Yes, okay, I can see that.

And I sometimes pick up on a little anxiety when I see a Doctor, especially if I start asking difficult questions (not being a dick, just wanting answers like we all do, you know) or suggest something that doesn't fit in with the guidelines. I can sense them being careful, perhaps overly so.

Doctors, or medical staff in general, should not be subject to prosecution unless they intentionally cause harm, they should be allowed to make genuine mistakes, we are human after all. Repeated negligence is another aspect, and well, same goes for any job, if you repeatedly show you don't have the skills and don't make an effort to acquire them, there's really only one way it can go.

Re. how to deal with complex issues, yes, good question; the only thing that I can think of off the top of my head is some kind of monitoring, so if a patient has an appointment and the doctor thinks it was a waste of time they could make a note to that effect. Once a patient gets say 3 notes of that kind the situation is reviewed and if appropriate a referral made to look into it deeper and the onus to deal with the wasted appointments is removed from the GP's surgery. I would hope this would be done from a compassionate care perspective of course.

Doctors already refer patients, so it would just be a kind of 'broader picture' version of that, and if someone is identified as lonely, for example, then they could be presented with various options that the wider society offers.

I do like to dream up, what I think would be, ideal scenarios - maybe one day - we can live in hope