The NHS relies on heavy triaging - so, for primary care, emergency cases will be seen immediately (either at a hospital or at the nearest GP surgery with an available slot), urgent will be seen same day (at your usual GP surgery), and non-urgent medical problems (eg. back pain that isn't getting worse) might take 2-3 days.
But everything else (eg. discussing blood test results, medication reviews, mental health issues) will get dumped into the "routine" appointment bucket and, yes, will often take 1-2 weeks.
You do hear occasional horror stories about the triage process, but my experience has been pretty reasonable. For example, I lost my voice last year but had no other symptoms - so I expected to have to wait a few days to be seen. But I was treated as an urgent case since it affected my ability to work, and got an appointment that afternoon.
I've had a checkup with the NHS once or maybe twice in my life, and it was not with a doctor. (I'm not saying that it should be, maybe a nurse and a blood pressure check is all you need?)
But everything else (eg. discussing blood test results, medication reviews, mental health issues) will get dumped into the "routine" appointment bucket and, yes, will often take 1-2 weeks.
You do hear occasional horror stories about the triage process, but my experience has been pretty reasonable. For example, I lost my voice last year but had no other symptoms - so I expected to have to wait a few days to be seen. But I was treated as an urgent case since it affected my ability to work, and got an appointment that afternoon.