My GP has told me that 80% of their appointments don't need a GP appointment.

a very similar story. My doctor would say my appts weren’t needed, as I was being anxious, I had a whole host of issues that weren’t anxiety, nor was my cancer anxiety, I didn’t have anxiety just a terrible dr and once you have those notes it’s even harder to be taken seriously
i was lucky enough due to a wirk scheme yo be able to go private

I am surprised this is news as in i think we could have worked this out for years and as mentioned a&e

We have this. For some things I don't need to speak to a GP. I just need advice

We fill in a form online

Part of the difficulty is identifying which are the 20% who should be there, without having an appointment. There are also people who appreciate the support of an appointment- especially vulnerable or older people- due to anxiety about treatment, difficulty understanding advice etc etc. Those probably count as “not needing” the appointment strictly speaking but it’s a question of what level of care we want to be available, as a society.

It’s not just time wasters and idiots.

But how many of those 80% are people who could/should reasonably have known they didn’t need to see a GP?
How many are people where the GP, with all their knowledge, has been able to say “this isn’t a problem”/“this will resolve on its own”/“some OTC medication will help this”, but actually the person wasn’t unreasonable to not have known that themselves. Are we counting that as someone who didn’t need the GP?

Maybe there is a case for surgery receptionists who take the appointment calls to be nurses so the are able triage and people will be more willing to talk to them?

Yes they are the "middle man" sometimes.
It would be good if you can bypass that.

I wonder how much is spotted by chance during FTF appointments - unrelated to what the appt was for in the first place. GPs are surely first and foremost keen observers of the whole, integrated clinical appearance of a patient.

Also I suspect people go when they are struggling mentally and need someone to take an interest in them? Or when they are lonely and need connection and are at the stage of seeking this from institutions. Not all of these people may seem lonely - they may even come across as belligerent, hypochondriac or self-absorbed etc, but deep down need that minimum social contact.

Not to say that people don't need to take responsibility for themselves, but GPs, teachers, police and others in public service roles do so much beyond their official remit which is valuable and would leave a gaping hole if not done.

Yeah GPs do manage to convey to the majority of people that they shouldn't really be there and are wasting everyone's time ... despite all the publicity that tells you you absolutely must see your GP for this reason or the other, when you actually try to they generally don't seem to think you should have bothered.

It doesn't surprise me a bit that a GP sees the job this way. Maybe they would be better in another profession, though.

I feel that the initial conversations had with GP receptionist could result in fewer appointments if handled by nurses or a new job role that enabled further questions and more time allotted to patients calling in. They could be redirected to the more appropriate service but patients often feel very rushed and cut off. Time invested in the call handling end could save time for the GP perhaps.

I often see my GP purely to be referred to a consultant. Its entirely a waste of an appointment for them.

My GPs essentially triages you when you phone for an appointment and can advise whether or not you need to actually see the GP or whether it could be a phone call appointment, see the nurse or a HCA (Health Care Assistant?) or even just go to the pharmacy.
I personally find it good system but going by many threads on Mumsnet people don't like talking to the receptionist ("just someone who answers the phone....I'm not discussing my issue with them" 🙄
That's their job. They are trained to do that.

I was told I was "anxious" and there was nothing wrong with me on no fewer than 12 occasions. I have no doubt they gossiped about me wasting their time, my notes are a disgraceful series of dismissive platitudes. Then finally to 'prove it' after I wrote a letter of complaint they did an MRI and other tests and now I am diagnosed with MS. GPs would do best to carefully address their patient and not dismiss them as time wasters. When I was diagnosed with a life limiting illness I got no apology and now any problems, including cancer is "because you have MS". Skin changes due to possible cancer are nothing like MS legions and luckily I was able to self refer to the hospital where it was removed within 6 weeks. Mine is not an isolated or even a rare story.

I do think it needs rethinking about when we go to the doctors. I’m probably at the other end where I wait ages to get better then drag myself along. Most bugs you do get better from in all fairness but I suspect I wait too long which has required an expensive hospital admission.

Triage at A&E have also told me the same thing