"GP Practices in North Ayrshire"

It seems impossible to gain proper access to GP services these days - constant queue systems with inordinate length of times, waiting on phone until eventually giving up and just suffering.

Having spoken to many people who have said the same thing and either go to A&E or suffer until they are that sick they have to go to hospital. Surely this in itself is putting extreme pressure on hospitals' office staff who I don't think are medically qualified, asking questions they have no right to ask, and then deciding you don't need to see doctor. I understand triage, having worked in NHS. Decisions are being made about your care with no communication whatsoever. In my opinion, a lot of staff in GP surgeries in North Ayrshire have no empathy with patients and are so irresponsible when it comes to patients' needs.

Through personal experience of losing a family member because of what I believe to be GP negligence, it makes me wonder how many deaths could be avoided if GP surgeries were held to account and anything that looks untoward is thoroughly investigated. My local surgery still seems to think we are in Covid lockdown, Covid seems to have been the perfect storm to enable them to continue with the restrictions that were put in place.

It is so difficult to get to see a doctor no matter how ill you are, people know when they are ill and act accordingly only to be stuck on number 46 in the queue system 1 minute after phone lines open, and if they do eventually get through in the 3-hour window to phone they are then told everything has gone and they need to phone back tomorrow.

I worked for another NHS district, and yes it had major problems but it is night and day compared to what I've experienced in North Ayrshire - the GP surgery had a very large catchment area with many patients and one GP. Nothing was a problem for the GP and their staff, communication was first class, treatment was first class and the general feeling they all cared for their patients was evident on a daily basis. Yet, a GP at my practice had the cheek to ridicule and say how easy my old GP had it.

I could go on but all I will say is I think there needs to be an investigation by the Scottish Government into the actions of GP practices in North Ayrshire and they should be held to account, thank you.