I had a very nasty dental abscess that took my NHS dentist three years to deal with it appropriately. (And that's a rant I've indulged on many an occasion.) While I was waiting for the dentist to get her act together, I'd go to the local GP surgery when the infection got too much to bear: pain, swelling, copious amounts of pus, and numerous ghastly symptoms as my body filled with bacteria. I'd detail my symptoms to whichever GP I got to see (you don't have your "own" GP in our surgery), explain that I had a dental abscess, and explain that I was awaiting dental treatment. So, what did I get? One GP prescribed loperamide hydrochloride (yes, they are for treating diarrhoea), one prescribed ant-acid tablets, and one referred me to an optometrist. Yes, really. One of them had a three-minute timer on his desk and that's all the time you got before he'd say "next". I bet he does well in the efficiency stakes. I did have a fantastic GP in another part of the country some years back, but he quit and went into private practice. Not surprising, really.