Rapid Health Avis 

This is a dreadful system thats not fit for purpose. It wouldn’t even let me submit the request once I’d gone through all the hoops to request an appointment. I’m 48 and tech savvy. God help the elderly.

My GP has recently started using this service. It is so complicated and most of the options are disabled. Bad bad bad.

For a start the text in this box to start with is medical gaslighting!.

" what went wrong this time?"

This system is a absolute joke! I need to see a doctor and told I have to wait 1&2 days to be contacted! I've had this issue for nearly 4 weeks!. People are going to be well and truly neglected with this joke of a system in place!. This is constantly directing everyone to a&e so your system is going to make a&e department's that are already overwhelmed have a influx of more people now who just need to see their GP but your bloody system is making that a bloody nightmare!!!!

Dreadful system designed to make it as complex as possible to get an appointment. It takes up staff time, excludes the vunerable or those that cannot use or afford technology and even with technology it takes half an hr of form filling with the most useless detail just to get an appointment with a dr you didnt want to see...do i really need to explain my stools if my arm is sore and what if you want to keep something confidential?!

It is a badly designed system. Nowhere does it ask why you want to see your doctor. The first medical question asks what is your main sympton. Can't find anywhere to say I was told to make an appointment if symptons did not improve. Nor how to describe multiple symptons eg high temperature and nausea. Everytime I hzve to use it I get stressed out and come away thinking I have not ecplained why I want yo see a doctor.So after I use it I then phone surgery to rexplain my symptoms. Also when it does make an appointment it is not clear how to confiem the appointment.

Omg who came up with this idea, it has to be one of the worst NHS decision in decades. Its great if you want an appointment in 3 weeks. I used to be able to call the doctors and see a doctor within hours now all of a sudden overnight they are so busy its weeks. What a joke sort it out "Wes"

Absolutely diabolical system. Severe allergic reactions with breathing issues. Have to wait 3 weeks for a “rash” appointment

None of the older patients in the queue knew anything about this system FORCED upon us. Not everyone has a computer, smartphone or "tablet" or even an email. Poor GP Surgery staff had to fill in on-line forms for us & this took them away from doing other important work. It also took away from us (the digital "illiterate") our agency & autonomy. After "computer said NO" I wrote a real letter to GP's detailing my symptoms & within hours was given an appointment & now being "fast-tracked" through the system - so 10 out of 10 to the Human Beings. "Rapid" Health Triage is a JOKE. Long-winded, Tick-box, clunky system not fit for purpose. Please let your MP's know about this horrible system, so questions can be asked in parliament. Age UK would like to know too!

Update April 2026
This service is excellent for booking appointments. It also means my autistic daughter, who would never phone to book an appointment, can complete this form herself and book with her preferred GP.

October 2025
Our surgery introduced this system yesterday. I was able to book a routine appointment with my GP for myself and my daughter with no problem. There was a slight issue whenI tried to book with another GP for an additional specialist appointment and it wanted to send to triage instead of offering an appointment. I didnt send it as the questions it asked didn't fit with what I needed. So rang surgery and they booked it for me. All good and have the appointments I needed.

Currently in the process of transferring to a new practice which assures me they do not and will never use RapidHealth as their booking system. It’s been impossible to access healthcare at Wells City Practice since RapidHealth has been introduced.

This service doesn't work I haven't seen a GP for months and I suffer with chronic illness. For anyone that is elderly or doesn't understand or even have access to the internet they will they will not get the treatment needed this will likely lead to more strain on NHS emergency services. It is necessary that there should be telephone appointments.

Absolutely insane idea. Further Dilution and degradation of the NHS putting patients at harm. I am being told by AI that I do not classify as high enough priority and may have to wait 4 days to be assessed.
Highly problematic and dangerous from the patients point of view and opening up the NHS to litigation. Ultimately who is responsible for any negligence claims here. NHS or an outsourced AI?

Awful system. Why can't receptionists make appointments like they used to do. When it all goes wrong vwhich it does most of the time even the receptionists say " don't take any notice of that it's rubbish ". Incorrect appointments Incorrect location, net result patients travel to the surgery only to be told they have the wrong time, the wrong place or no appointment at all, it's a disgrace

It is the rubbish system. It just take you rounds into the question list and never gets you to appointment. Firstly,it is difficult to get GP appointments now this complication that you will struggle until you die to understand and identify where can you actually be able to book an appointment. Absolutely rubbish service.

Terrible experience. Absolutely terrible. Will you be seen? Who knows? Will they get back to you? Anybody guess. Can't make any requests. It's a system with extremely limited options that leaves you stranded, forcing you to ring up and overload the reception staff. Utter DISASTER.

Truly awful system. After completing the laborious questionnaire, that doesn't really give the option to specifically explain the issue, I was given a doctors appointment in three weeks. After suffering a small wound I have an infection on my face and simply wanted a prescription for some antibiotics. Depending on the issue I could be dead two and a half weeks before I see the doctor. This is a pointless and dangerous new policy. Surely, when it comes to concerns about one's health, human interaction is a given?!

"Rapid" Healthcare!? What a joke. Longwinded, time consuming, with question, after question, after question. Tried to book my 17 year old granddaughter an appointment as her psoriasis had advanced in coverage to the stage where steroid cream was no longer an option. Went through all that faff just to end up with a call from the surgery stating that a prescription for the usual steroid cream had been transmitted to the pharmacy. Having explained the situation, she apologised but stated that we'd have to go through the Rapid Health procedure again as they no longer have access to make appointments, nor are they permitted to speak direct to a doctor on behalf of the patient. The second attempt resulted in the surgery calling to reiterate that a prescription had been issued. The system effectively creates an brick wall between patients and doctors. Despite the surgery being 5* and the best one for miles around, we're now in the process of registering at a surgery that doesn't have this system. Our current surgery which once boasted high numbers of positive reviews on their website, is now receiving a high volume of negative ones.

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THIS MUST BE THE WORST SYSTEM EVER FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE REALLY NOT WELL AFTER GOING THROUGH ALL THE STUPID QUESTION AND ASK FOR A DR YOU WILL NEVER GET YOUR OWN DR CALLING YOU UP EVER AGAIN

'Rapid Health' is poorly named. It is absurd that patients who may be quite unwell, are assessed by a 'one-size fits all' questionnaire which gives one outcome one week, and a different one the next, without joining the dots in between which a human being would do. The reception staff at my local GP practice have been led to believe that this thing is the way forward. I do not think it is.'Rapid Health' is effectively a giant online flow chart... If you inadvertently choose the wrong answer early on, you will be sent down the wrong alley and end up in the wrong place. Obviously those who get what they want think it is marvellous, but those that think that it isn't are just assumed to be wrong. People could actually die from this system getting in the way of the correct outcome. Medical symptoms are not always yes or no or black or white. Additionally, if someone is really unwell, and especially if they are older, they do not want to be faced with questions that do not necessarily fit the symptoms, meaning they have to answer something which doesn't fit the scenario, therefore making the answer guesswork, meaning a potentially haphazard outcome. You then call the GP practice, who are so convinced this system is the faultless source of all wisdom when it is not and this helps nobody. It has sent me to A & E 3 times so far, and every single time, the Doctor I eventually saw at A&E sent me back to my GP.  This is just a waste of NHS resources. Basically Rapid Health is a software product developed by a small company in Woking which does not even publish full accounts. The promise the company offers is intentionally what overstretched GP practices want to hear, but I don't think it is delivering. I do not believe healthcare can be automated. I think that is dangerous. I think 'Rapid Health' is a nice concept, but I don't like it, and I feel it makes appointment allocation a lottery. The only reason I mentioned the size of the company is it reduces my confidence that the level of field testing was sufficient to ensure that patients are offered what they really need. It leaves me feeling quite concerned, because I have every faith in the medical staff at my GP practice, but I do not have the same level of confidence that the allocation of appointments is safe based upon my own experience of using 'Rapid Health so far. I have seen and heard quite a few frustrated patients at reception all describing similar frustrations to my own. 

This is a rubbish system. Advised me to go to A&E with an ear infection. Also when in pain it would not give me an appointment. Should be band it is dangerous.