1—Most doctors surgeries in the UK are as open as anywhere else. Some smaller and older surgeries may be crowded, but what you experienced isn’t the norm.
2—The average over-run time is 5-10m, not an hour. And the obvious point is that they overrun because British GP’s will take time with every patient.
3-UK doctor slots are slated for 20 mins. Obviously some people will take longer, some will be dealt with in 5-10 mins. Depends on the complaint.
4—There will be one doctor out on call from each normal surgery. The doctor should have been quicker, but I have to ask, if you thought it was chest pains, why on earth didn’t you take here straight to the hospital? I say this as the son of two heart attack victims, with whom I phoned an ambulance or rushed them to A&E.
5—So you had a ‘bad doctor’(perhaps). And America dosent have them?.
This was 1988 in Suffolk County. I called what I believed to be an emergency number and specified “chest pains.” They sent out an MD.