How does your gp surgery work

[Cookiecrumble888]

Where I live there's a few different doctors surgeries. all of them are kind of struggling at the moment with being understaffed which I can totally understand. the one I'm at has this system where it takes about 7 weeks now for a routine appointment,or you can have a phone consultation on the same day and they decide whether you need to be seen on that day. Often they ring you back within a couple of hours and they sort it out. yesterday I really did need an appointment for an ongoing problem that's actually got worse. I phoned up at 9 in the morning and asked if a doctor could call me for a same day appointment. waited patiently until 4 and by then I had my child home from school and the kids needed tea. I called up the receptionist and asked her if I was still getting a call today as it has been 7 hours and she told me I was on the list. I explained to her that I don't drive and it's a bit far for me to come in the dark with the kids and also asked him how late the doctor could ring me. She said it could be up until 6:30 that you get a call to go down. I said ok thank you and I got off the phone and with that I noticed my son was playing on the stairs. it's not a big problem because the baby gates always closed but obviously I bring him back down when he does it as he's a toddler. literally as I picked him up from the top step I could hear my phone ringing so I rushed down the stairs put my son on the sofa and the phone rang off. I phoned up the receptionist and said to her I was literally dealing with my toddler when the phone rang and I just couldn't quite get to it in time. she's she said oh dear like I was a naughty child and then she said to me unfortunately they wouldn't try and ring me again now. I said her but I have been waiting for 7 hours and I just had to deal with my small child for a minute. she said well you can go to the bottom of the list but it's unlikely they would get back to you today. so I said what do I do then she suggested going to out of hours or ringing back tomorrow to try again. it's not something I believe the hospital need to deal with as I just need some blood test and some pills again as I feel that would be what they would do as I've been in this situation before. So basically I'm going to ring up in a minute and go back on the list.

I'm not really saying I deserve any sort of special treatment or that I deserve to be seen straight away. I understand people are much more poorly than me and appointments are hard to get now. I just think it's slightly unfair that they expect everybody to have their phones on them to answer when people are doing a variety of things with no slot when they are actually going to call. I can't have my phone in my hand for example if I'm changing a nappy or crossing a road with my pushchair. I still need to go to the toilet and sort the kitchen out and cook for my children. it seems a little bit of a rubbish system that they're doing and I know some people have moved to different surgeries.

another surgery near me you can only get an appointment by going in and waiting or going in and book it in and then going home and coming back. You can't ring that one. is starting to become a massive strain isn't it for all areas and I just wonder if it will ever get back to the standard it was before.

sometimes you fall into this category that's not that urgent but it's also not something you really should be waiting 2 months nearly to see somebody about it. Does anybody else seem to be having these problems?

I’m in Australia but at my local GP you just ring in the morning or any time in the day and normally get an appointment that day or the next day. You can also book appointments online.

Our surgery has about 10 Drs as well as 3-4 nurses for vaccinations, wound dressing etc. You also can get blood taken there, it’s fairly full service.

One big difference with the U.K. is that you can go to any GP you like - close to your home or your work, or you can go to different ones, so generally the standard is pretty high.

For example, recently my son bent his finger back playing football. It was swollen the next day so we saw the Dr that morning, they referred us to the X ray place. We walked in there (no appointment) and waited about 15 minutes. Had slides taken, Dr reviewed on site, said no break, just a sprain, we were done and dusted with the whole thing in about an hour.

My surgery is rubbish, you can have to wait over a month for a routine appointment, never see the same doctor twice, so have no continuity of care. For emergency appointments you have to ring at 8.30, go through triage which usually means you get put with the nurse practitioner who's only role appears to be making sure you don't get a prescription. Last year I was taking ds at least once a week for chest problems, the nurse practitioner briskly told me not to keep on wasting her time, it was a viral infection, by the time we finally got to see a doctor he had pneumonia which took a month off school & 3 courses of antibiotics & steroids to clear up. If you are lucky enough to get to see a doctor there is no choice who you see, no choice of time, it is strictly the next appointment which could be in 10 minutes or 5 hours time which means that if ds needs to see a doctor he has to miss a full days school. The practice is still taking on new patients despite the fact that they can't give good levels of service to the patients already on their books.

You can prebook up to 2 weeks in advance with a nurse practitioner. GP appointments can be booked between 4-6weeks into the future.

You can phone in the morning to be put on a call back list. They then decide if you deserve to see a dr. Children and some conditions get a fast reply. It's worked well for me in the past, as I've had referrals and prescriptions sent so I don't even need to step foot in the surgery.

In order the request a call though there can be a wait for up to an hour, listening to the most irritating music, before speaking to an understandingly rude receptionist.

@Cookiecrumble888 I know I don't agree with people going to A&e for minor things but yes you can see why people do!
When my DD was little she burnt her hand, only a minor burn but it needed looking at. I took her to a minor injuries walk-in centre in the next town as it seemed the most appropriate place and quickest way to be seen. The place was empty and we were seen straight away, all she needed was a bandage, calpol and an appointment to have it checked re-bandaged. We were out within about ten minutes. They were really snotty with me, quizzed me on why I'd gone there instead of the hospital in my own town. I told them why but they made me feel I shouldn't have gone there, even though that's exactly what it was for and it was only ten minutes further away than A&E where we would've been sat waiting for hours. It doesn't make sense. You can never win.
Hope your daughter was ok in the end!

The reception staff at my surgery just don’t listen though. I rang because I was 99% sure I had a perforated eardrum, this was on the Friday. I explained that I needed antibiotics and with my history of seizures, i’m more prone to them when ill. The last time I was admitted to hospital with continuous seizures I actually had a perforated eardrum with brown gunk flowing out of it. Anyway, she refused me an appointment even though I said I was liable to a seizure, low and behold, 48 hours later I had a tonic clonic seizure. I rang up to complain but she probably didn’t believe me.

@SuperMeerkat this is exactly the problem isn't it I think the receptionists are doing far too much of the decision making. I do feel sorry for them because the doctors get to hide in their rooms while they deal with all the anger and frustration from the public,but it doesn't change the fact they are not medically qualified and it's quite frustrating to have a receptionist trying to tell you what you do and don't need.

most of the ones at my surgery are really nice and friendly there is one who seems to be defensive and ready to make you feel really small. I remember last year when I had a reaction to a contraceptive pill I woke up in the night absolutely shaking and feeling terrible. I knew it was the pill because I had had similar reactions to hormones in the past. I was advised by a nurse to go and ask reception if there was any way a doctor could see me that day to discuss what happened. the receptionist was like well are you ok now though are you saying this is an emergency. I was like it's not an emergency but I need advice on whether I need to stop taking them or try something else or what I'm supposed to do now. Also perhaps I need checking over after such a strange reaction. she told me I couldn't see a doctor that day but had to go home and phone up for a triage. I often feel she's trying to back people into a corner.

I've just phoned up today to get the results back from my blood test from yesterday. the receptionist told me that my blood will not be back for at least a week. I said to her well the nurse that took my blood yesterday told me that they might well be back today but if not they'll be back on Monday. she kind of argued it with me and I felt like saying perhaps you should all have a meeting and agree on the correct thing to advise the patient. She made me feel like I was taking the p for ringing up the day after.

even though yesterday the person that saw me was professional I didn't feel it was a proper appointment. I didn't see a doctor she just told me to go down for a blood test when I explain how I've been feeling.I was fully expecting her to do my blood pressure, a blood test and check anything else out that might help get to the bottom of what's wrong with me. I thought she'd actually go over my symptoms with me again as well. She literally just wanted to take my blood and that was it. I had to say to her would you mind doing my blood pressure whilst I'm here just in case that is low and could be causing these symptoms. She said yes and then I had to remind her again to do it before I left. I just honestly think it has gone to pot and they are trying to hide behind nurses and paramedics helping them out. I mean I know these people are fully trained and good but they can only do so much and it was clear yesterday that lady wasn't able to give me the same appointment that a doctor would have given me.

I understand that they are stretched to the maximum and they are struggling at the moment but I find it really frustrating that they don't seem to be realising how unwell I am. I know I'm not the most poorly person that they will be dealing with but I'm currently unable to go out the house because I am so weak I feel like I'm going to pass out. I feel like nobody has the time to even help me.

We are very lucky with ours. You can have on day appointment with any gp but not necessarily your own gp. I book my appointments online two weeks ahead.

I can book a routine appointment and be seen in about a week, maybe 2 weeks max. I can also turn up any morning from 7.30am and wait for an emergency appointment. This tends to take between 30 to 90 minutes.

Have just looked online and its 4 weeks to book a routine appointment. I've seen my GP 3 or 4 times over the last couple of months and each time she has booked the next appointment about 2 to 3 weeks apart.

Otherwise there is a walk-in clinic (for registered patients only) from 8am to 11am every day. Or a same day phone appointment.

Can't complain really

We can get routine appointments within 2 weeks, including evening appointments. If you need an urgent appointment you can ring on the day and get one within 2 days, depending on the urgency.

Our surgery is a group of 3 and if you can travel they will offer you an appointment at one of the other surgeries, if yours doesn't have any soon enough.

Mainly staffed by GPs in training so different GPs as they come and go. Never see same person twice. Hardly any online appointments to book. Ones that are available online months away. Trending towards book on day only but I need to give work some notice? The extended hours 7 day access is helpful but these appointments can be at any location not necessarily convenient for you. Hate it

I find these threads funny coz I literally have no idea. I don't phone enough to notice if it's the same system/wait/people as last time. I have no idea how many work there. So I think maybe you'll only hear from high usage people with specific facts? Maybe they get a very different set of experiences from us doc-dodgers (I'm not blaming anyone for that).

There is (or was) a self-service BP machine in our waiting area so no need to get an appt to find that out. Our surgery has been keen on offering telelphone appts, so that offer again wouldn't surprise me.

We were at a different surgery where you could bowl up and wait for an emergency appointment. That was closed down by CQC.

So we moved to another one further away, and its chaos. I have an appointment next week for a phone call, actually seeing a GP is a miracle and they have several there!

Our gp sygery is fabulous. There's only been once in 12 years with them when I really needed to be seen that I couldn't, but it was masstisus suddenly fairing badly 9 minutes before they were due to close and they refured me straight to out of hours
You can usually get a same day appointment with your own gp or one of the practice nurses. If you ring at 8.30 when phone lines open it's usually the gp, but for simpler ilnness there is the option to have an appointment in the minnor illness clinic, which means you can be seen more rapidly.

Once same day appointments are filled, there are rapid access clinics running all afternoon, you do have to be willing to give the receptionist a very brief overview for the duty gp to be able to triarge you. It's a sit and wait job with slots given out for roughly a half hour time frame. A few times I've had the duty gp call back as they can send a prescription to the pharmacy for collection (clear uti etc), refer straight to the children's ward for ds or miraculously had a gp out for home visits very close by who could fit in the poorly child between patients. It's great, a couple of times I have picked dd up from school obviously rather poorly at 3pm and been able to start her on the antibiotics she needs for an ear infection by 4.30.

Usually 7 to 10 days wait for a none urgent appointment with gp. 6 week wait for cervical screening at the moment. Coil fitting is another long wait. There are clinics for everything which seems to help to keep the GPS free. It can be a pain getting through on the phone lines with a long wait to answer but they are looking to increase their reception team yet again. There is a second large extention about to be built to accommodate some new GPS as they are so popular and busy. There is another surgery about 3 minutes walk away from them which runs a system similar to yours who are loosing all their patients to them. Another surgery further away folded a few years ago too and our took on 2 3rd of their patents with the other taking on a third.

90 minutes before they were due to close, not 9!

With our surgery you ring and speak to a receptionist who puts you on the list for a call from GP who decides if you need to be seen or not

Ours is generally ok. You can get a routine appointment in 2-3 weeks, or an emergency appointment for the same day by calling up. With DS I've called as soon as they've opened at 8:30am for things that were urgent, but also later on in the day when e.g. nursery have called to say he's ill and should see a Dr. Never not been able to get a same day appointment in either case and the receptionists at our surgery aren't in the habit of making people justify their need for an appointment either, which I'm happy about. It is a large surgery with 15 GPs and 5 nurses, which may have something to do with it.

Yeah I think there are not enough doctors anymore.

I remember in the 90s being a kid who laid on the sofa with a normal virus. A Dr came round to check my chest and stuff. I remember that back then! How is has changed. Not that they should come out to kids with viruses but they obviously had the time to do so back then. Or perhaps it was a more appealing proffesion.

I don't particularly ring them that much. I have two kids so probably 4 times a year max. But the last year it's been me ringing up 3 times due to this ongoing issue I have with iron and exhaustion.

A couple of times they have said can you be here at 4.00 and it's 3.35. I'm like no I can't drive and have two kids to get ready. It's a mile walk away.

I sometimes think they don't help themselves. Like Thursday I went with exhaustion, weakness, weak chest and unable to leave the house due to dizziness. The lady took my bloods and I had to ask for her to check my blood pressure. You would think she would do a pulse check. A temp check. A water sample. Also the other week I went down to an evening appointment. Had to settle for a nurse as that's all they had. She said to me I needed swabs and a smear. Also referred me for a scan. Did she do the swabs then? Nope she didn't do anything. She told me to go to the desk and book them on another day. I thought I'm right here now. I went to the desk to book them for the next date around my period. She said sorry we can't book appointments for three weeks time. So I left and went home no further along.

@rottiemum88

@nedtherobbot

That sounds much better where you are. Ours only has 4 drs now and a team of nurses. Used to have 6 drs but they can't replace the two they lost. Had a big sign up for months now on reception telling people to expect appointments to take longer.

When I was a little girl in the 60s, two partner practice, Drs did house calls after surgery. You turned up, sat and waited and everyone was seen. If the Dr referred you to the hospital they hand wrote a letter there and then and you saw them put it in an envelope - took about 90 seconds. No receptionist, no nurse but both Drs worked full-time and were bloody good, polite and cared.

Current practice, 7 GPs all part time, sub contracted house calls, receptionists, phlebotomists, nurses (who are crap at smears). So many people, wasting so much time and I'm not convinced it's a better service.

Average GP salary on the website is £78.5k. They all do at least two sessions pw at our local private hospital for £145 a pop. Funny how there the phone gets answered and apts are available in a day, and you can pop down the corridor for a full blood work up there and then for £370.

It's all gone terribly wrong.

@ohtheroses

Wow that sounds a much better service. You don't feel that your dr cares anymore. You don't see them. Even when you do they don't seem to know what's going on or why you are there. Last year I was told to go in to see a Dr regarding my bloods. I went in to see the Dr who requested I went in. I sat down. She said what can I do for you. I said I've had bloods done and you wanted me to come in. She frowned and asked me what they were for. I said to check my iron etc. She scowled at the screen. Then she eventually said oh yes I can see your results. You have no reserves left. I thought why was it that hard to work out why I was sat there. It's frightening.

I am not sure all these people filling in the missing gaps for GPS is a good new system. Like the paramedic at ours. She's nice but didn't even chat to me about what's been going on this week. It was purely a test. I still feel frustrated that all week I've been trying to see a Dr for some advice and been unsuccessful.