What's your experience when it comes to getting GP appointments? And other questions...

I think a lot of surgeries use lunchtime to catch up with late-running schedules.

Cheddar, you're assuming people would call for booking only, as you intend to. They probably would call for blood results, to speak to the secretaries, the practice manager etc, for all the other reasons they usually ring the surgery. I think it's a good idea to get some 'quiet' time and finish morning's tasks and get ready for the afternoon. I can also only use services at lunchtime. I never have 20 minutes spare during the day to make a phone call, so I understand the frustration (I work part-time, hence posting today).

Yes, and I accept that. That is different to closing entirely between 12.30 and 2, which I don't see the need for.

Most places I go to at lunchtime run a lower staff service. That applies to the post office, supermarket, chemist, everywhere. It's an inconvenience.

Our surgery used to have a sensible system where you could get an appointment for about week ahead for non-urgent, and if you phoned on the day for something urgent they could pretty much always get you an appointment with someone, if not your own GP, at one of the two practices (about 10 mins drive apart).

Now they have some stupid new system where appointments are released in a weird random pattern, so if I want an appointment next Friday they can't tell me if there are spaces until Wednesday morning etc. I've been trying to book DD an appointment for something non-urgent but you have to phone at 8am exactly to get a same-day appointment, which is a very inconvenient time when you're in the middle of morning child-wrangling. You keep phoning, keep getting the engaged signal and then by 8:05 the appointments are all gone. And they refuse to let you book anything further in advance! The only time you can make an appointment is 8am. Absolutely useless and insane.

Person A goes for lunch between 12 and 1. Person B goes for lunch between 1 and 2. How do you think most customer-facing places do it?

Lady, what if you work somewhere where you can only make phone calls in your lunch hour? It's not about speaking to a doctor in that phone call, it's about making an appt. I think the reception staff are all trained in that and therefore could stagger their lunchbreaks. To suggest that that isn't practical is ludicrous.

I think it's fair the surgery lines should be completely shut at lunchtime. They don't run a shift pattern so you can't have someone finishing lunch by 12.30 or starting after 2pm. Also if there was one person available they'd be fielding calls for everyone else and forever passing on messages etc. I don't know how safe that would be. It still wouldn't guarantee you'd have your call answered immediately or your problem solved.

My (Midlothian) surgery also sticks the answerphone on during lunchtimes - drives me crazy. In addition, I went down last week to collect a prescription and the surgery was closed for Wed afternoon for staff training. There was a handwritten sign on the door saying so.

Emergency appointments are good. You phone (at 8.30 and hit redial for half an hour before finally getting through) but you/your child will be seen that day. I have been told that you can't have an emergency for the next day - it was a day when I had no car so couldn't get to the surgery and wanted an appt for the next morning. They told me to phone back the next morning. They've now introduced a triage system where the duty doctor calls you back, triages you over the phone and then either writes a prescription or tells you to come in at a specific time (same day). If you miss the call then you have to ring back, tell the receptionist and be re-entered into the phone call queue.

Routine appointments are terrible. You have to phone at 8.30 on two specific days of the week (think it's Wed and Thurs) when they 'release' appointments. You cannot make an appointment at any other time of day, even if you are in the surgery standing in front of them. When the office manager went on holiday recently no appointments were released until he came back! It's usually 2 weeks wait to see the duty doctor. I have requested my specific GP and been told that I have no specific GP because they don't do that (so how come she's named on my maternity records, then?), and if I want to see her anyway then it'll be 5 weeks, unless she happens to be the duty doctor. I complained about that and got a pretty crap non-reply from the practice manager showing no interest in making any changes.

You can, however, request a non-emergency phone call from the duty doctor. This will be at a specific given time eg next Tues at 11am. DH used that to be re-referred to the Eye Pavilion because despite having a rare eye condition and having been treated there in the past, because it was more than 3 years ago he had to get the GP to refer him again. GP had to Google said eye condition during the phone call. (Sorry, I know that's off-topic!)

Clinics: the midwives and HVs run their own clinics but the reception staff don't know anything about them, which is not helpful. The 6 week new baby check is organised as a clinic, eg all done on a Thurs morning, and if you want to be checked yourself post-birth than you have to make a separate appt, and therefore come back yet again, invariably with newborn baby. It's not set up from the patient's point of view at all, nor probably from the GP's - why not join those up and save a journey? Oh, and maternity notes aren't linked to standard medical notes - I have booked a flu jab when pg, arrived at surgery and the first thing the nurse asked me was why I needed a flu jab! I said 'because I'm pg' and took coat off to reveal 7 months pg bump, and the nurse apologised and said it wasn't in my notes. Why not?

Like most people have said, when you do see someone they are lovely (GP/nurse/midwife/HV) and take time and you never feel rushed.

Suggestions for improvement: look into Systems Thinking. Prof John Seddon is the UK leader in this and he specialises in sorting out bureaucratic messes like this in the public sector. I've worked with his company (Vanguard) and the methods he advocates really work. The surgery staff would be asked to analyse calls coming in and gather data on eg failure demand (where you have to call back multiple times to get the service you need), length of time for customer to get different types of appt, most popular requests (eg I want a GP appt/I want to see a specific GP etc) and whether they were fulfilled or not. Then the staff themselves suggest solutions. There's a lot more but this is already an epic post! But this could be trialled in one area and then rolled out if successful.

its pretty hit and miss at the moment i can either get one immediately or not at all the nurse is usually available for a phone consultation which helps

I have no complaints about my GP surgery whatsoever.

Opens at 8.30 and although I might have to wait a while for my call to be answered I can always get a same day appointment. It is also possible to book an appointment further ahead.

Appointments are for ten minutes, which is often enough but in the past I, most embarrassingly, ended up sobbing for an hour but my Dr. was really supportive.

Recently, when I have attended the surgery there have only been about 3 people in the waiting room and I had not had to wait more than ten minutes for my appointment.

The receptionists are very professional and I have never had to explain why I need an appointment.

And lastly, the surgery itself is modern, clean and the practice offers blood tests and counselling.

So I vote 10/10 :)

Generally they will see a sick child the same day. There are two blocks of time each day when you can speak to a doctor on the phone but it is totally impossible to get through during these times.

"Regular" appointments for adults about two weeks, more if you want to see a particular doctor. Online appointments are available but you have to register to use this service.

You can re-order a prescription via answerphone.

Different number for blood test results, must call between 12.30 and 1 to get these.

What pisses me off most is that they shut the phone lines totally over lunchtime, so between 12.30 and 2 you can't call them at all. How they can't stagger the office staff's lunchbreak so the phone is always available is beyond me.

Just to add to my post that my surgery also does online appointments AND prescriptions and as a fairly technical and competent pesto I should get round to doing this. (And it'd probably take less time than I've just spent on MN.)

It's difficult to please everyone. Some PP have said they'd like 7 a.m. start (in which other line of work do you start at 7 am?), others that 8.30-9 is inconvenient due to school run, also 3pm, others want after working hours, others lunchtime. It's not a 24 hour service and it can't be.

When I need appointments for the DCs I ring and get what's available after their school hours (thankfully, nothing urgent so far). On one occasion (ever!) when I needed an urgent appointment for me I hit redial till I got through and I was seen after lunchtime.

We have run out of prescriptions before but luckily not for 'serious' stuff and we just had to wait. My fault for not being organised. It would never have occurred to me to use an emergency slot for that. So DS went without the acne antibiotics for a bit and DH without his stomach stuff.

We're so lucky reading these threads, call when the lines open at 8am and get a same day appointment, think there's maybe been a few times that they've all gone by the time I've got through (can be a bit of a challenge to actually get through when the lines open, have to hit redial a few times) but they will always do their best especially if its for children.
However, you also have to book midwife appointments through the GP and that's a different matter - she can be booked 5/6 weeks ahead so no chance of getting to speak with her regarding any concerns etc just routine appointments

I'm really happy with how things work at our surgery. You phone at 8.30am for an appointment that day, if you need one. Or you can book in advance, usually not until the following week. There was a time when I needed an appointment that day, urgently, and phoned later than 8.30 and they still managed to squeeze me in. This system works well.

I find it easy to book an appointment, and usually do so by phone. You can also book online, but not for same day appointments. I've never not been able to get an appointment.

I think politicians should stop the telephone triage system - I haven't spoken to a single person who thinks it works well and there is no evidence that it reduces costs www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2814%2961058-8/abstract

It's not a problem here. If it's urgent (e.g. child with suspected broken finger), they will usually fit you in that day. If it's not urgent, you can get an appointment within a few days and they will try to find a time to suit you (e.g. late afternoon for child returning home form school by train). If you want to see your own GP its harder, but it's a small practice so not a big deal. The practice nurse is absolutely bloody fantastic so you never feel fobbed off if you're booked in with her.

It used to be really difficult: either you rang when the phones opened (i.e. smack in the middle of the school run, so there you'd be on your mobile as a lorry thundered past) or you could whistle for it.

It really upsets me that emergency same day appointments are limited in number and you are seen by the nurse first. It's no wonder people end up at A&E, it's the only place some people have access to a Doctor. I really don't think nurses are qualified to diagnose the range of problems a GP is, and if they are, they should be called Doctors! If someone has stomach ache it could be simple or it could be a burst appendix and life threatening, the same goes for other ambiguous symptoms and I don't trust that the nurse is as reliable and qualified to diagnose as a fully qualified GP. Also, they may only consider the presenting symptoms and be oblivious to ask about other indicative issues that could signify something serious. I wonder how many people are showing early signs of serious conditions are sent home by a nurse and then have to return later to see a GP when things have progressed? How can we blame GPs for missing early signs when they never actually see the patient?

The phones open at 8.30am, and it starts from there. If you haven't got an appointment by 8.40, and it's highly likely that the phones will be jammed with calls until then, then forget it and start the process the next day.

My DH was in hospital last week and told to make a GP appointment when he got home and he only got to speak to (not visit), a practise doctor), because he insisted that the hospital had said that it was important, which it was.

It's a crap service.

Ring and redial for half an hour in the morning for urgent appointments. And it is always the duty doctor not 'my' gp. For less urgent things there are never appointments available for at least three weeks. Sometimes I have been told there are no appointments available as the diary does not go that far. Doesn't help that my gp is part time which I don't think she was when I registered with her. When I see her she is very good. And even asks after the rest of the family - I really appreciate that.

My surgery is marvellous! I know if I call at 8am I can get usually get same day appt, they do late night appt's 3 days a week to 7pm, including the practice nurses.

I may be on hold for a while but call always answered.

I've had heated discussions with my surgery receptionists about this and have been told that changing the sustem is out of their control. When I asked whose control it was in I was advised to write in so that my comments would appear in my file!

Urgent appointments are possible if you phone early enough (bearing in mind how it clashes with the morning getting everyone ready rush) but if you miss it then no urgent appointments are left.

The working mum trying to get an appointment for a school aged child after school is nigh on impossible. I've been told on multiple occassions that there are no appointments at all afterschool in the next 2 weeks so phone again tomorrow. As I work I struggle to phone everyday on the off chance there may be a slot available in 2 weeks time. I was told that my employer should make it possible for me to call. I was also told, when expressing a little exasperation, that if it's urgent then an emergency appointment could be made, but it wasn't urgent and I don't want to take the emergency appointment from someone who might desperately need it.

My husband, who has more flexibility with his job, managed to get himself an appointment so I ensured that he took our daughter to include in the appointment otherwise she really would not have been seen. So yes, we probably took up more time and to be honest the advice was questionable on that occasion.

Frustrating is not the word.

Our GP practice is small (2 doctors) and rural, we have no problem being seen when we need to be- same day, next day, home visits, less urgent appts.
I dread them retiring, I do wonder if it will be totally different once 'modernised'.