If the GP can handle my problem, I probably didn't need to go to the doctor anyway. A lot of care is done by specialists, and it can _easily_ take weeks or months to get an appointment with one. This is strongly dependent on one's insurance network though.

That's just a very arrogant take, from many patients that couldn't be more wrong.

Obviously a GP refers to specialists when necessary, but he is qualified to triage issues and perform initial treatment in many cases.

Ok, to be fair, they _can_ probably handle my problems better than I can.

But, presumably for liability and out of a genuine attempt to get me the best care possible, they _prefer_ to send me off to a specialist. Either way I'm not being treated until the specialist has time, which take a couple months at least.

In the uk, yes.

And then 6⁺ months to be seen be a specialist.

Yes, in my area if you need to find a new doctor you literally can't. This is a major city. The online booking for any major hospital network literally shows no results because the next appointment would be 90+ days out. If you have an existing relationship maybe you can get in in two weeks.

In the US, yes.