Is anyone else still being refused a GP appointment ?

[sofakingfrustrated]

Have a hospital appointment next week - hospital rang last week and said they think they have a diagnosis, and it would be good to talk to GP to get a referral for support with that and for symptom management . Also to discuss possible surgery that they might be able to offer . Appointment next week is just more tests to sort of confirm what they think.

GP surgery have flat out refused to discuss - said they don’t do chronic illness, they don’t do non urgent illness, they don’t do GP appointments unless it is absolutely 100% necessary - you can’t choose when you see someone or when - it’s up to the clinical team to decide if you warrant help, they choose who sees you and when .

Their decision was that I should talk to the pharmacist instead - surely this isn’t in their remit? I get that they can explain OTC pain relief and help with minor illness - but surely they can’t discuss pros and cons of surgery and future prognosis of illnesses ...

Surely this can’t carry on this way for much longer ? GP surgery must be missing scores of illnesses by refusing to see most patients.

Have the same problem and worse - i can not find my GP !
I have phoned/emailed my old surgery but get told i am not registered with them,so i go online and follow the "register with this surgery " but get an auto message saying they are not accepting new patients consult your gp !
Nor are they taking any appointments at all
," no doctors are available to discuss your issues "
( so basically - feck off )
I phone 111 and after a 30 mins chat get told they will have to get medical advice and phone me back . Six hours later i am still waiting for the call back.
What is the point of a medical helpline that needs to phone a medical helpline ?
Do i really have to go to A&E ? if the pain gets worse ? Wait until i am bleeding everywhere and try and phone an ambulance - that will not attend anyway .

@bobbikato

Have the same problem and worse - i can not find my GP ! I have phoned/emailed my old surgery but get told i am not registered with them,so i go online and follow the "register with this surgery " but get an auto message saying they are not accepting new patients consult your gp ! Nor are they taking any appointments at all ," no doctors are available to discuss your issues " ( so basically - feck off ) I phone 111 and after a 30 mins chat get told they will have to get medical advice and phone me back . Six hours later i am still waiting for the call back. What is the point of a medical helpline that needs to phone a medical helpline ? Do i really have to go to A&E ? if the pain gets worse ? Wait until i am bleeding everywhere and try and phone an ambulance - that will not attend anyway .

I expect this will be the response at our GP surgery. I haven't needed to call a GP for an appointment for about 10 years, but this is their typical response for us. We're out of area - but, being rural, out of area for ALL local GPs. And because we don't go 'regularly' , more like once every 5-10 years, we're not on their list when we do call.

Of course the real reason for this is that there simply are not enough GPs to serve everyone.

Seems to be quite a postcode lottery when it comes to GP services.

I'm a Practice Manager and it's so disappointing to hear the problems some of you are experiencing. At this practice we are busier than ever, dealing with a whole range of chronic and acute illness, medication reviews and so on. We're doing it differently but it's definitely being done.

It shouldn't matter if you haven't been seen for years - if you're registered at a practice, you're registered.

I really urge you to contact your own Practice Manager and tell them about your experiences.

If the hospital want a referral to support your diagnosis then the hospital can do the referral.

GPs are not hospital doctors monkeys.
Despite what many will tell you, they Absolutely can refer to another service.
And if they really are struggling to do so, then I’m sure they can ring the service themselves.

Out gp get a nurse to triage you over the phone and as a nurse practitioner she can usually assist. If you need to speak to a doctor she will arrange a callback (last time was within 20 minutes at an oversubscribed surgery). The doctor will advise if he wants to actually see you and in my case sent A prescription to the local chemist. It was ready the same day and I got a text to let me know. I was impressed I think it makes sense and saves time to have triage then over the phone consultation if required.

DD's doctor is doing over the phone consultations. First time around she had to send a photo each time and was firstly prescribed ABs and then referred for surgery. Second time (ongoing problem) they prescribed ABs twice and referred for surgery assessment without a photo. The poor nurses are still seeing many patients as DD has to attend to have her dressings changed and you see them come out to the carpark to take patients in.

Ours is doing over the phone consultations. I managed to get one for last week and spoke to the GP. He asked me to go in later that day. It sounds like we are really lucky with ours.

I don't think the issue here is about the surgery not having the appointments available so much as them realising OP does not NEED an appointment. Why the hospital would tell a patient to see their GP before the diagnosis appointment to discuss things that should be done at said diagnosis appointment is beyond me. I did mention this up thread but I do not think the GP is at fault here at all rather the hospital, who are supposed to diagnose, make plans and then forward information to GP who then takes over care if that is suitable for the patient. Calling OP and saying see a GP before this happens is useless so it's not really surprising OP has been denied the appointment.

I agree @ChickenwingChickenwing - this sounds like a hospital problem rather than a GP problem.

Why are they pushing you onto the GP to do referrals and discussions about surgery, support etc when a diagnosis hasn’t been confirmed, and there are more tests to do?

Normally the hospital specialists would confirm a diagnosis, work out a plan and write to the GP to inform them of this, possibly with a shared care management plan. Getting the patient to take a preemptive diagnosis back to the GP to manage without any further information is lazy and shoddy.

our GP isnt doing joint (steroid) injections for the foreseeable
when the weather changes my knee is agony

I tried to get a doctors appointment earlier this week, I've a history of mental illness including PND, anxiety and psychotic periods. Told them I was having sleep paralysis and hallucinations, after much persuading that I really needed to see someone, she said I might be able to get a face to face with a practice nurse on a specific day, if I couldn't arrange childcare my 4 and 2 yr old would have to wear masks, aswell as myself obviously. The GP I spoke to was the most condescending empathic person, who treated me like a time waster, I thought I was doing the right thing phoning up...clearly not.

So I’m maybe better waiting til after the appointment on Tuesday? It’s very confusing. It isn’t new symptoms if that makes sense, it’s just that they have a name for it at last - and with that name there’s sort of established treatment guidelines ...

Usually GP reviews things every 2-3 months eg bloods and urine sample and stuff but maybe that’s not totally necessary, I’m not sure !

It would just be good to talk to someone - anyone - because what they’re diagnosing might mean having a urostomy or something one day, and will have quite an impact on everything (whereas I’d previously thought it would all go away), that’s kind of why I wanted to talk to a doctor just for advice and to ask questions . The appointment on Tuesday is with the specialist nurses, I won’t be seeing a consultant they said for a while whatever, so can’t ask anyone questions eg what happens next, what happens if I want to have children, how can I make things better day to day ... nobody seems able to talk about that part . Even in hospital after last appointment, with doctor telling me I’d need regular cystoscopies etc, they shrugged and said I’ll get used to it all eventually .