Dr's phone calls when you work

Same in our town. No choice at all as all the practices have merged or been taken over. It shouldn’t be allowed.

My city has a population of 140,000 plus. We have one GP practice made up of several they've swallowed: there is no option to change.

I've even tried moving to the practice where I work, but they won't allow it.

This is probably down to your own GP. This issue should have been fixed nationwide by now. I was IT in a GP practice for eight years, and we started offering online consultations and appointment bookings back in about 2016, and we were nowhere near the first in our PCT (in London). Since I left in 2018, my own GP has offering consultations through their app (although this particular app is because they are part of a large medical group), where you can even upload pictures if there is a visible part you want the doctor to look at. They will usually call and follow up and see you in person if need be.
This just demonstrates that the facilities are there and would be freely available for you to contact your practice, if only your practice enables it.
You may have to change GPs, it can be unfortunate if you have a good rapport with a favourite doctor, but it was previously quite difficult to get appointments if you were working, and much has been done to get around that.

I agree with a PP.. we need multiple points of access.

• All surgeries should operate an e-consult or equivalent. In 2024 it shouldn’t be optional to have an online contact.
• Calling an 8am may work for emergency appointments, but shouldn’t be the only option for routine / non-urgent queries.
• All areas should be served by walk-in clinics, it shouldn’t be a postcode lottery.
• Where a telephone appointment is deemed appropriate, an approximate time should be given.
• Ultimately, we need more GP’s though.

My practice won't give a time for a phone appointment. It's absurd, if you have a face to face appointment they wouldn't expect you to sit all day in the waiting room.

Yes, my friend, also a teacher, isn't allowed to leave morning meetings at 8am to book appointments or take calls during the day, so they phone in sick and take the whole day off just to get/ attend GP appointments, including telephone appointments. They're not taking the piss, these have been essential appointments.

My GP surgery asks you to note on the online form what time you can take the call that day and they try their best to call at that time. They also give you the option for a text rather than a phone call.

Yes, that's the risk you take. But claiming to be ill when one isn't (even for what might well seem to be a good reason) is also risky - staff have been sacked for it.

Oh the dreaded redial!! My Dr’s used to be like this!

Phonelines open at 9am. You used to just have to keep redialling to get through (think 132 was my record 😂), but now they have implemented a queuing system. And appointments will either be a callback or face to face. The call back you are given a specific time for however, so you’re not having to wait around for hours.

However what my GP’s also do is online booking (they stopped this during covid and it was a total pain!), but if you register for the online system, then you can go online and book appointments with the GP’s or Nurse and those slots go as far as the next 3-4 weeks, so if it’s a non emergency it allows you to book in when it’s convenient for you around work and you are able to say whether you want a F2F or telephone appointment. (Online system you can also request medication/repeat prescriptions, check test results etc).

Much better system than it was years ago!

Covid nudged them to phone consultations, but the sheer impossibility of getting appointments has been happening for 25 years. I remember it starting around the time we married back in 1997. Before that I could go to the daily drop mornings in where you waited in turn, or pretty easily make an afternoon appointment a week or two in advance. Then it all went tits up with them stopping the drop ins then the delays started going up to several weeks and then we started getting the receptionists asking triage questions and then the having to.phone at 8 nonsense. All before covid!

Ours same day appointment literally states on their website for people who struggle to make the standard appointments. But you ring and they ask if it's an emergency they can add you to the list. Every time my answer is it's not but I work and this is the only way I can guarantee I can come. You do have to wait for a call back but I luckily can get permission to use personal phone.
They did start to do later appointment but it's so difficult to get one.

My GP only allows online bookings. Even if you go to reception, you're told to book online. Once you've requested an appointment, they will phone you back but it takes upto 48 hours!
My issue is discussing my medical issues in front of my colleagues as we're not allowed mobiles on shift.
It's even more ridiculous that they don't give you a time when they'll call like they do with face to face appointments.
Nightmare for Nightshift workers too. It's like the equivalent of a GP phoning you in the middle of the night!

My work place had zero service fir mobile.phones. I can't get any calls. So don't bother with GP and go to walk in centre if I need too

YANBU.

at our surgery they’ve just changed the system - one of the three surgeries takes all “I need an appointment today” kind of calls and have triage, so at least there’s no 8am rush anymore as you’ll be triaged any time you call. However, then there are the same problems. Talk to receptionist- put you through to medical receptionist. If they deem you worthy of speaking to a GP one will call you that day, but at any time. If you need a follow up it’ll also likely be a phone call, they’ll give you the day, but no time - not even morning or afternoon.
I can usually manage (though it’s still awkward in important meetings) but DH has got a job where he can’t take calls.

For non-urgent stuff we also need to do the e-consult online and they might call you out of the blue in the next three to five days. Well, in theory.

I sympathise OP.
I had all this nonsense at my old GP, could never get through on the phone, they might eventually phone me back at inconvenient times, like when I had screaming little grandbabies in the car. Useless at making referrals. etc etc.The final straw was when they actually kept their door locked!
I asked around and moved to a practice where there are enough doctors to get an appointment very quickly. Sometimes on the same day. I do live in London and appreciate this might not be possible in rural areas or small towns.

I work in a surgery. Our system is to phone on the day and, if you're lucky, you might get an appt for that day.
If it's not urgent and you can wait we work a two week advance diary so might* be able to offer you an appt (usually in two weeks time).
My own GP surgery has appointments for on the day urgent care but if it's not urgent you can fill out a form which is triaged and someone will call you back within 5 days. They do ask on the form if there are times you can't be reached.
*Probably can't as these are usually snapped up pretty quickly

Our practice you can fill in an online form any time so could do it day or night. You can say at the bottom when & how to contact you back. Eg a teacher might list out break or lunch times for a call back. Or they can also do it via text. They will offer some calls into early evenings.

You fill in all your symptoms etc on the form so there's not much to say when they ring "can you see dr at 4pm?" or "we'll put you for the nurse clinic next wednesday morning" or "dr looked at the photo of the rash and said take over counter anti histamine & wait a week and then ring again if it doesn't go on its own"

But if you're sick, you're also not feeling like getting dressed and trying to get to the surgery where you'll still have to chat. either, . Having your phone best to you is barely a hardship.

I'll admit that they've been times when I've been very grateful for phone appointments, and not having to drag myself out of bed.

I'm a teacher too and agree completely! We have to ring at 8am, sit in a queue of up to 20 people (only allows 20, anything above it cuts you off). My previous school started at 8.30 and there have been a couple of times I've had to hang up as school was starting and still in the queue!

I always tell the reception staff when my free time is in the day and ask for the call to be then. The standard response is that they can't guarantee - but I've always had the calls at the right times.

Yeah…also if you are sick…you aren’t next to your phone ready to tchat…🎅

You can usually choose on the website via the nationwide (more or less) Patchs system, or via the NHS app how you would prefer to be contacted, emails, texts are both an option. There's an option to add notes so you could explain that you're a teacher and cannot take calls at xxxx times.

Usually. My practice uses both apps but you can't do any of those things.

In a Monday I was triaged by a 'care navigator' who said yes I did need an urgent appointment. I was put through to a dragon to book my appointment. She made me go through everything again. And decided not urgent.
So I had a phone appointment booked for the next Friday. When I asked for the time, curtly told " After 9:30 am.
By the Friday I was very ill. I thought after 9:30 would mean, maybe 10am. Noon at the latest.
By 4:30 pm I was at my wits end & managed to call to adj, had I missed the Dr.'s call?
No. After 9:30am means anytime until 6:30 pm.
So if you are at work & have to make special arrangements to take a phone call, tough, you're just the patient.
If you're ill and anxious, you'll stay that way.
I thought the point of the NHS was the patients.
Maybe onc, not now.
It's targets, priorities, paperwork and meetings.

Is there anyone who does not have prroblems with GPs? Ours is 4 weeks wait for a routine appointment with a doctor (even telephone calls). The surgeries are at three locations two of which I cannot get to, yet can see the on in our village from our back garden. Recently injured my leg and ended up with an ulcer which needed change of dressing two/three times a week and had receptionists telling me there were no nurse appointments available at all, and being directed to a walk in centre - despite the fact that the walk-in centre does not dress ulcers.
I said this has to be done, otherwise I could lose my leg, and they just shrugged.

Smilarly my DP has missed out on treatment he needs because he cannot get to the other surgeries. £40 per taxi ride is just not sustainable.

Assuming you can even get a signal in your school... we can't ... not that we're allowed our phones out anyway.