To think this GP appointment booking system is insane?

I needed an appointment for my DC last week. Every morning I'd ring and if I couldn't get through I'd check 'Patches'. That was not accepting any requests either. On getting through I was offered an appointment in school time, that day, I couldn't book an appointment ahead, she said try Patches! I said I'd tried.

The next morning I tried Patches at 7 am, as soon as the system was opened. Apparently as soon as they've received enough requests, they don't accept any more!

Never used to be like this, you used to be able to complete a Patches request any time during the opening hours.

@NewishBroom you can't book through the NHS app (I have it for requesting my asthma meds) it's something called Anima. The surgery are known locally for being awful - they took over my GPs practice a decade ago and there is no other choice because we are 'outside of catchment area' - they are too big without the GPs for the number of patients. Thankfully I rarely need to contact them but when I do its unbelievably frustrating!

The government is actually doing something about this. There has been a deal done with GPs so that in order to get their pay increase they will be required to have online appointment booking.

”The new contract says patients should be able to arrange appointments online throughout working hours, freeing up the phones for those who need them most, and making it easier for practices to triage patients based on medical need.“

A lot of GPs turned the system off at weekends as the number of requests they were getting over the weekend simply was so large they couldn't get through it when they opened on the Monday.

Ours is also inaccessible. Phone lines open at 8.30 and only accept 15 before the line is closed. Online consult can be done from 8.30 and is often closed by 9am. I start teaching at 8.40 so have 10 minutes to fill in the twenty page e-consult..

I don’t understand how if the system was ‘always on’ the same number of forms would be submitted? It would be totally swamped.

That's not true....it would be a similar amount of forms as now just sent at different timings. Plus persumably some more to account for those people who currently get locked out and end up either going to A&E. Or more likely than not, giving up and suffering on.Potential serious medical problems will definitely be missed if they're not even in the system!

Ours used to have some automated appointments and the phoneline opened early in the morning. When my DC were little I would set my alarm for 4.45am to get one, or if they were unwell and up all night no alarm was needed!

My previous surgery had an online form system and I thought it worked so much better. My new one is telephone only and only on the day “emergency” appointments are available regardless of issue, there is no option to book any appointments with a GP for future dates so you can never get in.

The forms need to be triaged. There needs to be some management of this. If open all of the time staff could come in to 100s of forms to triage into appointments and it would not cope or be sustainable. General Practice is not an emergency service and there is unfortunately a capacity that can be worked up to. There’s also the risk that people (even though the systems try to catch it) put in serious medical problems and if it’s done hours earlier there’s less chance to catch this. During working hours there’s more of a chance to catch them and direct them to emergency services.

My Dr has this system and I've given up trying . I've gone private the last 2x Dr apps I've needed . It's not that my Dr's are bad but you just can't get an appt.

It does matter how they are filled. The system itself is causing some of the increased demand and is feeding a hysterical culture around seeing a doctor. Practices need to take some responsibility for it.
The allocation for same day appointments is too high at most practices, some are operating at 90% same day appointments. If people can get non urgent appointments within one week, then the demand for urgent same day appointments would be lower allowing for true emergencies.This will lower the overall demand as people who require true same day care are loosing out to the most efficient/persistent people resulting sometimes in catastrophic events with sequelae increasing demand further. Additionally cancellations of appointments will start appearing again because of the tolerable wait times of routine appointments (Johnny had ear ache and it went away on its own in 3 days).
The issue is that it is a more complicated and bespoke system to run and requires a lot of diary gymnastics and practices would rather keep receptionists happy who would prefer do a call centre approach.

Exactly this....why does the online triage system only allow you to access it during their office hours? If it's over the weekend or in an evening, then I'm aware that the message won't be picked up immediately but it would be in the system at least for the next working day. The GP practice still makes the decision what to priotise out of the triage messages and what response they'll give each one. But potentially missing serious problems as people are unable to get into the system is worrying. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of stress it causes trying to access the system when one is already unwell/suffering.

Our surgery is “ring back in X weeks when the book for next month opens” 😂

Ours takes online or phone but phone queue you can request a callback so you don't have to sit and wait. I've always managed to get an appt for same day when needed.

The appts are mainly done over the phone though, I've not been to the surgery since Covid unless for a smear test etc.

Same here. Ours is be first in the queue at 8.10am or bust!
Basically you call at 8.10am, if you haven't progressed very far in the queue by 8.30am , it's not likely you'll get an apt that day. No opportunity to book ahead and no second opening at eg 12pm.or 2pm, so rinse and repeat at 8.10am, for how ever many days....
I heard somewhere that they used to calculate the average person needed a GP appointment 4 x a year, but now it's 8 x a year. Within our family of 4 we don't generally need more than 4 appointments per year between us and it's still like getting blood from a stone trying to get an apt! There must be people with chronic illnesses, health problems and health anxiety that are going a lot more frequently.

Both dh and I need to have an appointment with a doc. Neither of us is desperate but do need seeing. Me HRT review, DH results of some tests he’s had. We would happily book in weeks in advance but can’t so spend half an hour a day in the phone going through the same old rigmarole wasting the receptionists time. Why on earth they can’t allocate a few appointments a day for routine care I do now know.

I'm a GP receptionist, our surgery is ring at 8.30 or 2pm in the hope of an on the day appointment or 3-4 week wait for a routine appointment. Yesterday morning it took us 4 hours to get the phone calls to zero that was 5 of us answering non stop . There just aren't enough appointments at all , it's frustrating all round .

Get to work early??

So ring on your commute?

My old gp was the same. Could never get an appointment! Moved areas and my new gp has it online via nhs app where you can filter by which doctor you want to see if need be and it shows every available appointment for the next 16 weeks so you can pick. I don’t see why all gps don’t do this

Our demand for appts has increased 167% on last check.

A combinations of sicker patients, long hospital waiting lists, lack of self care, poorer mental health, Amazon prime mentality of must be fixed today and far too many wasted appts looking for stuff/notes/evidence for benefits.

lack of funds to Gp and it’s a drowning system.

Booking by phone usually means a 45 minute wait on hold though. That's even harder to fit into everyday life.

I like the online system our surgery runs and, even more so, the fact that you can circumvent it by turning up at the desk and talking to a real human being if necessary.

Lack of gp capacity is the real problem underlying all this.

The last time I needed to take DS to a GP, I called 3 days in a row at 8.10 (when phone lines open) waited in a queue for 40 min which barely moved, was late for work and on day 3 gave up and went to a walk in centre about 25 min drive away. You can only book for the same day, at 8.10.

It's not the same everywhere. A colleague has health anxiety and manages to get an appointment with her GP, most weeks, fairly easily.

Yesterday I had to call the GP for some test results. The answer phone before you get to speak to someone, (twice) tells you it's less busy after 11am. I phoned at 4pm and was 1st in the queue. It still took 10 min to speak to someone, so you can imagine how long the morning queues take.