How do you get a doctors appointment if you are not available between 8.30 and 8.35am

Yanbu

Originally the consultant form made things easier to access an appointment but now I'm sat with an implant 2 years out of date, can't get it changed cos they either never have the time or resources to do it or never have their consult forms open and if you do get through to the receptionist they tell you it's all online now.

Ours is great. Opens at 8am. I get a note pre-prepared the night before, then cut and paste, sitting there at 7.59am waiting for it to open. Gp then rings within 2 hours. Having spoken to many people, read many mn threads, clearly this is very good service.

I've never experienced that. I usually fill one in the afternoon/evening sometime.

I stopped calling and waited outside at 8 am.

Thats rubbish, I'm sorry. Hopefully the national push will encourage your GP to take part.

It's rubbish but it helps for some. Unfortunately as GPs are private businesses they can make the decision on whether or not to participate, the NHS nationally is pushing them to though.

Our surgery doesn’t allow any of those options. I have full access to the NHS app for me and my child but we cannot contact the surgery or book online via the app as there is no e-consult option available at ours.

My gp surgery very rudely today said to me ‘erm the e consult is closed because it’s full today’ like I was an idiot
I had called for something fairly urgent. I was 19 in the q, was told that, and was told to ring 111

tbh I think 111 can refer (they have done for me before) an urgent same day doctors appointment at your gp.

seems silly to have to ring 111 but that is the only way round it if it’s urgent.

non urgent and there is no hope

That must be surgery specific. I have access to the full app, can view my records, and can book appointments (well the option is there but I have literally never seen one available), and can request repeat prescriptions but don't have the other two options you have visible on your screenshot.

My GP surgery has no online/e consult system, so maybe that's why there's no option to contact them through the app either.

If you can get on to the NHS App (and I realise it is not possible for everyone) then go on to services. Instead of clicking on book an appointment click on contact your GP about a health problem. It will ask a load of questions and puts the onus on the surgery to come back to you and book an appointment. It doesn't work perfectly but it's better than trying to book an appointment through them - plus you're not stuck on hold! If you then can't book an appointment you can ask them to ring you to book it.

The reason it asks for photo ID is to reduce identity fraud. Not perfect but it helps. And you can link someone else's account if they go the same surgery, although you will need their permission if over 18 and to go into the surgery to set that up.

Our surgery isn’t too bad compared to some of the posts on here. If you can get through at 8.30, you’ll be triaged for a same day phone call or in person appointment (and if after the phone call the GP decides they need to see you, you’ll get an appointment same day or next).
They don’t mind if you turn up at reception at 8.30 to try and get a same day appointment- I have heard some surgeries will turn people away!
If it’s not urgent though then it’s a 3 week wait just for a phone call.

@Unicornleapfrog Yep Been trying for a year to get an appointment in my surgery due to change in bowel habits. Hence the switch.

@Manthide Deeply sorry for the loss of your brother

Im currently changing GP surgery. I dont have a passport or a drivers licence so they asked me to bring my birth certificate and also my marriage certificate cos of name change. I also have
DWP letter

council tax letter.
NHS Covid vaccine reminder letter which has my NHS no.

Hopefully that should be enough,

Yanbu it's crap! If I can't get a Gp appt for my young kids I just turn up at my local hospital as they have an urgent care centre. Not the way it should be but there you have it.

I have tried for a year to get hrt, just keep getting put off with blood test forms and then I can’t get through to the blood test team. It’s ridiculous.

I popped in at 10am last week to pick up my prescription but the surgery didn’t have a single person in the waiting area! It looked like the Marie Celeste!

These phone appointments are literally killing people as they must be missing so much!

I can fill out e-consult anytime during the day and get a triage appointment.

I’ve never not been seen same day if required.

My surgery uses patchs, an online service which opens at 8am on weekdays, and closes when there are no more slots left. Sometimes this is within half an hour, other times its still open for requests close to practice closing time, but the forms close at the same time as the surgery even if all slots weren't used.
Once you start the request, you have 30 minutes to fill out the form before it times you out and the slot goes back into the pool. It doesn't advertise how many slots are released, and i think it varies by day of how many they've got available, and when they're gone, you have to try again tomorrow. In the past, they used to only be open monday, friday, and sometimes wednesdays, but they've definitely expanded now, thankfully, as due to my socail anxiety, i can't handle the phone up and wait in a queue way of doing things.

Ours have stopped the econsults for the time being as there were too many issues with it. My mother was in extreme pain with her arm and did an econsult which she found difficult anyway as she is in her 80s. Got sent an appointment with a nurse, 2 towns away (and impossible to get to on public transport ) and for 8 days afterwards! She sent a text back saying she needed to be seen ASAP in our town and she got the response that the case was closed.

I have experienced long waits on the phone for an appointment with my local doctors. They at least tell you where you are in the queue. I have now started using their website, I found out that they are only 6 weeks ahead. So regular appointments are easy.
No idea about emergency appointments because my leg hasn't come off yet.

I didn't need to do any of that to sign up for the NHS app.
I had to take my passport and a bank statement to the surgery to get the patient access.
I wonder if it is just your practice that has invented all these extra checks, or if it is a national thing that has happened more recently?

I tried signing up for the NHS app. As well as all my personal details - which the NHS has used to treat me all my life - it wanted a scan of my passport and a video of my face. WTF for?

Our mp is visiting my parents this week as they have made a complaint about the (non) treatment of my brother by our gp surgery. He died 8 weeks ago because he was unable to see a gp for months and the nurse practitioner kept prescribing antibiotics for a sore throat and despite him visibly losing a few stones (and he was skinny to begin with) did nothing! He had cancer of the oesophagus.

It's v common for number of eConsults to be limited..At my last GP it was closed after 30 per session. So effectively open for 15 mins twice a day.

I did that today. Got an appointment for 31/5. And F2F, as well, which I normally have to be firm about, but it was a new receptionist, who was very amenable.

I haven't seen a gp since before covid - now the whole system is a nightmare. I work from 0600 in a factory, we aren't allowed phones on the shop floor. A couple of weeks ago I had a day off as I was worrying about some symptoms and my younger brother has very recently died from cancer. I phoned about 5 times at 0800 to finally get in the queue to immediately get a message that there were no appointments left for that day! I then waited over an hour in a queue and the receptionist, after having to give her a list of my symptoms ( ?) told me a gp would phone in the afternoon. I asked her for a smaller window and she said between 1200 and 1800. The gp phoned about 1500, kept going on about evening primrose oil ( I went through menopause about 5 years ago with no issues) and after I told her I hadn't had a mammogram for a few years - and my nana and a couple of my first cousins have died of breast cancer - suggested I phone someone to arrange a mammogram (didn't give me a number).
Anyway I went today and the nurse asked if I'd seen a doctor when she asked about my symptoms. I said no I'd spoken to one ! She put down I'd seen one as apparently a phone call is the same!

The NHS- especially GP’s- are utter garbage at the moment. My mum has a life limiting lung condition and needs antibiotics as soon as there is the slightest whiff of chest infection yet last week she was in no less than four queues to speak to someone, only to be cut off when she got to number 1 in the queue. I have no idea who is getting appointments. Not people who work or have any kind of commitments at 8:30 in the morning that’s for sure. At our surgery you’re lucky even to get a phone consultation.
In the future there will be people dying of undiagnosed serious conditions because of this in the future if it’s not happening already.
Would your boss allow you to start a bit later?