Accessing Healthcare on a Zero Hours Contract

the idea behind phoning at 8am is that you expect to get a same day appointment and so not working on that same day is going to happen anyway.

Whether ppl actually get a same day appointment most the time I wouldn't know.
My old GP had an online system where we described our problem on a website form and could request option of a GP call back as the 'appointment'; then we would be emailed with a time window when they would phone, sometime in the next 5 working days. That system wouldn't work for OP either, obviously.

I’m a Dr and can’t phone then, and couldn’t go on a day I was working. I have to do it on days off. I agree it’s annoying - but I can also see a very very large number of people can make a phone call at 8am.

Some of my annual leave is spent doing ‘maintenance’ stuff like appointments and car servicing and so on that just doesn’t work with my hours. Like a lot of people.

I changed surgeries because of this crap

I wish my surgery did this but no, it is 8am or nothing. If you try late morning onwards it is just ‘ no appointments left, try again at 8am tomorrow’.

Quickly 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yeah but you don't get a day off in the week do you?

I'm sure if you did, you'd ring then?

YANBU I’m a teacher with complex medical needs and find it impossible to get an appointment as I can’t ring my GP at 8.30 then stay on the phone in a queue for 3/4 of an hour makes my blood boil!

I’m a community carer too. She’ll be getting a break between lunch and tea calls and doing about 10 hours of actual work to be getting £130 a day.

I managed a Domiciliary care service. If one of my carers needed some time out for something like this we would just take a call out of their rota so they could make the call, and get another carer to cover it.

A 15 hour shift - each day.
surely only 3 days a week as that a 45 hour week as it is.

15 hours a day for 5 days is a 75 hour week !

How are you getting £3.80 an hour? That doesn’t add up

Bottom line is - it shouldn't be this difficult to get a same day appointment. The system is broken.

OP, if anything your work schedule is more amenable to being able to access healthcare, because you have a day off in the middle of the week! I work Mon-Fri in a clinic seeing patients from 8-5. There's no way I could ever make an 8am phone call. Ditto the teacher who posted upthread. Or people who work in customer facing roles in retail. Etc, etc. There are hundreds of jobs where you can't make a phone call at 8am.
But you are in the fortunate position of having am entire day off in the middle of the week! Personally I would be using that day to do all the life admin that other people struggle to do at the weekend. Going to the GP, the post office, the bank...

Our surgery is similar, we have to submit an online form between 8am and 9am which will be triage then we may or may not get an appointment.

Most people are travelling to work at that point, so do you stay home and hope you get one or what?

I've only had to do it for DC and they were suck and off school so fine. Not sure what to do with something more routine that will probably not make the triage on a busy day.

Getting a choice of GPs? You're having a laugh.
I'm with you OP. Luckily our GP brought in an eConsult service which I can use for non-urgent appointments. Same day has to be via the 8am route though.

I feel for you Op i used to be in the same situation, you could only get an appointment if you rang at 8. No guarantee and sometimes be on hold for 40 min trying to get through to be told all the appointments are gone. I didn't get sick pay so it would mean losing a days wages and not even getting an appoint. Luckily ours have moved to econsult but ours still impossible to get a face to face appointment . Is there an urgent treatment centre near you? You could get try on your day off?

Mine moves like lightening because the receptionists go into robot mode 🤣

But still, all the more reason to ring on a day you're not at work if it takes too long.

It’s fucking awful. Our society fucks over women and sees no value in the vital role of carers who look after the most vulnerable in society.
Don’t know if this is relevant? https://www.morganlaroche.com/blog/employment-tribunal-holds-that-homecare-providers-agree-to-pay-backdated-national-minimum-wage-to-care-workers-for-travelling-and-waiting-time-between-care-appointments/

💐

Ours doesn't. It would be easier to get an audience with the Pope.

The queue moves very slowly in my experience. And ours is capped at ten so if you're not one of the ten you're told to call back later by which time any appointments have gone.

(Oh and I don’t get a choice in GP’s - all are over subscribed so it’s just assigned. And the rest around me use the same system anyway)

if you have a weekday off that’s your best option

If you work 5 days a week of which 1 or 2 are on a weekend then you must have day(s) off on weekdays on which you phone at 0800. I'm not sure what the issue is.

My health trust has out of hours GPs - can be at a different local surgery in the borough, they operate early evening and weekends - see if yours has something similar.

Explain the situation to your employer and see if they can rota your visits with a gap at 8am? You can't be the only employee impacted in this way, presumably they are better off if you are in good health.

Even this doesn't work as often the GP will have run out of appointments so that's a wasted day off. The system has been screwed since Covid.

I get it. My GP surgery is exactly like this ‘but’ they will schedule a phone call around 6 weeks later if you get through and they’ve just restarted their open surgery from before Covid. Means spending 4 hours in a waiting room but they will see you. I’ve gotten sick after both times as it’s hours and hours trapped in a room filled with sick people but I did get my prescription so I guess that’s a win.

it’s only the 8am phone call for a chance of a same day appointment or the options above. Mostly I just do none of these and hope I get better. It’s not ideal.