GPs as frustrated as patients with waiting times

Staff at a GP surgery in Dumfries say they are "just as frustrated" with waiting times for appointments as their patients.

The Charlotte Medical Practice says it is working at full force - but staff still receive abuse and threats from people seeking medical treatment.

It comes after a survey suggested public satisfaction with GP services is at its lowest level in over a decade.

The Scottish government says it is investing to increase GP numbers.

But Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has warned the delays faced by some patients in getting a GP appointment are part of the huge challenges faced by the NHS in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic meant the majority of appointments at the Charlotte Medical Practice had to be carried out over the phone, with the doors to patients only opened when it was essential.

At one point, patients had to wait a month for a face-to-face appointment, but now the waiting time is roughly two weeks.

Practice GP Dr Anna Roberts says they are now seeing as many people in person as they did before the pandemic began in March 2020.

She said: "There has never been a point where we stopped seeing patients.

"We are just as frustrated about the fact that there aren't enough appointments to meet patient demand.

"We're working with the resources that we've got. We do not have enough GPs in the country."

Dr Roberts says the criticism levelled at GPs has been difficult to stomach and has affected her mental health.

"I was giving 110% - coming home physically and emotionally exhausted and [hearing people saying] that GPs weren't doing anything... and I found that really difficult."

Pharmacists, nurses and a physiotherapist help with the pressure at the surgery, but frustrated patients still threaten staff and, on a few occasions, the police have had to be called.

"The more aggressive people get, the more burnt out GPs become," adds Dr Roberts.

Admin supervisor Leslie Young deals with patients both on the phone and at the reception desk.

She says: "We're always seen to be the dragon who stops people seeing their GP - but that's really not the case.

''We get a lot of swearing and shouting down the phone. There's been girls in tears who just can't cope with that."

Chairs have been kicked in reception areas, emergency panic buttons pressed and threats made to be "waiting outside" for staff when they finish work.

"It's frightening because you don't really know what could be waiting outside for you," she adds.

The Scottish government says controlling the spread of Covid will hopefully lead to fewer people facing long waits to see their GP.

But Health Secretary Humza Yousaf told BBC Scotland: "The challenges of the NHS are not going to be resolved in a few weeks or a few months.

"I have to be upfront and say that recovery is going to take years."

The Scottish government has already promised to recruit 800 GPs by 2027 to help cope with demand and says it has invested £12m in staff wellbeing during the last financial year.

But the manager at Charlotte Medical Practice, Suzanne Robson, doubts there will ever be enough staff to see people on the day they want an appointment.

She says, "I feel like society's all about instant. I'm old enough to remember that you had to go to the library if you needed to find something out about somebody - now you just Google things.

"I don't think you can ever have enough people to deal with everybody [being seen] instantly."