Online GP systems do not stop the 8 am scramble, do not facilitate a GP call back or enable more serious patients to speak to a doctor

Our surgery has just done a trial accepting e-consults all day. They didn’t keep it - the say clinical safety suffered.
So we still have a mixed system, online form if you get in before capacity is reached (opens at 7am, usually full 10 minutes later and you get kicked out when you try and submit, if you still made it in) and a triage line, where you can call all day and the receptionist plays Chinese whispers with the GP. At least that way you still get seen (or more likely called…) if it’s something really urgent, or they can arrange prescriptions / blood tests etc.
No way at my surgery to decide you need to book an appointment without triage. Which in theory makes sense, in practice they probably have too much guess-work going on (oh, I don’t know, just take some antibiotics and see if they help…).

I was pleased when my GP surgery introduced e-consult. I thought it would end the 8am scramble. In reality it is not helpful. It’s a tick box exercise and if what you want to ask doesn’t fit the box you can’t move on with the form. If you phone the receptionist just barks “ e-consult “. My legs and ankles were swelling and I suspected it was a side effect from a medication. There was no appropriate box. I ticked the nearest fit. It took me to a further set of questions which were now irrelevant. I just gave up. I now would prefer to go back to the old system. In theory it should be better but in my experience it isn’t.

I agree with you that it's still an 8am scramble - the online triage opens at 8am and is usually shut again by 9.30am as they have had all they can cope with. Twice I have SPECIFICALLY put when I can do face-to-face and been ignored entirely and given another time. Last time I rang and explained to the receptionist and she agreed to change the time as it was contrary to what I'd said on the form. It's still a mess, I agree.

How do you think it works when someone calls instead? Receptionists aren't multi lingual either.

It's actually far easier to fill in an online form for poor English speakers assuming they are literate in a language- Google translate is excellent. They can translate the form and write their answers for Google translate to turn into English.

The online system works well at my surgery for ongoing routine care (which is a what a lot of GP time is spent on) I have rosacea which responds only to a prescription drug and that can be renewed by just sending in a photo with the form and the prescription is sent direct to my local pharmacy. Far better than when I used to have to call for a in person appointment.

The problem remains that it is very hard for people who work in certain jobs (like teachers or ironically, other doctors) to be able to talk to a GP during their working hours. My surgery does two evenings a week now which they call commuter clinics. More is needed - probably helps this is an area where the population is going to skew younger and more working age than elderly patients so there is a clear demand and need for it.

If your surgery has a much higher share of elderly patients they aren't much bothered by the needs of working age patients.

Our online system is open from 8am until 10.30am. Perscriptions anytime.

I have to say I've used it alot recently due to current medical conditions and it has worked brilliantly for me. I don't have be trying to get through on the phone from 8.30 hoping I am less than 38th in the queue..

I send a form. The reception team phone me up and give me an estimated time for the GP to phone. Or they say the "Dr wants to see you, can come into the surgery today at...."

It really has been unstressful. And I've felt heard and supported by the GP team (jinxed it now!)

Yesterday I used the online system to book a blood test, missed the call from the GP an hour later but they rang again later and I made an appointment. Very easy.

I think it varies widely by practise. Mine is fine. My DS's is awful.

I'm sorry that this has been your experience, however it works really well at my surgery.

I had to fill in the form for my daughter, I received a phone call within an hour to book an appointment and be seen.

A few months ago I needed to fill the form for me, I again had a phone call within an hour and made an appointment for that day.

On Monday, I filled in the form at 7:30 am, and requested a call after 10 due to work meetings. I had a call at 11, and a prescription was sent then and there to my chemist.

It can and does work extremely well for some.

All these people that say they dont have a problem are either very lucky and/or they're around during the morning rush hour times. Many of us work full time so we are commuting, I also dont have access to my phone for lots of the day at work.

Accessing primary care services in this country now is a joke.

I dont think the online system is the issue for our surgery, its the number of patients for the available slots. It would be the same if it was on the phone, or if we all just turned up like you do at A&E.

It is annoying it opens at 8am and you have about 20 mins to get an appointment.

I am yet to see how emailing a photo of a rash, or mole or lump, getting a phonecall and then seeing me is more efficient, than just being seen. I feel it adds two extra stages. Ive basically never had an interaction where they didnt decide to see me.

the online system works for me - but then I hardly ever go the GP and when I do I'm happy to see an ACP.

however I suspect that if I had a chronic condition like diabetes, small children or was elderly I'd feel differently even if in reality an experienced diabetes nurse of 20 years for example will be of more use than a newly qualified GP

It seems to work ok at our surgery. The only time I had an issue was just before Christmas but I called 111 and they got me a telephone appointment the same day.

The only complaint I have is that you have to be careful with what you select if you want to see or speak to an actual GP rather than the physicians associate.

I don’t think the issue is the tech so much as GP resource. If there are only a few GPs, then new appts can’t be created or booked. No booking method can compensate for that.

My surgery is ok. But it would be a struggle for those who are not tech savvy.

My old practice was run like @H8484peful 's. The online booking was as inefficient as the old ways. Because the practice is badly run operationally and has eaten up every little practice and now has 34,000 patients without the expertise or infrastructure to deal with it.

My new practice with 8000 patients and actually Dr's with a better ethos whom one can see treat their staff better, is brilliant. Their on-line works superbly.

We used to have this - the form only opened at certain times and closed as soon as they had enough enquiries. Then you had to wait a few hours before the form opened again. Then you would get a phone call triage at any random point and if you missed the call you were no longer in the system and had to go through the whole process the next day. Luckily they have now changed the system no doubt through getting hundreds of complaints. I would make a complaint ideally with evidence of some adverse consequence on your health.

we have had the online booking system for a while. But there are hardly ever any GP appointments available. The only way is to ring at 8 am. I just checked. Over the next 16 weeks, there are 2 bookable GP appointments available (and it a big surgery with 6 GPs serving a large area). 🤷

We need more GPs, it's that simple. No amount of different appointment booking systems will make a difference if there are no appointments to be booked.

I'd rate my GP service as middling. It can be hard to see an actual GP rather than an 'Advanced Practitioner' but the advanced practitioners seem to be able to do quite a lot.

If they don't have any appointments at all, they tell you to call 111, and nine times out of ten 111 sends you to A&E which is a waste of A&E resources in my opinion - I feel embarrassed sitting there (for four hours) when my ailment is neither an accident nor an emergency.

This is exactly my experience.
Like everyone, my employer does not list answering personal phone calls during working hours as part of my job description.

It’s badly managed at my practice.

i’ve wound up at a and e twice in the last year and the a and e doctor has been very unhappy that I was redirected there.

We have had this system for some time and it 's useless -

Supposed to be open from 7 to 3. Often closed by 9.30.

I was worried my blood pressure had risen substantially. Put a request in and asked for any communication to be by land line as mobile reception can be hit and miss at home. Two weeks later I hadn't heard anything so called in the surgery. They told me they had tried to call twice the day before, had no reply so I would have to start again. They had called my mobile.

They never give a time they will call you so you can spend days at home waiting for a call.

By the time you fill in all the stuff they should already know the system has closed because they have reached capacity.

Haven't been seen by an actual GP since 2019, always get a nurse who then goes off to consult the doctor.

All the surgeries in this area are managed by the same company so no chance to change.

I have no idea how the elderly manage.

Our GP online system opens at 8.00am and closes at 3.00pm. Even if you want to ask for a repeat prescription it has to be done by 3.00pm. The message on the app simply says we are at our capacity for messages try tomorrow. It can be very frustrating!

Our GP system is broken, and even when you do get an appointment it never seems to be with a GP, so we are essentially de-skilling them. It is definitely since Covid. Ten years ago the service felt pretty “normal”

I really like my GP’s online triage. It’s always open, you fill in a little text box with your issue and a receptionist will call you back same day with either an appointment or the information you need to go elsewhere. I barely ever use the GP but every time I have, I’ve been called back within an hour. I think they also send a text if you’ve to go to another service; I remember filling it in over my son’s eye and getting a text with instructions to make an emergency appointment with the optician who carries out the LENS appointments in our area.

They’re basically just asking us to give all the info we would have given over the phone, they read it and decide if you need to go to another service, be given a prescription if it’s obvious what it is, or be given an appointment. Then they call you back/text you with info or appointment time. Saves them time with people rambling on the phone, and they can sort a lot of things out without having to waste time on people calling for stupid reasons, but they get back to you quickly and you get an appointment if you need one.

I don’t understand why you need to be in a queue for the form? Or why it would be closed. We just fill ours out and submit it, like an online query.

Well I had the same experience as you OP. The form was only open for an hour in the morning at most, reception would only divert you to the form. All of this because the underlying issue is a lack of appointments.