[k-mcgrady]

Good point but I have to say these reasons don't really apply to me.

1. We have a local doctors surgery which has offices for around 5 GP's and 2 nurses. You can request an appointment with a specific one but most people just take whoever is available soonest. Although I've come across a few bad doctors for the most part people seem to trust the system to weed them out.

2/3. For me this means calling a number and asking for the next available appointment. If work is a problem they have a few nights where they work late and you can request the next available appointment on a late night. No need to take time off unless it's imperative you get seen quickly.

4. This is true but I find with an appointment that hasn't been arranged last minute I get seen within 10 minutes of turning up.

NB: I'm in the UK so obviously there are differences to how the systems we're both describing work.