What does the third letter in 'NHS' stand for?

I am a carer. Much of my time, and many of my interactions with officialdom in all forms, relates to the person I care for. That does not mean I don't have my own issues, which often take a lower priority than perhaps they should.

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I have had issues with a gastric ulcer in the past; I have been recommended by the GP to take medication, as needed, to keep on top of it. I had quite a stock of the tablets so haven't needed to have a prescription for about a year, but the stock is now running low and I need some more.

At our surgery, like many others, the process to speak to a doctor is to phone them at 8am to get an appointment. This results in something of a lottery, for there are limited phone lines to the surgery and you inevitably have to dial many times (I think it was 8 or 9 in my case this morning) before you can get through to a receptionist. 

I managed to speak to a receptionist around 8.50 this morning. She said that, because it related to a prescription, I needed to speak to the dispensary. 

The dispensary is only open between 9 and 11 am, and 3 and 4 pm. And the reception team can't put you through, or take a message, you have to dial again - getting the engaged tone a number of times more.

I managed to get through to the dispensary around 9.15 but my call was not answered - I hung on for over 20 rings before giving up.

It was 9.50 when I successfully got through to the dispensary and managed to speak to someone. (Good job I'm not working these days, nearly 2 hours of my morning were messed up already). The lady in dispensary checked my details, and told me that, sorry, I would need to speak to a doctor. For that I would need to speak to the reception team, she couldn't give me an appointment, or put me through. 

Once more I had to face the challenge of getting past the engaged tone to get through to a receptionist. It was now nearly 10am, the time at which the doctors start their outbound calls to the few lucky enough to get an appointment with them this morning; hence I encountered many more engaged tones.

It was after 10.45 when I got through to a receptionist. It may have been the same lady I spoke to earlier. The earliest appointment they can offer me is on 22nd April - that's in over three weeks time. If I wanted to speak to the doctor sooner I would need to phone earlier in the day... which, of course, I had been doing, this morning. Repeatedly. 

I'll just buy the medication over the counter in the meantime, which rather goes against the idea of the doctor checking that I'm taking the right stuff, and the right dosage. 

I'm not saying that NHS employees aren't working very hard, perhaps in difficult circumstances, but, as an organisation, is it meeting the needs of the public ?