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 system at my GP is open 24/7. It’s fantastic. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night & remember I need to book my routine nurse appointment. I’ll just log in & complete the form. Usually have an appointment by the end of the next day.

I think you should write to your practice and tell them to open the online forms 24/7. If they won’t, write to your MP.

Ours works brilliantly. Phone call or appointment the same day for more urgent queries, routine appointments within a week or so. The form is usually open 7:30 to around 11.

The repeat prescriptions form is available 24/7.

It's brilliant at our surgery, I expect your practice haven't got the hang of it yet.

I can always book a phone call with the duty doctor later that day or next day, my own doctor within days and they call me and switch it to face to face depending on what I write. Pharmacy are able to sort out prescriptions and medication issues directly with my GP.

The forms great and easy to use, its only weekends I can’t submit a form. I’d change GP surgeries

We have an online form that opens at 8am but the form closes when they're at capacity. It's a long form that asks all sorts of questions to check you're not having something classed as an emergency like a heart attack etc., and then covering information they already know, like listing what conditions I already have and medications I'm already taking. It's really difficult for working people and parents to get online at that time and fill in a long form before it closes.

You then get put on the telephone triage list but you don't get given an appointment and can be called at any time.

It's not practical to wait at home until they call you, so I have no privacy or dignity when they call as I might be at work or somewhere and I have to discuss my medical business in front of others.

I much much prefer using our online system to spending ages in a phone queue.

Ours is brilliant. You put in a request and I usually get a call back later in the day offering a same day or next day appointment. It looks like your surgery is badly managed.

I live in a different country with an app for all medical stuff (and yes it is free at point of delivery comprehensive healthcare funded from taxation) and it's brilliant. Extremely easy to book appointments/view test results/receive prescription form/ send a message to the doctor etc. spent some time in the UK and was so frustrated with the healthcare process (phoning the office!?)

This isn't my experience. Yes, if you try and fill it in later in the day, it might be closed, and if I've a non-urgent query, it would be useful to be able to send that in at 9pm.

However, when when I have filled it in, it's usually been triaged by early afternoon (and I might not have filled it in first thing.) At different times, I have had responses of:

• the prescription has been sent to your nominated pharmacy.
• here's a list of possible face-to-face appointments, please select a suitable one - which have ranged from the next working day to about a month ahead.
• here's a list of times the GP can call you, please select a suitable time - thst one resulted in a referral to gynae without the GP ever seeing me, but that was all I wanted. Apparently they couldn't just refer me without speaking to me though.

You can still call ours, and while it's usually the receptionist talking you through the questions on the phone, it means it is still accessible for those who don't have Internet access. They did recently change my flu jab time when I rang rather than fill in the form, because the automatically generated one was about the most inconvenient time they could find; it's now first thing, so I can do it before work.

I haven't asked to see a specific GP,so I don't know if that makes it more challenging.

But IME, it generally works well.

It works really well at our surgery.

The last two times I made contact I got an appointment the same day.

We have online forms and it's always worked well for me up to now. Easy to fill out and we usually get a response with a few hours.

Just to echo others, I've had 3 same day appts from my practice's form in the last 3 weeks for different family members. All with the GP.

The system is managed well in our surgery.

And they do help the elderly with the system over the phone/in person as I have been sat in reception when they have been doing it.

Different surgeries will manage it differently though and I can see how it could be frustrating.

I opted for YANBU as this is clearly your experience at your practice and it sounds designed to keep patients away.

It works fantastically at our GP and that’s been my experience for 5 years now. I usually get a response to the form within about 15 minutes (once got a text from the triage nurse about 2 minutes after submission!). We get booked in quickly. Routine appointments in about 2 weeks, urgent appointments are same day or next day. Last time I did it, they rang and offered me an appointment in 45 minutes. I was literally on a hike an hour from my car and couldn’t get there in time, so had to re-schedule for a few hours later.

All the issues you raise sound like ones caused by poor management and leadership decisions. A badly run surgery will not be magically made efficient by new tech.

We have an online system which is open all day. Seems bizarre to make a more convenient system, less convenient.

It sounds badly managed at your practice.

The form at my GP is open during their opening hours and doesn't close due to capacity.

99% of the time, I get a call back on the same day with the offer of an appointment, sometimes they text an appointment which does irritate me as I specifically mark on the form that I do not consent to text messages! The only time I have ever had to wait is if I ask for a specific GP.

I’ve never had this experience.
we can usually get telephone appt in next two days and f2f in a week.

Lines are open all day.

Is this all based on your experience?

I have had to use the form multiple times. I have never had an issue. I was directed to a pharmacy once, who couldn’t help, and when I ended up back at the GP I ended up getting a referral that dealt with my chronic health issue.

I think people expect face to face appointments for everything when the vast majority of things don’t need a FTF.