"Poor level of service"

I have just attempted to make an appointment with my GP practice.

I had deliberately delayed this process for weeks in the vain hope that my issue would self-heal and I would not need to contact them;  I was not that lucky. Their appointment phone line opened at 0830 hrs.  Between that time and 1000 hrs this morning I attempted to call them 38 times without success; that equates to one call every 2.3 minutes.

I fail to see the issue here, my mind boggles.  How can they not answer a phone?  There is no excuse.  It is bad planning at every level bordering on the incompetent and could be construed by an irate patient as a dereliction of GP terms of service!

This is not the first time it has happened.  I have been with the same GP for nearly 20 years and their performance has always been poor, it is unacceptable and they seem entirely unable or unwilling to rectify the glaring issues that exist within their business.

I have even, in the recent past, attended the surgery in person to make an appointment because of the same issue.  I was met with, at best, an attitude of indifference.  A complete inability of staff to appreciate the level of dissatisfaction among their patient base, able only to offer half hearted apologies and hollow excuses; both of which I have no interest in. It serves only to reinforce the perception that they really do not care.

Staff were almost unable to comprehend the reason for my attendance at the surgery, physically and in person, able only to repeat over and over again that appointments must be made at the allotted time in the specified manner; completely missing the point.

When attempting to press my case and express my heartfelt unhappiness they claim that I'm being hostile, and that they feel threatened, and the shutters come down.

It adds insult to injury.  Not only are they failing to provide the service, but when patients complain they are met with an inability to show empathy and with no willingness to listen.

It is very, very frustrating.