title: Patient access. Hanging on the telephone.
abstract: Understaffed GP practices are unable to answer all patients' calls at peak times, such as Monday mornings. A third of practices have too few slots to meet expected levels of demand. Those that can meet demand do so through "complex and chaotic" processes. Lack of incentives means in-hours unscheduled care is being neglected.
authors: Kaye
authors: K
authors: Macintosh
mesh_terms: D005194:Family Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006280:Health Workforce; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013689:Telephone; D013997:Time Factors; D006113:United Kingdom