"GP appointment problems"

I know that the department of health has set standards for the speed of access to GP services but this does not seem to work. My GP surgery insists on you only being able to have an appointment that day. In my experience, if you don't get through within half an hour of the surgery opening either all the appointments are taken or you have to have an appointment during the day when it isn't convenient due to work commitments. Can't urgent appointments e.g., parents with children etc, be given priority earlier in the day and some appointments be set aside later in the day for less urgent matters? Also, why can't patients be asked when they can attend, so that scarcer appointments, after working hours, are not given to people who don't need them (e.g., retired people)?

I was once offered an appointment on a Saturday, after having to protractedly explain the nature of my appointment to a receptionist. When I attended with my husband (as I explained to them I would because the matter was pregnancy-related), they remonstrated with me for not booking a double appointment! Some customer care training mightn't go amiss for reception staff. I resent taking the brunt, when they had not communicated with each other, as I had supplied all the information to them beforehand.