Nearly a third of people surveyed said they had to wait over a month for a GP appointment in Greater Manchester.
The results are from a Manchester Evening News survey, which we ran two weeks ago, amid surgeries still offering online and over-the-phone consultations - despite other services opening up after lockdown ended.
The head of the Royal College of GPs defended doctors who are still opting for remote appointments, saying the “pandemic isn’t over”.
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Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the college, told the Health and Social Care Committee that some patients preferred appointments over the phone or via video, while others wanted to be seen face-to-face, but could not be due to coronavirus.
In light of this, we asked for our readers to share their experiences of booking a GP appointment: whether they have experienced long waits; how long it's taken them to get through to someone over the phone; and how their experience online has been.
When we asked if you could get a GP appointment when you needed one, 72 per cent responded 'no' while only a quarter said 'yes'.
For those who answered saying they couldn't, nearly a third (29 per cent) said it's taken them over a month, almost a quarter (25 per cent) said between two and three weeks, and 18 per cent answered that it's taken them between one and two weeks.
Fifteen per cent said it's been between three weeks and four weeks and another 15 per cent answered up to a week.
When it comes to getting through to your surgery on the phone, a staggering three-quarters (75 per cent) said they're not satisfied with how long it takes to get through, while nearly a quarter (22 per cent) said they are.
With online appointments, over half (56 per cent) said they did not have a good experience, 17 per cent could not say as they haven't had one, but 27 per cent said they did.
