When the GP booking system is decidedly under the weather...

A recent survey suggested that patients who have a face to face appointment with their GP are more likely to be satisfied with their care.

- Kate Wobschall

The study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, found patient satisfaction was lower at surgeries that relied more both on telephone appointments and consultations with staff who are not GPs.

Which will come as no huge surprise to anyone with a modicum of common sense - or to anyone who has tried and failed to actually see a GP in person.

It's almost as though during Covid, general practitioners did a disappearing act en masse. Where once you could ring the surgery, make an appointment and see one within a week, now you're lucky if you can get a telephone appointment in a month.