No wonder you can't get a GP appointment

[Intherightplace]

Currently all first GP appointments at our surgery are telephone. Which is OK for most things, even good, more efficient for both GP and patient. However, for some things a telephone appointment is never going to be any use. For example, if I'd been able to explain to "someone" that I needed an appointment for a dodgy looking mole, surely they could have seen that a face to face appointment was necessary?

Anyway, I waited 3 weeks for my telephone appointment. GP said she couldn't do anything by phone and she'd need to see me (like it was my fault, I hadn't seen her!). So that's one completely wasted appointment.

10 days later I had the f2f appointment. Buzzed the door, not allowed in before they've checked you out. Receptionist said she'd tell doctor I was there. 10 mins later the doctor herself came to collect me from the door. Now this is a large medical practice, it's a fairly long walk, involving 2 flights of stairs and she was wearing heels she could barely walk in

I was with her literally seconds before she said she'd refer to a dermatologist. So, at least 20 mins of her time, for a few seconds with the GP to do something she probably could have done at the telephone appointment, if that was going to be the level of the examination.

Either way, she could have dealt with other patients in that time. Why on earth are the admin staff still working at home? There are usually loads behind the large reception desk, but only the one answering the buzzer currently.

And why not just refer the first time and save everyone so much wasted time?

Don’t know @Badbadbunny. PHE say appointments should be remote unless there is a clinical reason for F2F. Maybe some practices are ignoring this.

Imagine being deaf in this situation. Can't go in the make an appointment and don't have access to Internet.

Sadly my practice also has poor practice and I don't think it has anything to do with Covid. Just all-round idiocy. Last week I had a msg about not missing my appointment the next day. What appointment? Who made it? What was it for? It's bonkers they need people who can think.

Mine is brilliant! I called up to book jabs for 3 year old. Can you come tomorrow afternoon? Yes! Sorted

Then i had cystitis. Called up at 8am. Was advised i would get a call back before lunch. Doctor calls at 11am. Pinged prescription to pharmacy there and then. Also suggested i send in sample. Pop round any time she said. I went straight over and peed in a pot.

Things have progressed so much from 10-20 years ago. No more sitting in the poxy waiting room listening to people hack their guts up for 40 mins

Working at home helps though

For comparison 6 weeks ago I booked an online appointment with my GP putting ‘suspicious mole’ in the description box. On the morning she called me and suggested I come in , which I did and she immediately referred me. Two weeks later had dermatologist appointment and referral for for excision a week later. Have today just had stitches out at GP. By the nurse after making an appointment 10 days ago . Excellent service.

Dr surgery in next town 3 miles aesy has opened up

In contrast my dm’s surgery still has yellow hazard tape up , she is deaf but they insist only telephone calls

@senoritarita

Mine is brilliant! I called up to book jabs for 3 year old. Can you come tomorrow afternoon? Yes! Sorted

Then i had cystitis. Called up at 8am. Was advised i would get a call back before lunch. Doctor calls at 11am. Pinged prescription to pharmacy there and then. Also suggested i send in sample. Pop round any time she said. I went straight over and peed in a pot.

Things have progressed so much from 10-20 years ago. No more sitting in the poxy waiting room listening to people hack their guts up for 40 mins

Working at home helps though

That reminds me of when I got cystitis in April complete wirh fever .

‘Well it’s obviously Covid19’ says receptionist, ‘I’ll get the Covid hub to phone you’

I was self catheterising, passing heavy amounts of blood and have a history of recurrent severe UTIs .

Covid hub phone - and tell me to self isolate immediately, book a PCR and isolate until it’s negative .

Grand - but what about the UTI?

‘Phone GP back’

GP reception - ‘I can’t let you see a GP as we don’t handle ?covid19 at all. Phone covid hub or pharmacy ...’

Phone pharmacy: ‘You need a GP’

Phone GP: ‘You need the pharmacist- have you tried drinking water and taking paracetomal?’

Was four days before they relented and only then because I got a negative PCR - they refused to treat until I gave a sample but refused to let me give a sample because I was isolating .

By that stage I was stuck on the toilet for four hours with bladder spasms and passing blood clots .

Ended up on two types of antibiotics for three weeks - nurse phoned 24h after I gave them a sample and said I had two multi drug resistant infections, and wasn’t sure if I needed IVs .

It was almost laughable - goodness knows where they got the idea that ALL fevers are Covid until proven otherwise !

I agree the phone thing is weirdly inefficient. Trying to arrange jabs for my toddler was crazy 1 year jabs during lockdown 1 and instead of receptionist being able to book them she had to book me a 10 min phone consultation with a GP, just for her to book it. I’ve never needed to speak to a GP about routine vaccination before.

The thing is, phone conversations would be fine for a lot of things but not everything. Someone above mentioned cystitis. Yes normally you just want a GP to prescribe antibiotics but the first time I had a UTI I had no idea what was going on with me or my body.
There was another time more recently when all the symptoms I described to the GP sounded very much like an STD. It was only when I showed him that he saw straight away that I was having an allergic reaction. If I’d described that over the phone I’d have been given antibiotics which wouldn’t have helped. A lot of times you do want to speak to someone face to face and to show them your rash or whatever in person.

Medication review carried out by a pharmacist who had to be told what I was taking, how much and why

Part of any medication review is to ask the patient what they are taking and how they take it as a lot of patients don't take medication as prescribed. Another major part is to check that it is still clinically appropriate- hence the 'why'. Some medicines can be used for lots of different indications.

I'm interested to know what you think a medication review is supposed to be seeing as you were surprised at these questions.

Oh FFS. Yes the pharmacist absolutely knew how much you should be taking & exactly why you should be taking it.

They are checkiblng YOU know! You aren't giving them new information .

@jugOFpimms

im finding the whole GP situation appalling if im honest & i work in the NHS. where is their work ethic of wanting to be the best & do the best by their patients.Ringing up first to then wait to be called back is not convenient as no time given .

As opposed to hospital treatment which is offered totally at patients demand?

I mean, you want to be discharged by 8am so expect to be home by 9. That'll happen right? No. It won't.

ALL areas of the NHS are under major strain. Nobody is having it easy.

• That reminds me of when I got cystitis in April complete wirh fever .

‘Well it’s obviously Covid19’ says receptionist, ‘I’ll get the Covid hub to phone you’

I was self catheterising, passing heavy amounts of blood and have a history of recurrent severe UTIs .

Covid hub phone - and tell me to self isolate immediately, book a PCR and isolate until it’s negative .

Grand - but what about the UTI?

‘Phone GP back’

GP reception - ‘I can’t let you see a GP as we don’t handle ?covid19 at all. Phone covid hub or pharmacy ...’

Phone pharmacy: ‘You need a GP’

Phone GP: ‘You need the pharmacist- have you tried drinking water and taking paracetomal?’

Was four days before they relented and only then because I got a negative PCR - they refused to treat until I gave a sample but refused to let me give a sample because I was isolating .

By that stage I was stuck on the toilet for four hours with bladder spasms and passing blood clots .

Ended up on two types of antibiotics for three weeks - nurse phoned 24h after I gave them a sample and said I had two multi drug resistant infections, and wasn’t sure if I needed IVs .

It was almost laughable - goodness knows where they got the idea that ALL fevers are Covid until proven otherwise !*

This is horrific, please raise a formal complaint. It's absolutely unacceptable to leave someone with a potentially dangerous infection and in serious pain like this. I think if people don't complain the scale of what they are doing will not be recorded or measurable and therefore not rectified.

I'm so sorry this happened to you.

@GlencoraP

For comparison 6 weeks ago I booked an online appointment with my GP putting ‘suspicious mole’ in the description box. On the morning she called me and suggested I come in , which I did and she immediately referred me. Two weeks later had dermatologist appointment and referral for for excision a week later. Have today just had stitches out at GP. By the nurse after making an appointment 10 days ago . Excellent service.

The fact you think this is excellent service is part of the problem.

The fact you think this is excellent service is part of the problem

Can I ask why? Obviously my stitches couldn’t come out earlier then 2 weeks so it’s not that , and I have friends in another European country who have waited longer for excision. I actually could have had the excision 6 days earlier but I was unable to due to caring commitments .

I waited 2 weeks for an appointment that needed to be f2f but got a phone call from GP. She couldn't diagnose over the phone and told me to go to A&E.

It would help if the receptionist could (or was allowed to) use common sense and give face to face appointments or ask for a photo straight away for something like a dodgy mole. An initial telephone appointment is such a waste of time and reduces appointments available for everyone else in cases like that. Sounds like some practices are doing this now, but not all. Would also help if they all had to follow the same (sensible) procedure instead of each surgery deciding for themselves.

@GlencoraP

The fact you think this is excellent service is part of the problem

Can I ask why? Obviously my stitches couldn’t come out earlier then 2 weeks so it’s not that , and I have friends in another European country who have waited longer for excision. I actually could have had the excision 6 days earlier but I was unable to due to caring commitments .

This doesn’t sound bad considering I just had to wait 5 weeks for a private dermatologist appointment.

The thing that drives me mad about mine is you have to call 8am the day you want the appointment. So there's no emergency appointments/ moms emergency. Then you sit waiting in the queue for at least 30 mins to be told someone will call you back "some time today". If you don't pick up immediately there's no further attempt or if you miss them that's it. As a teacher it's a system that doesn't work. I can't get an appointment without taking a day off work for it.

The calls are queued, then questioned by receptionist (who are rude), then called by Dr if receptionist thinks warrants call. Dr then may ask you to go down for f2f appt. Had to go for f2f and because the problem may be serious was asked to book another in couple weeks. Omg Ive never met such miserable, rude receptionists, you'd have thought I was asking them to hand over all their belongings. So much tutting and huffing then a card with a time was flung across the desk at me. Fortunately the Dr was lovely, think I'll ask him to book it if I need another follow on😬

Bit of power and receptionists turn into psycho control freaks.

@Ddot

Bit of power and receptionists turn into psycho control freaks.

A couple of years ago, I was waiting in oncology reception whilst OH had his chemo (all morning job!). A guy came in for his consultant appointment and after registering at reception, he asked to book what I assume to be his regular blood test (presumably pre chemo). The receptionist could only offer him 8.30 on the day he asked for. He asked for it later that day because his journey was an hour, and he had another appointment late that afternoon in the same hospital, so he didn't want to have a very early start, only to be stuck waiting all day then a late journey home. Receptionist wouldn't budge and suggested a different day. But when you're on chemo, you don't have that flexibility, it has to be a specific day ahead of the chemo a couple of days later, which had already been fixed in stone because chemo treatments have to be on specific days. The guy tried to explain all this, calmly and rationally, but the receptionist was getting more and more het up and patronising. The guy said he'd have to discuss it with the consultant then. Anyone he got called in. Then he came back to reception with the consultant who "told" the receptionist to make the appointment later in the day an hour before the other appointment. Suddenly, there was no problem with that, receptionist was all smiling and helpful whilst the consultant stood there. As soon as the consultant and the guy had left, she got a face like thunder and turned to another receptionist and said "that's great, that's another patient who'll expect appointments to suit them". They're really a law unto themselves, some are just awkward for the sake of it.

Bitch

I had chemo bottle attached and stayed at home but the bottle had to be taken off when empty, happened on a Sunday. I had to go to inpatient ward to get it removed. Couldnt get out of ward, asked receptionist to please open door, went back to door, waited. 10min later asked again, by this time I was almost in tears (no sleep for 4days and very little food) asked again, waited again. She could see me standing there. I screamed can someone open this door. Nurse came running out and reprimanded me for disturbing the ill patients but opened the door. Sorry for not being as bloody ill as some but I do count!

@HmmmmmmInteresting , the point was that the pharmacist who did my medication review did not have basic information like what my diagnosis was or what meds I was, or had been, taking. I was able to tell her all that, but she never asked how I was taking anything. There was no 'checking for understanding.'

In previous years, meds reviews have been done by a GP who has had the list in front of them.