NHS GP dispels common 'myth' following patient frustration across UK

An NHS GP has attempted to dispel what she describes as a "common myth" when it comes to doctor appointments.

Many UK residents will be familiar with the '8am scramble' - when GP surgeries open their phonelines to patients hoping to be seen that same day for their ailments. But with an ever-growing population, depending on the severity of the medical problem, it's not always possible to make an appointment for that day.

Indeed, a report published by the Care Quality Commission entitled 'The state of health care and adult social care in England 2023/24' found that the number of people waiting more than two weeks for a GP practice appointment increased by 18% from 4.2million in February 2020 to 5million in March 2024. However, recently patients have been expressing frustration over seeing 'empty' waiting rooms.

Taking to TikTok, GP Dr Sophie admitted she understood why this frustrates patients so much - particularly when matters aren't communicated properly. She elaborated: "Empty waiting rooms... often it appears as though GPs don't do any work, because people come in and see nobody in the waiting room."

Dr Sophie continued: "I promise you that is not the case. We are behind the scenes working away, doing home visits, doing triage, prescription requests, referrals and blood tests and often I put my phone call (appointments) dispersed between my face-to-face clinics."

Dr Sophie added that doing so means that if she is running behind following a face-to-face appointment that has run on longer than anticipated, she is able to catch up with phone calls ahead of the next clinic.

She closed: "Although it does appear as though we aren't doing any work, I promise you that is not the case."

Writing in response, however, one person claimed: "It’s only been since Covid though. Also why do doctors only do three days per week?"

It prompted Dr Sophie to point out: "Many GPs work what looks like 'part-time', but the days are often 12+ hours long - so three days can actually be equivalent to a full-time week in hours. Most of us also have admin, results, and paperwork outside those clinical sessions too!"

A second TikTok user hit out: "I just don’t understand why the whole system has changed. Everyone is very frustrated and there are never any explanations."

Dr Sophie explained: "The system changed mainly to help manage the huge rise in demand and to make sure people are directed to the right type of care more quickly. Many issues can now be sorted safely by phone or online, which frees up face-to-face appointments for those who really need them. It’s different, but it’s helped us see more patients overall. But it’s definitely not perfect!"

A frustrated third told Dr Sophie: "We get that but when we’re ill and want to see a doctor we can’t - that’s the issue." To which she clarified: "Totally understand - the problem is huge demand and not enough GPs or funding to meet it, which makes it harder for everyone to get seen as quickly as we’d like."

Meanwhile a fourth TikTok user was still sceptical and lashed out at the GP: "You were doing all that before so really doesn't explain the empty waiting room! Hiding behind this doesn't fool people. Complicating the system where everything is triaged to the hilt instead of just seeing people will stop all the signposting and causing more admin and sending to A&E for minor things."

Again, however, Dr Sophie was on hand to set the record straight. "I’m absolutely not hiding - I’m out here trying to explain it," she said. "Demand has exploded while funding and staffing have stayed the same. A busy practice might have 25–30 GP appointments per doctor each day but receive 400 patient contacts - all needing to be triaged, reviewed, or redirected. That’s the real issue, not GPs hiding behind anything. I would love to hear any suggestions on how we could do better with the current funding?"

According to NHS England, new figures [July 2025] show general practice has delivered over seven million more appointments in the past year compared to last year, taking the total to a record 380 million.

It adds: "Hardworking GP teams carried out 383.3m appointments in the last 12 months, compared to 375.7m in the previous year. Figures for June 2025 also show practices delivered 31.4 million appointments, which is a record for June and nearly a third more than the same period pre-pandemic (a 31.9% increase).