I suggest you do the following. Take a brief vacation in Italy or France and walk into any NHS-appointed GP office. You’ll see rows after rows of men and women, mostly elderly, waiting in line to “see the doctor”. Most of these persons are not there to have a check up or to treat some kind of serious illness but to get free drugs or expensive specialized tests. It’s the free meal theory.
A few years ago, when the system wasn’t still in full swing a GP would give them a complete, serious visit and prescribe as little drugs as possible. Take the classic sore foot example: my old GP would have probably asked me a few questions, examined the foot up closely and told me to rest the foot for a few days and put some ice on it. Come back if the pain persists and we’ll have it X-rayed. Case closed. Right now I would enter the GP office expecting him to send me to an orthopedic and perhaps having a full blood test, just to be sure it isn’t diabethes. It’s free, why not take advantage of it?