GP surgeries discriminating against kids

I hope you’re right. I agree with an 18 month old screaming, so they’d be seen but not so much a 12 year old in the same pain but won’t be as vocal. That’s the worry.

Most GPs will try and fit children in even if they have filled up all their emergency appointments.

And where do you suppose the people who can't afford to feed their children are going to get that money from?

It's time to charge people to see a doctor, say 100 quid for a face-to-face, 50 for an e appointment. Treatment thereafter would still be free. End of people not turning up.

This - a million times over!!!!

That sounds odd and should be, if anything the other way around? I'd ask the Practice Manager for clarification.

Never heard of that before. Anytime I've phoned for my daughter it's been an instant appointment or the GP has called back very quickly and made a face to face for her. I suppose it is different in different areas xxx

You’ve misunderstood the intention. It’s precisely because kids go downhill so quickly (plus littler ones can’t communicate so there’s a greater reliance on F2F exam) that they’re kept out of the eConsult queue. They will always be found an in-person on the day if it’s urgent, and if not, a routine in-person in due course.

We have the same system. In practice, if I ring about one of my children, they tell me when to come in.

My surgery uses econsult and triages everything, there is no other way to get an appointment. For people who can't use it for whatever reason, they phone and the receptionist fills in the form on their behalf.

That's really odd. My surgery have an online portal and everytime I've filled one in for my toddler I've got a phone call within the hour and sometimes an on the day appointment too.

Can they extend Econsult to children? Ours uses it and the first question is who are you filling it in for. I have filled it in for my DC and it has been reviewed and been given a same day appointment if it's required.

Is there a pharmacy attached to the GP surgery? It sounds a terrible system, but there might be a part you are missing. I think pharmacies have taken on a lot of the GPs routine kids treatment options in a lot of places.

My GP is pretty good, TBH, but their system for kids was often to present at the pharmacy (as they cover a lot of things like rashes, impetigo, eye infections etc) and if you needed to see a GP, they would call the GP and someone would see you pretty much straight away. This is what the receptionist would advise, she'd sometimes recommend kids A&E instead, only GP if it was the best fit.

However, my GP does have a lot of different things in the same building (travel clinic, nurse specialists, HVs, midwives, physiotherapy, as well as specialist pharmacists) so it was probably easier to manage.

Our GP surgery is amazing!!

I called at 4:30pm after going to the pharmacy for a rash on my daughter. They said it was shingles and we called the PG straight away. They told us to come straight in to be seen.

Thank you for realising that about the oldies. I just don’t know how they are managing, I can’t fathom all the changes sometimes! And I’m so IT literate! It’s a massive social exclusion.

My surgery doesn’t allow any online bookings at all. It’s the Hunger Games at 8.30 and usually 100+ calls before you get to speak to someone. Quite often there are no appointments left that day so you have to go through the same again the next day.
You cannot go down to the surgery, they will just send you away.
If you do manage to see a doctor and the doctor says come back in 7 days on the way out you would think that you would be able to make a follow up appointment but no. You have to go away and call again on the day the doctor wants to see you and then see if you can get an appointment.
The system is completely broken, and they keep adding to the problems by allowing more houses to be built so more patients and so it gets worse.

I would see how it works in practice first then complain. More than once I've been sat in a waiting room at 5.30 waiting for the GP to finish their scheduled clinic to fit in my daughter who dared to get poorly enough for a same day GP visit after 8.02 so missed out on a gp appointment in a call at 8 surgery.

Our surgery now run an econsult form open at 6 am and I would say it has been a vast improvement so I do get your annoyance that it's not available to kids. Even simple appts for UTIs in my daughter have been easier as the GP requests we collect a sample pot prior to the appointment so we can bring a sample with us from the comfort of our home rather than trying to persuade a 4 year old to wee on demand in a strange toilet and into a weird plastic cup!

they're probably trying to avoid having loads of sick kids e-consult requests sitting in an inbox not being looked at if it's a busy morning precisely because kids get sick quickly. If you're worried that they need seeing that day and there's no appointment via their usual route then you probably do need to go to ED/minor injuries/whatever other service. They will be triaged there. It's not ideal, but nothing is anymore. At least kids tend to have internet literate parents.... feel much worse for the old folk who have next to no chance these days.

Assume urgent = needs seeing same day and go for that.

The bottom line is, there aren't enough appointments and there's no 'priority system' that can create appointments from nothing.

Because anyone with an actual sick kid goes down there when they open and sits in the waiting room til seen. Doctors always prioritise sick children, always, if they are sick. Plus no one will tolerate an 18th month old screaming with an ear infection for more than about 10 minutes space will be made. It's not that they don't prioritise children, they just know that parents with a real sick kid will bring them there as a priority, not grumble about how outraged they are over the phone.

Also kids shouldn't wait to be triaged at a GP surgery, they are right. If you are concerned enough to think you need immediate medical attention for a child and the GP can't deal immediately then you should take them to hospital instead, to be on the safe side.

My guess is that in practice urgent appointments will be reserved for children. There's a fairly predictable number of kids with high temps, odd rashes etc needing to be seen urgently every day and those need to be f2f so if they hold back say 40 out of 100 f2f appts for children and book those separately then if they are not all used they can be released to adults later in the day. Meaning if anything the system disadvantages adults slightly. But children with worrying symptoms should get seen quickly.