Lump or mass on my neck. Need to see doctor, but GP is closed

[NoWomanNoCry123]

Hi all,
Quite worried, as I have been checking on a lump or growth noticed on my neck recently. Want to get it checked out by a GP or specialist, but my GP is closed. What should I do? It's not exactly an A&E case so been hesitant to call 999. But it's definitely worrying me to no end, as the lump's been sat there the last couple of weeks I have been observing it. Quite worried, please advise.
Many thanks

Your GP surgery wont be closed unless all the staff are ill but contingency plans have been set up in case of this. Telephone them tomorrow, GPs are doing telephone triage, having photos emailed to them and some are doing Skype consultations. Don't think for one minute they won't deal with your concerns.

Have you called the GP? Although they are closed for face to face drop in they won’t be completely closed. GPs are doing telephone appointments and can then take next step/refer if medically urgent. I heard a GP on radio this morning saying they are there for these sorry of things.

You’re Gp won’t be closed, they will just be triaging/operating differently. You can still get appts at all Gp surgeries, you will just need to speak to a Dr first. In some areas different surgeries may be sharing sites or staff, so it might be that the actual building might be closed but they will see patients at a different surgery for example (as we are trying to keep ‘clean’ non C19 and ‘dirty’ suspected c19 sites separate.

I’m a Gp so can reassure you yours won’t be closed completely. We aren’t allowed to just close! Just ring them or use their website to find out what they are doing.

Sort not sorry

Yes you can still see a doctor. It might be via a video call, but you can definetly still see a doctor, ring your normal surgery number and there will be instructions on what to do, Jxx

The GP won’t be closed. My local ones are making telephone appointments, and only seeing patients if medically necessary. Also, people are emailing pictures of rashes etc For the doctor to assess.

Unless there is some weird anomaly which has shut your particular surgery, in response to C-19 surgery doors are locked but the surgery will still be staffed and operating for normal triage. You will have a telephone consultation with the GP, and if necessary they can still invite you in for a face to face. Depending on the PPE available, you may have to wear a mask to enter, and the staff will also be protected.

For obvious reasons GPs are trying to keep face to face consultations at a minimum but this has been mainly dealt with by removing the option to prebook a f2f without a reason. The GP will still see you after triaging you themselves if necessary.

lots of the same answer OP, call them tomorrow!

My GP is closed but we are being referred to another practice for telephone consultation.

We are rural and our surgery is part time and they can’t staff it. But we still have access to GP’s at another village.

If not ring 111, we had to call them yesterday about DD and they are dealing with non Covid things. They got someone to call us.

Yep, ring the GP. They will be doing phone appointments. They may also have signed up to offer online/video consultations - have a look at their website.

It’s not a lymph node?

Def call your GP on Monday - As pp have said GPs are operating differently rather than being closed, so you should be able to have a telephone consultation and possibly a video one too. Also, some branch surgeries are closed but the practice is still operating at another local site.

It’s very likely to be a sebaceous cyst but still do get it checked out. You are right not to want to call 999 for this though!

I phoned the GP yesterday for my DD. The answerphone message said to call 111 so I did and chose the non corona virus option. They called the out of hours surgery who called me back, assessed the situation on the phone and then told us to go straight there for DD to be checked. The whole process took less than 2 hours, very efficient service.

Hi all,
Thank you all for the swift response. My GP is definitely closed. They sent me text message to confirm that. I will try and ring 111. I hope that they will resolve this.

Thank you all very much.

There will probably be an answer machine message telling patients what to do if you ring your surgery.