AIBU to think getting a GP appointment has basically become impossible?

Our surgery now operates a total triage system, and now wants patients to use the e-consult service, to save us from the hassle of the 8am scramble. Once the e-consult service has registered so many enquiries, it tells you to try again the next day! This usually happens from about 1pm. It’s like the surgery doesn’t want to see us patients!

There are too many time wasters who go the GP about nothing. There should be a small charge IMO to make people think twice about whether they REALLY need an appointment.

Ours usually has an online system although for some reason they have disabled it until the new year. It works the same way as if you speak to someone, you put your symptoms in, they triage you and someone rings back with an appointment or advice later in the day.

I don't have a problem with ours - you have to use the online system though. I put a request in last Thursday for DD and got an appointment for Friday, then put one in on Monday for DS and seeing someone tomorrow (it's something that didn't need to be dealt with asap). Last time I needed a GP I sent photos of the problem at 8am and had a call at 8:30 from the Dr telling me he'd sent a prescription for antibiotics to the pharmacy... by 9:15 I was home with said antib's. It's such an easy system I really don't see why it's so difficult elsewhere.

@hattie43 and @YouOKHun
My surgery has gone to the booking form route rather than everyone phoning at 8. They ask if you are able to fill in the form yourself online do that. If you are unable to fill in the form for whatever reason call the surgery and the receptionist will fill in the form for/with you.
I think this is a good balance as the phone lines are in less demand but there's still a low tech option.

Our system is the same, almost too quick! I ask for an appointment and often get a text or phone call back offering an immediate appointment. Luckily live close to the surgery.

I’m fortunate I’ve never needed an emergency appointment so I don’t know if the 8am scramble thing happens here.

But for routine appointments I just book on the nhs app. Is that an option for you?

Because if someone saves up a list of ailments, the appointment runs over and other patients whine that the doctor was late.

My dsis, never at the drs, was told by gp that she can only mention 1 issue ay a time and to book another app for her dodgy knee 🙄

I was just about to say the same @hattie43. My 83 year old mother really struggles with the online world. She tries but online forms etc are not easy to use. She has me to help her but I really feel for elderly people who don’t have support with the online world, it’s almost impossible to function.

It is not a million times better. You’d previously be in a queue but spoke to a human eventually. They would then give us something urgent on the day if necessary or let us pick an appointment for a week or 2 s time for non urgent or direct to pharmacy. We’d always be able to contact the surgery and now we can’t. It’s impossible to see a GP . You have no idea when they will ring, the form does not take any notice of times you can be on your phone or facilitate some conditions on the form,is awful for those that need face to face contact…..the list is endless.

Honestly, I don't know why it's like that here.
I went on holiday to my home country in the EU and my DS got fever. It was a popular seaside resort. I enquired in the pharmacy and was directed to the nearest surgery (I think it was a combined hospital/A&E). The place was totally empty. We just walked in from the street late morning, registered and were seen by a GP within 10 min, prescribed antibiotics. Paid only for the medication.
Here, we live in a large village with 1 surgery. The phone line opens at 8:30 and by 8:45 all appointments are fully booked.

I get the appointment but it's never the GP. I have concerns about an ongoing health issue that the practice nurse cannot deal with. She tells me I need a Dr's appointment, so I try to book GP again...again I get the nurse...so round and round we go...

We have a form that can be filled in from 6.30am we get prompt response from a GP, nurse practitioner, pharmacist or physio either by phone or face to face appointment and so far it has always been the appropriate person to speak to. It's working well for us.

My GP received a letter saying I needed an ECG. I got a text saying I need to phone and book one 3 minutes later they phoned and booked me in. I was due some repeat blood tests so they booked me in for those at the same appointment.

I once had a regular check up with a nurse booked for the afternoon and filled in the form for the GP for a different issue. They tried to get both appointments into the same slot so I only had to make the trip once. They couldn't but it was thoughtful of them to try

You're not wrong OP, and Im baffled it's a country wide issue. I too have an issue I need to see a doc for and can't get through on the phone nor by using the online system at 8.30 on the dot.

Ours is online form at 8am. Full capacity by 8:14

This is completely unacceptable, I would email the Practice Manager with screen shots of the online forms closing at 8.03am and ask what you are expected to do. Ask what their process is for their patients to get an appointment. Put the problem to the person paid to manage it.

I am fortunate that my GP practice is excellent, however I have only needed an appointment once in the last 2 years. Our chemist is also really good and an under appreciated resource.

My surgery's booking system is impossible for me to navigate, despite there generally being same-day appointments available.

I work in home care, starting at 8am. I can join the 8am scramble, and go into my first client a bit late at, say, 8.10.
But, the system is that you leave a message once you get through, and you get a callback from triage within the hour. I can't take the callback as I've started work with my client. You only get one callback - if you miss it, that's it.

I'm low paid, and on a zero hour contract, so I need to put myself down for work on my "days off", just to earn what I need to live on.

I could preserve a day off to try and get an appointment but, if I can't get one, I've missed a day's pay which I can't afford to risk.

I don't have a health emergency as such (thankfully). But, I have run out of my HRT patches, and they won't prescribe me any more until I have a f2f appointment.
I have asked if the Nurse Practitioner or a Pharmacist could do it, but apparently it needs to be the GP.

Edited to add. If you miss the morning triage, and it's not urgent, you can also email the surgery. It obviously takes longer, but they get to those within a couple of days, for non urgent issues.

Any GP's still operating under the 8am scramble are not working effectively, nor within government requirements

My GP, for a long time now, a couple of years, operates a triaged online system. Open all morning. All requests are online, emergency and other. You will get a timed slot phone call, a f2f, or a link to book a future appointment, depending on your issue. They send texts to let you know what you are getting.

It works really well.

Yes mine is overwhelmed by lunch time too. That's normal. As I said, the remedy if we want it would be for central government to make funds available to double the triage staff at every GP practice - for that, we'd need to decide as a nation to start voting for people who say they will raise our taxes (not just the taxes of a nicely distant "other people", our own) - unfortunately we keep letting our politicians know that this would be political suicide so therefore we have to make do with what we are prepared to pay for. It would actually be a lot cheaper and more cost-effective overall for the people who are currently opting out of NHS care and paying for private health services to instead campaign for and commit to a higher tax, higher quality of state-services setup for everyone.

Personally I have kept screenshots of the questions of the annoying online form so that when I need an appointment (which I do every so often as I have some serious long term health conditions) I can pre-write my responses the night before in a Word document, so that when the form opens at 8am it only takes a minute to click through and copy and paste my responses into the form (often multitasking whilst brushing my teeth).

Our GP has a screen set up in the waiting room that's dedicated for people who need support to cope with the form like @hattie43's mum to tackle it with the help of one of the receptionists (who obviously can't make appointments as they aren't trained in the triage that sifts the people who need urgent appointments)

I know it's not ideal but the online system we have now is a million miles better than before, when I'd regularly have to spend half an hour from 8:00 to 8:30 dialling and redialing the GP phone number every 10 seconds to get the automated voice saying the queue was full, then eventually getting through to be allowed to join the queue (it could only handle 50 people waiting on hold in the queue at a time) and then waiting for another 45 minutes to actually speak to someone. That was a lot harder to combine with the school run!

You can say " there has to be availability to book all day" as much as you like ( or rather Wes Streeting can) but unless staff are available to receive those bookings and to see the patients that can't happen..

It seems very variable by location. My sister's GP service is like you describe. Mine isn't so bad - I've usually been able to get an on the day appointment if I call at 8 and hang on in the call queue, and if I don't mind who I see ('practitioner' rather than GP) and can to travel to one of their partner practices in the same town if needed. Last time was about a month ago (ear ache) - I haven't tried since this flu outbreak ramped up, it may be harder at the moment.

I worry for my pensioner mum . We all had an email about future bookings having to be done online and she just can not do it . She doesn’t have a smart phone , or the NHS app , wouldn’t know how to use them and at 82 unlikely to be able to learn .

In my town we can always get an appointment on the day. We are very very lucky . Many patients in this country in effect don't have a GP and rely on A and E.