How do you get a doctor's appointment these days ?

[bigchris]

In my surgery you can no longer just turn up and queue

You have to ring , explain the problem to the receptionist , who then tells the doctor who then rings you for a chat and to assess if you need an appointment

Yesterday I rang at 8am, he rang back at 5.30,I missed the call and the surgery closed at 5.30 anyway

Have rung again , exactly same explanation , waiting for the call back ,meanwhile at work where I'm not able to just answer the phone immediately

I miss the days when you turned up at the surgery and just waited

I must be a serious minority because I can call my surgery at any time of day and be offered an appt same day if I need it. I can also see a physio at the surgery the same day, without a referral (happened last week when I injured my leg) and a practice nurse same day if need be, for things like asthma exacerbations or minor injuries that need dressing.
Routine appts for asthma checks, smear tests etc with the nurse are a maximum 3 week wait, but usually within a week and same goes for GP appts that aren't urgent. Although, I've called to book a routine appt before and the receptionist told me there were so many empty slots I could have a same day appt, even though I insisted it wasn't urgent.
Blood tests are walk in or pre bookable, all same or next day.
I feel very lucky, because I have a lot of long term health conditions, and without the amazing service I get here I'd be in a difficult situation.

We have a big housing development planned for the outskirts of our small town, which means more people but no more GP's. This problem is only going to get bigger.

Yep same here, I called for 4 days in a row, trying for over an hour each time, line mainly engaged before you get in the queue to be told 'sorry, try again tomorrow.' On one of the days I noted I had made 51 calls to the Dr to try to even get through.

In the end, I knew what I wanted (to go back on the pill) so went onto Lloyds pharmacy online service and basically did it myself! Goodness knows what you're supposed to do if you're actually ill!

Doctors can prescribe over the phone. They'll do the script and you can collect it later. Usually more convenient than having to get back there for an appointment.

Ours would just send the prescription straight to a pharmacy of your choice, so you can go straight to pick it up when you can. They seldom actually print out a precription these days even when you see them face to face.

I always book online for same day appointments.

We have an online appointment system. However, you have to ring up for a same day one. As the phone line call takes ages you can continue to look on line and twice appointments have popped up while I am on the phone. You have to be ready to go as son as poss with short notice but it worked recently while I was getting to see the doctor about shingles.

Here you can be triaged for an urgent same day appointment.
Or book an appointment by phone or online for a gp - this has become more erratic lately as 2 surgeries have merged (one in another town) so it can be confusing where you are being seen, it can be 4 or 5 weeks to see your own gp, and sometimes there are whole weeks online where there are no appointments. I have just tried to book to see my own gp and there are no slots until the end of August...but I can't book one this early! Unfortunately there are 2 Drs who I would avoid seeing at all costs, and usually these are the only Drs available!

I book online and can usually get an appointment same day or next few days for non urgent.
We also have a webform consultation process so you can sometimes just get a script without seeing anyone.

I'm very lucky with my surgery, there's around 10 dr's, a couple of nurses/sister and a midwife there at all times, so is easy to get an appointment same day. And the phone lines have queues, so don't have to do the whole ring 100 times before speaking to anyone. DP's old surgery had 2 dr's and a single phone line so was really difficult for him to get an appointment. I converted him over to mine when we moved in together and he's amazed how easy it is.

@Youngandfree
I suspect that it’s all gone to s* in the uk because ppl abuse the “free” system!

Not at all. The problem is a shortage of GPs in some areas particularly rural practices. I think the Brits have (with a few exceptions) deep affection and respect for the NHS. And so we should - it's bloody marvelous on the whole.

They wouldn’t have half the problems if they charged for it!!

Quite the opposite I think, if people who couldn't afford access to health care delayed doing so, the consequences would be dreadful.

They wouldn’t have half the problems if they charged for it!!

Ignore last sentence - pasted quote twice!

We live rurally, although our surgery is in the nearest town. We have the opposite issue to what most towns are dealing with in that our healthcare trust decided to build a huge new medical centre a few years ago, in anticipation of lots of new houses being built. There was one particularly large development nearby which was supposed to be going ahead, but has never been started so we have a lovely new, well equipped, well staffed medical centre and apparently not enough patients to go around! The eve and wknd out of hours GP is based there, so we can essentially see a GP at any time, day or night if it's urgent. It's brill.

At my old surgery you could log in from 5am and book a range of ‘on the day’ appointments or ring from 8:30am. If all those appointments have gone you will be offered a call back from the duty Dr within 2 hours and they will decide if you need seeing and can book an appropriate appointment or don’t need to be seen but can request prescription meds to be collected from your choice of pharmacy later the same day (particularly good if you have a recurrent issue that has a standardised treatment).

My new surgery you can only book appointments online for certain practitioners and they do get booked up quickly. For an on the day appointment you ring before 10:30am and the duty GP calls you back and can book appointments. I recently needed something prescribing after seeing my midwife and rang in the morning, got a call back about 4 hours later from the practice pharmacist who discussed my needs, discussed how I’m coping with my pregnancy in general with regards to my regular medication and organised a prescription to be collected that day.

Online booking. There is the ability to book for bloods,swabs,dressings,smear but never to see a doctor. If you ask at reception they say you have to keep checking on line. You can look several times a day or even stay up until midnight to see if they become available but they never do.
The other system is phone at 8am , but again can never get through.

The practice nurse rang me back and deemed I didn't need an appointment

Wails !!

It seems so difficult at some surgeries. I call at exactly 8.30 am. The automated service tells you what number in the queue you are (usually between 30 and 50). After about five minutes you reach the front of the queue. As long as I call at 8.30 (to the second), I can get an appointment the same morning. They usually ask what its about but I've never had a problem seeing one. I'm not a fan of telephone appointments as you never know when they are calling. Bookable appointments take about three weeks.

We can book online, or if urgent call at 8 for same day appointment. Otherwise if you just call it's usually within a few days, or have had same day. They also do home visits where necessary.

They wouldn’t have half the problems if they charged for it!! well thats an election winner..lol.

The call back system has worked well for me in the past. The Dr has been able to fax a prescription to the chemist for me to collect medicine without even setting foot in the surgery. Similarly I've had referrals to maternity and speech therapy sent off by a phonecall with the Dr instead to taking a physical appointment to do so.

This frees up slots to those who do need to be seen in person. At my husbands GPS you are given an appointment a fortnight away or directions to the minor injury clinic in town that can prescribe a number of things.

The practice nurse rang me back and deemed I didn't need an appointment

Are you getting your prescription?

Mine is a nightmare.. the ONLY way to get an appointment (urgent or otherwise) is to call at 8am. There is no proper call queuing in place, so in the past I’ve literally called over 100 times before getting through. If all the appointments for that day are gone by the time they answer (which quite commonly happens as they’re at least 1 GP down) they just tell you to try again the next day. So one person could try all week and never get seen, but someone else could try for the first time on Friday and get an appointment straight away. They also do the callback thing, so even once you’ve spoken to the receptionist you still need to put the rest of the day on hold while you wait for them to phone you with a time. I have chronic health problems, and it makes managing my condition much harder.

Goodness me, this thread makes me realise how lucky we are at our surgery, which I think is brilliant.

They used to have the 8am phone scramble, with phone lines engaged for ages and then when you finally got through, no appointments. Very difficult for anyone with school-aged children or any working person who would normally be getting ready or commuting when phone lines opened.

But now they have an online system where you can explain your problem via a web form (it allows you to upload pictures if you want). A doctor gets back to you via email or phone the same day. If it's urgent, you get an appointment that day. If it's not urgent, you get an appointment within a few days, usually the same week depending on when you send in your query. Or if you don't actually need an appointment but want to ask a question, you can ask that a doctor email or phone you back. It works really well. They do still take phone bookings for those who don't like or can't access the online system, but I think it is great.