... there's a lot of it about ...

My daughter tried to make an appointment to see the doctor. There is a new appointment system which will only take appointments five days in advance. However the system is always fully booked by about 10 o'clock on Mondays. And of course you can't get through to the surgery as the lines are busy with people booking appointments.

There are however many emergency appointments. Therefore the only way I or my daughter can get an appointment is to have an emergency. I got one when I had a a severe rash in a spot - well I'm not going to tell you where it is - and I have now developed the technique of phoning up and asking the receptionist such questions as ' erm what are the symptoms of deep vein thrombosis?'. I then get an appointment within a couple of hours.

To me the service has improved - as I am prepared to lie and cheat to get my appointment. I feel bad about it and teaching my daughter to cheat the system is not a good thing - but is probably a realistic skill for the future.

I do worry that older people, in particular, will suffer from this new service and will be put off seeing a doctor, even where their needs are urgent.

I am old enough to remember in the fifties and early sixties you just went to the surgery and people were deal with on a first come, first served basis - the doctor saw everybody and then arranged appointments for tests etc. I feel the system of fixed appointments does not work and it seems crazy that doctors are left sitting in their rooms having to wait as someone has missed an appointment.