Many patients who will have had to make an appointment with their GP in recent times may have come across a range of hurdles as doctors’ surgeries creak under immense pressure.

Some will find phones not being answered at surgeries, waiting times running into weeks for appointments and having to deal with confusing technology when they do manage to secure an appointment.

Access to surgeries is a major issue with face-to-face appointments becoming increasingly difficult to attain.

GPs need to ensure that they do provide adequate face-to-face access to patients. Technology and remote appointments can’t be seen as a magic pill, especially as a lot of older people struggle with tech.

A GP checking a patient's blood pressure. PIC: PA

There are of course a lot of surgeries that have embraced technology while ensuring the appropriate level of in-person care.

The changes brought about by the pandemic ought not to turn primary care into a lottery based on how fortuitous somebody is to be near a surgery that is delivering for patients.

However, as Dr Brian McGregor, secretary of YOR Local Medical Committee, rightly points out there are major underlying issues that have left GP practices facing “immense and sustained pressure”.

Surgeries are feeling the strain from increasing patient demand and a decreasing workforce. The recruitment and retention of skilled healthcare professionals is a challenge across the NHS, but it is being acutely felt within general practice.

It is a problem that can’t just simply be solved through targets for appointments as the Government is trying to do with its Plan for Patients.

GP appointment dissatisfaction highlight underlying issue of recruitment - The Yorkshire Post says