My brother has been having trouble getting an appointment at his gp's for a long time now. He finally got an appointment in November after telling the receptionist it was urgent and he would have to go to A&E if they wouldn't see him. He told the doctor he'd been passing blood for a good few months and had a pain under his rib cage. The doctor gave him some anusol for piles and said his 'chest' pains (they were not in his chest, they were just under his ribs) were anxiety. When the passing of blood continued, he asked to be referred for a colonoscopy, but was told they were only doing inpatient emergencies due to covid.
Cut to three weeks ago, when the pain became so bad, he went to A&E. They kept him in for a week, did a colonoscopy, then a liver biopsy (the pain under his ribs) and a blood test, then sent him home to wait to be called for an appointment. He went in today for his results, he has bowel cancer which has spread to his liver and a few polyps in his chest. They told him how long they thought he had left, which he didn't want to share with me, but it's not years.
You can praise the NHS to the rafters for what they did with covid but, basically, it is a failing system with a significant minority of people working in it that are either inept or just do not care.