How do you make a doctors appointment?

[TeenPlusTwenties]

I've just tried to make an appointment at the doctors for my DD.

Apparently the receptionists can no longer book appointments.
The doctor will ring me back, and discuss what it is needed for, and then make me an appointment.

Is this the new way of doing things? I can see it saves unnecessary appointments. But instead the doctor spends time ringing people back (what if they are at a work that doesn't allow mobiles, or in an area where they can't go somewhere private).

Plus I was going to ask the receptionist for a very gentle female doctor (because DD would be more likely to be communicative with them), and that will be more awkward now.

And I would ideally like a choice of appointment times to find the least disruptive but still seen in a sensible time frame, and whilst I feel OK doing that with the receptionist if the doctor makes the appointment then I'll feel like I am using up their time if I don't just accept the first slot offered.

I absolutely know how lucky we are with the NHS, and this isn't an emergency (when I would be happy with whoever whenever), but is this now the common way of doing things?

We have an online service where you can choose which doctor you see, or you ring up on the day and can usually get a same day apt but less choice of who you see.

is it an urgent appointment? It sounds like my surgery procedure when they want to double check it's urgent.

otherwise I just book online.

Sounds a waste of the Dr's time. Not sure why you think we are so lucky to have the NHS.

On the day urgent the doctor calls us back.
For a routine appointment you have to phone the morning before and if you are unlucky like me you are waiting weeks and weeks as that’s the only way for a routine appointment. They have removed the online booking.

Yes,they seem to want all doctors to do this now and are trialling it in certain surgeries according to a poster in the waiting room.

It doesn't work at our surgery. 🙄

We have to go and wait at the door at 8am ,there will be people queuing from quarter to and then see the receptionist who will hopefully book you in. You can't even get through on the phone as the lines are gridlocked.

Seeing a doctor takes a whole day,no good if you work.

Useless system.

If you were to ring this morning you would get a call back to discuss.

Routine appointments automated phone service or online through Patient Access.

Ours normally gives you an appointment in a months time unless its an emergency so not much use for most things.

That's it. I don't need an appointment today. I'd be quite happy with 2-3 weeks. But so often there are things that aren't urgent but you don't want to wait a month.

They are trialling this in a few places where they really don’t have enough doctors - it takes a lot of the doctors time to triage but hopefully avoids more appointments as they might be able to signpost people more effectively to other services or members of the team. Similar to in some A&Es they have the most senior person doing the initial triage.
As appointments get more scarce it gets more risky to have people with less training responsible for turning lots of people away as they might miss something.
It won’t work perfectly but is being tried because there just aren’t enough doctors to meet demand and the question will be is it better / less dangerous than other systems in those circumstances.

To the people saying it's a waste of doctors time - they can speak to 3 patients over the phone in the time it takes to speak to 1 in person.
It means the appointments don't get taken up by Sharon who pops in for a day out every time she has a sore throat.

If you need to see a doctor on the same day, you'll have a conversation with work and either be off sick, or speak to your line manager about the exceptional circumstances and that you need to be available to take the call.

If you don't need to book urgently, get registered for the online system.

Are you saying that if I'd gone online I could have made an appointment, but because I popped into the surgery I can't?

The receptionist didn't ask me if it was urgent - I didn't get a chance - just told to give my number and the doctor would ring me back!

@TeenPlusTwenties if you're registered you can still book online. Might just be worth calling them to say not to worry about the call back if you do, though.

Just looked on the surgery website: From we are not offering future appointments with a GP. Every medical query you have will be dealt with, as a patient contact, on the same day or within 2 working days by a GP that you have requested

I shall see how it goes.

Oh my bad, sorry. That's crap.

Online which is rare that there is any appointments. I'm sure how you ACTUALLY make an appointment in person as they don't let you. They just tell you to come to the morning clinic which means turning up at 730am for an 8am opening to ensure you actually get seen. Clinic shuts at 1030 so if you don;t get seen you basically have to come back another day.

For a same day that is known about in the morning dh goes down to the surgery for opening time and one is made by receptionist as it is much quicker than trying to get through by phone. Otherwise we ring and one is made by the receptionist. They have said they will always see him the same day if we believe that is needed.
Phoning back type arrangements would make things difficult because we need to have both parents at appointments due to his needs and need notice to arrange dh to come out of work to support ds.
They always accept that when we say he needs to be seen it means he needs to be seen.

Well, just had a call back from receptionist(!) offering appointment for Friday (!!). Not the best time, but I nearly bit her hand off.

Our surgery has an app we can book through. Its brilliant! So much better than trying to get through at lunchtime when you're at work. It's not fully rolled out, they only release a limited amounts of appointments via the app at the moment but the last few times I've been, I've used the app to book.

Our surgery has a similar thing. Basically the receptionists don’t book appts at all any more, you fill in an online form which goes to the GP’s. They then triage you and either sort it with a telephone conversation or they book you an appt based on how urgently they want to see you. It works well most of the time and you are guaranteed at least a phone call from the GP on the same day.

GP that you have requested
Everyone has the right to request fe/male GP, even on a GP call back.
You either want an urgent or a non urgent appointment. The non urgent wouldn't likely need this level of GP interaction before appointments.
Also the call backs are sometimes done by paramedics. Either way they are triage symptoms before making a decision.
A receptionist just books an appointment.

Hours do the doctor triage thing. You ring reception, tell them which doctor you want to speak to, and they ring you back, usually within a couple of hours. Sometimes it’s just a chat over the phone, but if you need to be seen it’s offered same day.

There are some appointments prebookable via the website, but that’s only for extended hours (early morning and Saturday morning).

If it’s urgent
That day appts, but an 8am call is needed
For anytime
On the App it ring up

I've just had my second appointment with this surgery in five years. I wanted a routine appointment so phoned to make one. I was offered a few with nurse practitioners which I declined and the earliest routine appointment with a GP was for one month time!
When I attended there were numerous people for urgent appointments who appeared to be called in by nurse practitioners only. It appears that you can turn up for urgent appointments for a couple fo hours each morning without an appointment. It's all very bizarre as far as I can see. I really wondered where all the GP's were

I ring up. I've never had to explain to anyone why I want the appointment.
At the surgery I go to you can get a same day appointment if you call bang on 8am when they open.

Non urgent appointments are usually available within a couple of days.

The only time you would have to wait for longer than that is for an appointment with a specific GP. Apart from one particular doctor I'm not fussed who I see.

We recently moved and have this system at our surgery (I didn't realise it was part of a national trial). Personally I've found it really good. It means you can speak to a doctor that day, and they can triage you appropriately. I've used it few times and the outcome has always been appropriate to the need. One time it led to a full telephone appointment with a wonderful doctor (a telephone appointment was completely appropriate and more convenient than a face to face appointment). Another time, t led to a face to face appointment just 30 minutes later (my son had an ear infection and we were flying that afternoon). Yes, being able to easily make same day appointments with your choice of GP may be the ideal, but with limited resources I think this is a reasonable strategy.