know this is an adjustment for patients from the 'old' way of doing things but the NHS is a changing landscape, with less doctors and more patients requiring more appointments, Practices have to move with the times in order to keep up with patient demand.