GP didn’t call me because their “workday has ended”

I’m wondering if the OP has misinterpreted this? I find it hard to believe that they have to go through the process again 🤔

Not true.

I’ve been unable to get a GP appt for my 2 year old because they were full. My 2 year old had an infection/fever and needed antibiotics. So despite it being somethinf GP could easily treat, next step is to ring 111 who send you to a&e.

Certain jobs it's just expected you stay until the job's done. Anything where appointments are booked whether that's a dog groomer or doctor - you cannot just not do the appointment. Lots of other roles are contracted to do the job rather than set hours e.g. teaching, community healthcare, police...

At the very least I'd expect the surgery to call you to say would you like to speak to a different doctor/nurse/appointment tomorrow to offer a solution.

Don’t be so ridiculous! Doctors are still people at the end of the day and can have other commitments like the rest of us!

That's ridiculous, and don't even get me started on the fact they are shut on a weekend

That’s just not how healthcare works though OP. Nobody can guarantee you’d be seen close to allocated time because any kind of emergency can crop up and you can’t simply shove someone having an emergency into a cupboard so you can do your calls.

I think that the better solution surely would be to just book anyone missed into the first slots available tomorrow so that everybody is seen/spoken to still, but I can’t blame the GP for leaving when their day is done to be honest. They are just people like everybody else who may have their own caring responsibilities etc at home, and today it is you but tomorrow will be another you, and the day after, and the day after, they can’t just work endlessly.

I would also say that a contributing factor though is not just emergencies but the slots allocated for appointments meaning it is almost planned for them to run behind and therefore run out of time.

It depends how you look at it. You are sort of right that people shouldn't work past their hours but that isn't real life. Most people on a GP equivalent salary would be expected to meet their deadlines and, if that meant staying late, you stay late. There's no way I could just pack up and go home on time if I still had work to do - most private sector people wouldn't. It's not a race to the bottom and you could argue that private should come in line with public rather than the other way around. But whilst ever we live in the world we currently do, I think its appalling that a GP is just allowed to dump their list to go home and, even worse, expect the patients to go to the back of the queue the following day.

I understand that things crop up but I can't understand why they haven't automatically booked you in for tomorrow and you have to rebook yourself. Id definitely contact the practice manager about it.

I mean issue plan not always to stick to the appointment schedule? Serious question, what do you think comes up for the appointment order of the day to slip?
Do you think the GPs are just arsing around doing nothing?

I had the same problem as you the other week and im in Stirlingshire. Still trying to get that phone appointment.

Its a shittin nightmare.

And there's talk of fining patients for missing appointments and what these missed appointments cost so can the patients fine the GP?

Lots and lots of workers across all sectors do leave on time though. People are allowed to have commitments outside of their job and no one can prioritise their job 100% of the time, nor should they.

It’s one day to you, but where’s the cut off? Should they work 2/3hrs late every day?

Im not knocking what they do as they're amazing, but for a highly paid job it's par for the course that you do more than you're contracted for to get the job done. Within reason, I'd be expecting it.

Book them in as priority the next morning? Seems only fair.

I called 111 when I couldn’t get an appointment at my GP, and was feeling really poorly.
THEY (111) got me an appointment with my GP! Apparently my surgery has slots set aside for 111 callers, and I got seen within an hour of calling them.

Good luck! xxx

Normally that will be a one off. Doctors at hospitals work in shifts so someone else will take over, it's not the same.

I imagine this happens all the time to GPs as it's the nature of the job, and I imagine they do work over. But they cannot be expected to stay and carry out 2 hrs of routine appointments after their working hours.

Do you suggest GPs just don't collect their children at school because someone had a heart attack during the day, or was suicidal and needed more than their 5 minute slot and they had to "make it up"?

DH has missed so much family life by having to stay at the hospital until he’s finished , missed birthday dinners family occasions school stuff funerals etc and he really regrets it. Younger doctors will not do the unpaid overtime and extra hours his generation did

My gp runs late constantly it’s a part of the job role

Ah, I thought it was just that the GP had finished for the day.

Every practice I’ve been at has opened until at least 6:30 so I wasn’t expecting that it would be a problem.

Id certainly consider a complaint in this instance.

They’re not ‘not working ‘ they are prioritiising someone else with their limited resources.