GP receptionists?

Ok then the pp was lying then?

They stated " BusWankers · Today 21:12

Our GP has no phone appointments now. It makes you fill in a form online...it gets assessed and often they ask for photos back etc. then they make an appointment with who they decide..

They will not talk to you about appointments on the phone, not will they book anything for you in person. They will make no exception, doesn't matter if you've spent £35 on a taxi or caught 3 buses, they will direct you to the online appointment system.

This works really well, because, they can triage and send you to the right person in the first place, instead of having to deal with the fucking arseholes who say "I will only discuss my health issues with my GP" when actually they just need a quick flu jab that the walk in pharmacy could have provided for free with no appointment."

So why the fuck are you telling ME to grow up?

Actually with your attitude it shows you work in primary care

You could have both systems. Phone and Internet booking

Oh do grow up. Of course there will be a phone option. I’ve worked in primary care for many years, it is NEVER a one size fits all approach. No need for the teenage “next”. How embarrassing for you.

It is. But it is equally a reality for lots of people that they cant sit on a phone at 8am hanging on for an appointment

No system is perfect but these days the folks who are (like my mother) in their mid 70s, have had access to the Internet since the 1990s/2000s and are perfectly capable of navigating an online form with very clear and simple questions.

That the answer for digital exclusion is not to make a system that exclues people who dont want to be analogue. It is to help those people find a way to engage. In our practice you can go to reception and do the form with their support.

But the poster said that their surgery ONLY accepts online booking. Next....

Well because 90% of patients can contact the practice online it leaves the phone lines clearer for those who can’t.

The 80 plus year olds often and they need more appointments. Anyone who is blind sometimes the homless who are sofa surfing.

Who has no access to the internet?

Like seriously... Who?

According to NHS England in June 2024, there were 28.7 million appointments, also roughly 20% above June 2019 levels (22.8 million). GP’s are seeing more patients post Covid but with less GP’s.

In 2024, there were 63.4 million patients registered, meaning an average caseload of 2,293 patients per GP—up 18% since 2015

As in all professions, there are pure arseholes who seem to enjoy making other people miserable.

GP receptionists seem to be at the top of this list because we only contact them when we are feeling our lowest and in need of help.

Far too many GP surgeries adopted new procedures during covid and have not reverted back to what was a workable system in that you could phone up, book an appointment for the next week or so and feel reassured that you were going to see a doctor face to face and discuss whatever was concerning you.

These days, you have to phone up at exactly 8.30am and 4 seconds and are made to feel as though you are a complete arsehole for even daring to phone up and merely exist let alone feel the need to see or want to speak to a doctor.

Scheduled appointments really need to return as the lack of these is straining our A&E depts.

My father had a number of serious health conditions, leading to his death at 54. One time he struggled to access the g p and was asked at the counter what his illness was...he replied he was getting out of bed and stood on the end of his penis...very loudly...half the surgery knowing him howled with laughter

If you cannot get an appointment - it probably down to GP Partners. They instruct the receptionist what. Most of the issues with a GP is down to them and the practice manager.

I know that question wasn't to me but the system the poster mentioned sounds like what we do. For those with no internet/poor literacy/visually impaired they the receptionists can put the info on the triage form for the patient.

All of them at my current surgery are marvellous.

I left the surgery I was at previously which I always rated highly after 17 years.

I discovered they’d had a huge change in partners and management and that explained it.

Perhaps, it is because you have medical problems. People who have medical condition may be treated differently to the general public.

Or literacy issues,no digital skills,no one to help them.
This is a reality for a lot of people.

Does it work well for those to have no access to the Internet

Seems the " regulars" always get treated better. I can never get appointment at my GP. One of my friends who is a regular has no issue and is astounded that I can't get appt

Our GP has no phone appointments now. It makes you fill in a form online...it gets assessed and often they ask for photos back etc. then they make an appointment with who they decide..

They will not talk to you about appointments on the phone, not will they book anything for you in person. They will make no exception, doesn't matter if you've spent £35 on a taxi or caught 3 buses, they will direct you to the online appointment system.

This works really well, because, they can triage and send you to the right person in the first place, instead of having to deal with the fucking arseholes who say "I will only discuss my health issues with my GP" when actually they just need a quick flu jab that the walk in pharmacy could have provided for free with no appointment.

What a lot of people fail to understand is that every surgery is run differently and has different ways of managing patient flow. Whatever the receptionists do they are only following surgery policy. My surgery uses an electronic system where everyone needing to be seen or with a query is added to that (either by the receptionist or the patient themselves) and then triaged by the duty doctor. If early enough it will be dealt with that day, if not the next day. Requests triaged as urgent are dealt with ASAP at any time of day.

This works really well but a lot of surgeries you still have to ring at 8:00am for an appointment, and I can imagine in those circumstances the receptionists get a lot of grief, even though they are just following the system

Of course! At our surgery we have 31000 patients & 120 appointments each day. You bet there are extremely strict guidelines on who you can offer what to. Anybody not describing symptoms on the “urgent” list (set by the partners) has to complete a non urgent triage form.

In the 10 year plan AI is going to care navigate you

There are more patients wanting appointments than there are available appointments. The population is increasing but the number of GP’s decreasing.

In all truthful honesty - yes. Because there is not enough money and not enough appts for everyone who wants one. You need to look to the government, not minimum wage receptionists who are deluged by hundreds of demands all day long. some people do not use the Gp properly, it’s really difficult to tell the difference at times. They shouldn’t really be in the position they are in. The GP partners actively choose to use mostly min wage staff, who they train (some good, some bad) to front door their practice, because it’s too expensive to have a qualified HCp do it. This is in fact changing and most surgeries will have a clinician triaging. It’s summer, every surgery is being deluged with hayfever requests, travel vaccines, diazepam to fly and period delay pills. In winter everyone has a cough. People will call the GP after throwing up for less than 24 hours. This is not untrue. It is true.

They can’t just ping a GP to ask a question either not easily, the GP is drowning in workload and all the additional ‘pings’ take more and more time. So yes a document in the system should get dealt with, constantly chasing it doesn’t mean it will get done faster it’s in a queue with everyone else’s.

Change surgeries or contact the practice manager