Is anybody else having trouble getting through to their GP?

[Emyem]

Three times in two weeks now I've called the surgery and been put on the call back list by the receptionist. Both times I'm told the GP will call me back that morning and nobody does. There are multiple doctors at the practice.

It's not life threateningly urgent but I have a physical condition which causes me chronic pain and I need to discuss my medication.

They're not doing face to face appointments unless it's urgent but they are offering telephone consultations just not following through with them

I'm not a problematic patient and only ever contact them when I need to.

My DD managed to have her immunisations last month there was no issue in accessing those.

Any idea what this is about?

Did you check they have the right number?

Do they have the option of booking a tele-appointment online? If not, ask the receptionist to sign you up so can you do so in future. Its the only way I can get appointments at my practice- otherwise the phone either rings out or is engaged for ages.

My friend has had ridiculous problems in contacting her GP’s surgery.
Her own husband Is a retired GP, never allowed to be hers.
He is shocked at what he describes as the bone idleness of huge numbers of GPs refusing to see patients and not responding to phone calls.

I'm not sure if you can book a telephone appointment online but I'll check and see.

They definitely have the right number for me as I had no problems before lockdown.

I'm starting to wonder whether it's a case of not wanting to take up their time with things they don't deem serious.

When you call and request a call back the receptionist asks what the issue is so they can pass it forward to the GP.

Check the number, make sure your phone accepts private numbers and if it’s a mobile make sure it has reception. I’m a GP, we’re doing an awful lot of phone calls, if I don’t get through I’ll usually try again but I don’t always have time. We don’t tend to leave messages unless it’s a personalised voicemail in case it’s a wrong number though due to the number of people who say they weren’t called I’ve started to leave a vague “could you call the surgery when you get this” message.

I obviously don’t know what has happened here but from the other side, if a patient says they didn’t receive a call, it’s usually for one of those reasons.

Thanks for the replies. My phone does accept private numbers and I've had no problem with a lack of reception either.

Even if I happen to be on the phone at the time somebody else calls then I'm notified and have the option to switch calls.

If my mobile is off (which it never is) it will show that somebody has tried to call.

They've not called at all unfortunately.