[user104658]

Originally Posted by the truth

Yes ALL out of hours doctors calls are fake and therefore ALL doctors wont work out of hours. Genius. Lol. Thanks for at least addressing the subject , at long last. But your reply is the most ridiculous one I have EVER read. I am embarassed for you.

Not "fake"; just unnecessary. The vast majority are to placate people who are worrying about minor ailments that do not require urgent attention.

Also, not to... Err... Tell you what YOU said or anything... But you specifically stated "90%". I don't know if percentages have changed since I was at l school, but as far as I can remember, 90% is not "all".

However, I will be fair: I'm all ears. Please give me some examples of health issues that are not urgent or serious enough to require emergency treatment at an A&E, and yet are too serious to be managed by individuals without the help of a doctor at an out of hours practice?

There are VERY FEW and the vast majority of people rushing to out of hours services simply do not need urgent treatment. They are anxious about their health because they don't understand it. They are panicking over perfectly normal aches / pains / lumps / viral rashes because they're hammered with "better safe than sorry" messages and have no idea what worrying symptoms actually look like.

This costs the NHS billions. Not millions - billions. It is an ACTUAL problem.