Doctor’s surgery is now using AI for appointments- not working

I agree with those saying it's not AI, but it isn't ideal.

It works okay for things where you might need a same day appointment- i.e. you get a phone call back, arrange an appointment, all good.

If you need an appointment but are at work, it's very tricky- I can't always answer the phone at work, and my signal at work is also very poor. If you don't answer, or get cut off, there's no option to say "can you please call back in 2 minutes when I'm in a private room/somewhere with signal etc". I fully accept they can't hang around forever, but it does make it difficult to access healthcare.

I'm also not sure how it works in terms of routine appointments etc. I'm supposed to have a medication review at some point soon, for a new medication I've started- I couldn't book an appointment whilst at the surgery, and there doesn't seem to be a good option for this on the form, either...

Overall, I do think it's probably better than the "call at 8am" system if you're acutely unwell and need help there and then, but for more routine stuff it's not as good as speaking to a person?

My GP does something similar. I'm able to fill in the form, and know how to 'game' it so it doesn't send me to A&E for everything 🙄. I always say on the form how to contact me (text/email). Where it falls down is them randomly phoning me a few days later, because I don't and can't have my phone with me during working hours. They leave a message telling me to call, but then I have to try to fit that into my lunch break ('you are number 54 in the queue ' ...). I have an autoimmune condition, so mostly things aren't urgent, but I need to be seen/have blood tests in a timely manner. I've pretty much given up, there's a private GP practice a few miles away, I go there 🤷

I'd also like to know if they have done impact/risk assessments on this 'system'.

Does it really matter if it's AI or not? It's a shit system that doesn't work.

Look at it the other way. The system allows more of the run of the mill, day to day, appointments to be fulfilled quicker. It therefore provides slack in the system for those who need another way to access it, for more complex issues, or those requiring f2f. All the GP's locally allow phone ins if you cannot access e-consult.

It isn't AI. Which company??

If it becomes socially acceptable to effectively exclude many older people from accessing essential public services, then we won't be able to complain when the same thing happens to us in later life. Which it will. We will all get old and there will new technological advances all the time . Some of us will keep up, but many won't. The time to protest about exclusion of the elderly is now, while we are younger.

This is no AI.

Our doctors do this system too and I’ve used it and it’s been really good. I got a text for a phone call that day.

I definitely much prefer filling in an eConsult than having to ring up at 8am and wait to get through, especially when it's non-urgent. I switched GP practices recently as my old one was a 'call at 8am and good luck with that' (the receptionist said this!) type place, my new one uses eConsult and it's so much better.

that isn't ai

Our doctors practice has been using this system for about 5 years. It has worked fairly well for us in all but one case when someone misinterpreted what was required.

If its anything serious they usually get you in pretty sharpish.

They don’t have enough GP’s or enough money to deal with the demands on the NHS so have deemed this the best way of triaging and prioritising the very few appointments available to maximise resources. Although far from ideal for anyone not IT savvy.

I think you mean ‘automation’ not AI.

I gave up with trying to see my local GP and have used the NHS app, Livi, to book appointments.

I’ve been able to see someone the same day from the comfort of my own home, with prescriptions issued immediately.

It was pretty intuitive/user friendly, didn’t feel rushed etc

This works really well at my gp surgery and my elderly DMs. 2-3 mins to fill out an online form rather than try and get through by phone. We've had urgent issues dealt with on the day and non urgent issues offered an appointment within a week. Local Facebook groups are ranting about how ridiculous it is without even using it

This is an eConsult, not AI (generally AI cannot be used for any clinical decision making without review by a real person). It’s just an online form. My surgery has been using it for years. For us, it’s fab and much more efficient than waiting on hold for an hour to speak to a receptionist. We get a text or call back from a nurse or doctor by end of day. And it frees up the phone lines for people who need to ring because they can’t use the online system for whatever reason.

I like the e consult form but I when I became ill with what turned out to be severe depression and anxiety I couldn't do the form, I tried several times and just couldn't get my brain to work. The receptionist after speaking to me said she was happy to do it but would need to ask me some very personal questions, was that ok. I was barely coherent by this time and said yes. She was fabulous, she did the form and then said as the form states, someone will contact you within 48 hours. I said that was fine but the gp phoned me within 10 minutes, I suspect the receptionist had escalated my form. As previous posters have said there are occasions where you have to go back a couple of pages otherwise you can't progress because the form says call for an ambulance but in the main for us it's a 100% better than hanging on the phone at 8am.

Yes, it is harder for those without tech (who may indeed represent some of the most vulnerable people).

But the practices know who such patients are, and will have work-arounds for them, but these will not be available to those who can access the online system.

My practice has hybrid. Online available, but you can still ring if you want to.

I much prefer it. I used to spend hours trying to get through. For my last appointment I sent the online form explaining my issue and asking to see someone with an interest in the subject. I put what times were OK/really didn't work for me and got a message back same day with a suitable appointment. Saw a lovely GP who really was knowledgeable on my issue, where previously I'd felt a bit dismissed.

If it's taking a really long time to get back to you, that's the surgery, not the system.

So essentially they are discriminating based on literacy. Illiterate people don’t deserve healthcare, apparently.
I would be kicking up a storm about this.

We’ve had this system for a number of years at our practice. It’s not perfect but I think it works better than the old system of call bang on 8am. Wait on hold for over an hour to then get through and be told there’s no appointments left and try again tomorrow and repeat.
This way usually the form gets reviewed either that day or the next day and you get allocated an appointment or a telephone appointment. Sometimes just a text with medications to collect from the pharmacy

I was in our surgery yesterday and saw how this system excludes others first hand - two elderly people came in separately, one very unsteady on her feet, to say they didn’t have phones or tech to book appointments. One had got a neighbour to fill in the online form re a blood test but it was confirmed by the receptionist the link to book had been sent to her home phone number, which was ridiculous. The other wanted an appointment for his wife who has cancer. He was very upset about leaving her at home alone to come to the surgery.
These are the kind of people who are being excluded by the system but are the ones who need access the most.
What also amazes me is that I was the only person in the waiting room in a practice with 7 doctors! Where are all the patients and what are the doctors doing?

Sounds like econsult. Works brilliantly takes only a few minutes to fill in and usually get reply the same day, next day if routine non urgent, those with no internet etc can still phone in but they'll have to wait in phone queue.

When you filled it in it would have said how long to expect a reply or receipt email saying how long to expect reply?

I can understand why people don’t like it but I love it - though I am probably lucky.

I recently had the dreaded lurgy that’s been going around but my nose had been permanently blocked and sore etc for 12 days, with no sign of it letting up. I filled the form in at 9:30 one day (hoping, but not expecting, help as thought they’d say it was a virus still) got a call from reception to say a doc would phone me at lunch time ish. I then got a call just after 11:00, spoke to the doc and had antibiotics sent over to the pharmacy straightaway.

I’ve also used it when I’ve had issues with acne, a question about the HRT they’d given and when I had a boil that also needed antibiotics a few years ago.