To think there should be a way of reporting GP surgeries that don’t have online booking available from 8.00-6.30

But if there are no appointments at all left because they have all been booked, then yes they close that option down until the next morning’s batch get released. It makes sense to do that. You would definitely be complaining then that you’ve looked and there are no appointments left wouldn’t you? Or you’d complain they’ve left it open with no appointments available? Urgent care/walk in centres are also an option btw

Why are you so obsessed with constantly reminding everyone on this thread, between arguing with them, that you’re a teacher?

You’re like Hyacinth Bucket telling everyone she’s going on the QE2.

I feel everyone's frustration. I'm in Scotland so not the same issue but as a retired GP I saw how things changed over the last 10 years.
When I started as a GP trainee in 1991 we often had unfilled appointments. We used to do an open surgery in the morning then booked appointments after lunch. Over the years we had to stop the open surgery as it was far too busy and we couldn't get through the work in order to get out and do visits and do repeat scripts and mail. In 1991 we used to get about 30 bits of mail a day for 4200 patients. In 2020 we were getting over 200 bits of mail for 7500 patients.

I am totally against routine telephone appointments. They have their place but if I want to see a doctor I want face to face unless it is a follow up regarding results or to change medication. I have tinnitus and I struggle with phone consultations. I hated COVID. We went back to f2f as a first line in November 21 and it was brilliant. Also even when we did phone consultations we gave a rough half hour time slot and would always phone up to 3 times. (People have to go to the loo) People also had meetings so we used to put a note on the records to avoid certain times.

Our surgery was lucky we ran a tight ship and our feedback was usually great. We were lucky that we had a full complement if doctors but the surgery 1 mile away could not get doctors so the health board took it over and it just didn't work. So those saying that the current situation of GP partnerships are bad should remember this when you campaign against them.

I also used to get fed up of this "part time " GP annoyance. A part time GP will be working up to 12 hour days so they work all their hours over 3 days. Some also work at the weekend in the OOH centres instead of during the week for child care reasons and just wanting something different. Nurses work 3-4 12 hour shifts a week so why can't we.

If you have the books open for too long in advance you get more DNAs. We send texts out but still doesn't stop it. We can't afford to have this.

There are too many people with complex needs that hospitals used to deal with that are now in the community.
There are some bad GPs. But the majority of us just want to do our job.
I was totally burnt out post COVID. My mum died in 2022 and I couldn't get to her as often as I should as there was no cover. That breaks my heart. It was the goodwill of my colleagues that let me get away at all.
The government tinkers at the edges and gives you the impression that things will be fine. They haven't got a clue what happens in the surgery. I had a hospital doctor sit in with me once and she was horrified at what my job entailed and how quickly it changed. Said she couldn't do it.

Complain to your MP, not the GP surgery.

I suppose just go back to 2019. It wasn't perfect but it sort of worked

They are assessments. Include very complex needs. Must include multidisciplinary teams, who all need to give their input to be quorate, and have to cover all elements of health. Legal aspects also.
Edited to say outcomes will have big implications on indivuals life.

The scary thing about your original post is that if GPs hold these prejudices, how can teachers trust that a GP would refer them or prescribe them medication (for their non-proven pain - given that pain is totally subjective, not sure why teachers are being singled out for that) in line with how they'd treat anyone else, if they think that teachers exaggerate? As GPs are the gatekeepers of access to healthcare, holding prejudice against certain groups of patients is really dangerous.

Now there are less GP’s and significantly more patients wanting appointments.

What she is trying to explain is that a new system was introduced so GP surgeries could be contacted more easily throughout the day, with appointment availability spread out rather than released all at once. The intention was to end the morning rush, where all appointments were gone by 8:30am.

In practice, however, the opposite has happened. Many GP surgeries are using the new system in exactly the same way as the old telephone system — essentially “first come, first served.” There has been no real change to how appointments are allocated, nor any improvement in triaging methods.

While this may not apply to all surgeries, it is certainly the case with mine. Previously, if you called at 9:00am, all appointments were already gone. Now, when you log in, you are simply met with a message saying “no appointments available.”

At my old GP practice even in 2019 they only triaged on the day. I haven’t been able to book in advance for years. It was practice dependent even back then. As far back as 2009 I was told I had to ring on the day only for appointments. The only person at my GP practice back then who could book “advance” appointments was the GP themselves. So you needed to speak to them first by ringing on the day.

If you're going to 'hold to account', there has to be something laid down in legal statute or formal, centrally agreed DoH guidelines. Can you show us the official detail that you're referring to? (I assume you're not basing this entire thread on a comment you heard in a media interview).

@Weeeeyy I suppose what PPs and I am saying is that it worked in 2019 and you could get appointments a few days in advance at a mutually convenient time...Covid then changed things and though we're back to "normal", the fortress is still standing

Are you trying to find out if I'm a GP (I'm not) and if I am, where I work so you can get some sort of revenge? Disturbing.

Are you saying that Teachers never ever roll their eyes at the parents or kids they are responsible for teacher, or talk about them? Because I know for a fact that they do. It's human nature to talk amongst colleagues about the difficult people you encounter in the job. Are you saying all teachers should be struck off the register if they talk about the unhinged email little Johnnys Mum sent in amongst themselves?

I take it because you are trying to make me seem evil and possible trying to dox me you have realised you are wrong but don't know how to wheel it back.

I didn’t see your original message.

i did politely feed back to my GP surgery (when they asked, in a survey) that I couldn’t sit on the phone at 8.30 on Monday to Friday to try and get an appointment (as I had to be in the classroom and we’re not allowed phones on us). I feel equally sure that people that work in other professions have a similar issue and don’t remotely think I’m more important than anyone else.

My lovely GP practice have changed their systems and it’s much better now and they’re doing their best in a ridiculously stressed system.

I try and remember that if I get frustrated with something or feel tempted to make unpleasant sweeping statements about entire groups of people.

Reform’s policy for healthcare is privatisation.

People don’t only get ill one day of the week. If on average 50 people call up a day with a new illness and there’s only 30 appointments then that means 30 get seen on Monday and leaves 20. So you push those 20 to Tuesday. That leaves 10 appointments for Tuesday. 50 people ring up and you give 10 an appointment and push 30 to Wednesday and 10 to Thursday. 50 more ring up Wednesday so you’ve got nothing that day, 20 on Thursday so you push the other 30 to Friday. Anyone who rings Thursday and Friday get pushed to the following week. That’s Monday Tuesday and Wednesday the next week full up already. How does this help??

Thank you for all you have done.

I always think GPs are the 'Mums' of the NHS. The ones who do all the work in the background, show up every day and are there for people when they really need them and when they don't. And like Mums, this massive workload isn't noticed or recognised, until it's gone and people realise what they have lost.

🌷

But if there's no appointments left all the phone lines in the world and fancy online portals won't make any difference?!

I’ve got a feeling that this is Reform’s high level Health Policy.

As I thought. You don’t have a solution.

Like I’ve said OP, as a GP of 30 years I have sat in hundreds of hours of meetings (in my own unpaid time, might I add) trying to find ways to meet the increasing demand without increasing the supply (because there’s no money).

Over the years we’ve stretched ourselves to the limit trying to employ more staff. In fact, once we (the GP partners) paid ourselves nothing for 3 months, to try and balance the books and fund more hours.

We’ve modified the ratio of pre-bookable vs on-day appointments, we’ve tried telephone triage, online booking, we’ve employed nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, we’ve built an extension into our car park to create more consulting rooms, we’ve employed more doctors, we’ve reduced our annual leave, we’ve got home log in so we can catch up on admin in evenings and at weekends (unpaid obviously) . But the demand goes up and up, and we can never meet it. Never. And we’re not allowed to close our list.

It’s easy for people like you to say “you’re paid enough money, get it sorted”, but even if I was paid £1,000,000 per hour I still couldn’t see more patients.

I’m sorry that you don’t understand this, because it reminds me that my lifetime of bloody hard graft is still seen as insufficient by some people.

I didn't say that GPs are the NHS. I said that the cause is the NHS. Who commission GPs to provide NHS care. So if you want to access NHS care via a GP, and the NHS isn't able to fund more appointment slots, then it's the NHS you would be complaining to.

And before someone says, then that means the GPs need to provide better services if the NHS is paying for it! I'm a taxpayer!! The NHS is getting exactly what they pay for, based on what government funding they receive.