I'm a GP. Since I started nearly 20 years ago I would estimate that, although our total patient number has remained pretty static, we have more than doubled the number of appointments we offer. The problem is that demand has massively increased.
Don't get me wrong, a lot of that "demand" is not generated by the patients voluntarily. For example, diagnostic criteria for diabetes have changed, leading to far more people being diagnosed. Desirable cholesterol levels have reduced, leading to more people needing medication and reviews. Whole new disease entities have been "invented" - CKD for example - requiring numerous blood tests, monitoring, reviews etc. So these days a vast number of appointments are taken up managing people with chronic diseases.
Add to that the recession. I have seen a significant increase in stress, anxiety and depression in the last couple of years, as people battle with financial and employment problems.
Also, we are put under huge pressure not to refer patients to outpatient clinics or to admit them to hospital, because of the cost. GP surgeries are essentially threatened with closure if they incur too many costs from secondary care. So, in an attempt to not refer patients, but still keep them safe, we do more tests in primary care, and see patients for more follow up appointments than previously, when we would have probably referred them on elsewhere.
I would say that my workload, in the last 15 years, has multiplied by at least 5 times, probably more.
So, with all this additional stuff we're asked to do, it makes sense that we'd get lots of extra funding to employ more doctors and nurses doesn't it? Well, that's the problem. We don't. We can sign up to little schemes here and there, promising to reduce our number of admissions by a certain number over a certain time period, and in exchange we'll get a few thousand, but it's not regular income that enables us to take on new staff without the risk of having to make them redundant the following year when the scheme is abandoned. Government schemes are invariably dropped if too many GPs sign up to them, because they don't want to have to pay us. So they cancel the scheme.
The latest thing is nursing homes. The increasing elderly population means that big nursing homes are popping up all over the place. We are now required to do "ward rounds" of nursing homes, which takes one doctor out of surgery for a whole day every week.
I really sympathise with your frustration, it's a dire situation. But until the government acknowledge the need for more doctors and give us more money to employ them, I can't see how it can change. This is a particular concern in areas where lots of new houses are being built. Big increase in population, but no extra teachers or doctors. It's basic maths.
And just for the record - we don't earn 100k. I haven't had a pay rise for about 15 years, not even cost of living. And we're a fairly high earning practice. We channel all our profits back into patient care, but we still have people waiting a couple of weeks to see a doctor sometimes, and longer if they want a specific one.
We need more resources!