Just been bollocked for not using out of hours GP

[SunlightThroughTrees]

I’ve just called up to get a GP appointment, the usual 8am scramble to get one. Opening question was “what’s the emergency?”, which is new. I explained that I’d had swollen tonsils for several days, which are getting increasingly painful and I now have white gunk on them.

She interrupted me whilst I was saying what was wrong (very concisely) and then twice told me I should have used the out of hours GP service. The reason I didn’t go to the GP on the first few days of symptoms was I was waiting to see if it was viral tonsillitis that would get better on its own after a few days ie following the guidance on the NHS website.

She has given me an appointment begrudgingly but ended the call by again telling me that I should have used out of hours and sounded very pissed off at me. I get that appointments are scarce but I can’t see what I’ve done wrong here. The out of hours appointments are presumably scarce too and to be honest I think of that as more of an ‘emergency’ service to use sparingly than my GP surgery on a weekday.

Try to forget about her. Everything feels worse when you’re unwell. Your intentions were good and now you can see a doctor. I hope you feel better soon .

Since when have GP appointments been for emergencies only? The NHS is a fucking shambles.

So what happens if you have something medically wrong, but it's not an "emergency"? I thought that was the whole point of GPs?!? Are you supposed to wait until it becomes so bad that it constitutes an emergency, therefore costing the NHS even more in treatment? 🤦🏼‍♀️

I'd write a letter of complaint to the practice manager. Nothing will change if people don't complain.

It’s getting ridiculous now.

I was at A&E with someone a few weeks ago, and a man came to the reception and had been sent away by A&E to his doctors, doctors then sent him back to A&E.

People are struggling to access basic healthcare, or to even know where they are meant to go first for it.

She probably wasn't pissed off with you. I don't understand why people suffer over the weekend/bank holiday when there is a GP Out of Hours service available. Surprisingly people either don't know how to access OOH or they would rather wait for a Doctor they know (then complain there is no choice of Doctor for emergency appointments in the surgery).

Hope you get better soon.My

I can well believe she was rude to you, our receptionist at the doctors is so incredibly rude that I now order my contraceptive pill online and pay for it rather than have to deal with her again.

You need medication, I'd have used 111 then walk in and a nurse to prescribe the meds. Because a GP doesn't need to prescribe them when a nurse can, either tonsillitis or diphtheria and you need antibiotics.

That may not be a possibility in OPs case, as care offered differs in different regions.
Also, we can't be expected to diagnose ourselves before seeing a HCP!

Doesn't surprise me.

I used cream prescribed for the dog rather than call the GPs.

Yes I wouldn't have a clue what the various professionals in my GP surgery can do, especially in the case of an illness I hadn't had before. If a nurse could prescribe the antibiotics the receptionist is surely the one to advise that.

It's all a shambles OP. Not individual surgeries' fault, but the government. The one GP I know socially is working ridiculous hours. I rang out of hours a while ago as my toddler had a dose and I wasn't happy with her breathing and wanted her seen. Rang at 6, no doctors available until midnight and then they'd have to work through the list so we ended up in A&E. Story after story after story.

Hope you feel better soon, tonsillitis is miserable.

Poor you. I hate saying anything bad about the NHS because they're so stretched, but it really does feel like GP receptionists are doing their best to protect their doctors from having to see patients. Our surgery has a note on their website warning 'If we can't fit you in we might send you to A&E'. Surely that's just shifting the problem around and putting unnecessary strain on the people dealing with actual emergencies?! It would never occur to me to go to out of hours GP with tonsillitis - maybe for the kids but for myself I'd just wait till Monday, like you have. It is horrible though, hope you get the meds you need and feel better soon x

I could be dying and I would still never go to out of hours GP again. They lock the front door. The only person in there was the male doctor who I felt extremely uncomfortable with. He also gave me medicine that could have killed me. I took my baby there years ago and the dosage of medicine was completely wrong, about 10x what it should have been.

I would call back and ask for her to signpost you to the the NHS guidance that tells you when you should book a GP appointment and when you should use the out of hours GP, so you don’t make the same mistake again. If she’s right then she’ll be able to readily give this information to you. If she’s wrong I’d contact the practice manager and tell them the receptionist is providing patients with incorrect advice. Discouraging patients from seeing their GP is really dangerous for people with an infection or for vulnerable patients.

our gp service has become worse than useless. They send you to a and e where there is an urgent treatment centre for a long list of things including vomiting and diarrhoea, sprains and minor injuries. Then you have to drive to wait for hours and hours and then see someone who isn’t your gp. For whom you are very low priority because other people in the waiting room have been in a car accident or something. I am so nostalgic for when you would call the gp and get an appointment with the family doctor who knew the whole family and medical history. Who tried to address root cause not just prescribe high dose addictive painkillers and send you away as quickly as possible.

My did had a urine infection.

Went to the dr who checked her over, tested the sample I brought in and sent us to A&E who did the exact same checks, who said again it was a urine infection and gave her antibiotics.

A&E did say to me that the GP could have done this and I agreed. 7 hours we spent in hospital waiting around when she could have been at home.

The GP did see us but only for 5 minutes before we were told to go to A&E for something they'd already done and could have prescribed for her then and there.

Gargle with hydrogen peroxide solution. It's super cheap from the chemist, you mix it with water 1:4 I think and it'll oxidise the bacteria quickly. Tastes vile but I couldn't take the antibiotics for tonsillitis before they took mine out and this worked.

So many people hang on over the weekend and then ring Monday morning. Our triage nurse today will deal with at least fifty patients. All saying 'urgent'. Guaranteed. Many of whom will have sat on a problem for two days.
If you ring the GP surgery over the weekend, the answerphone will tell you who to contact.
IME even when people are advised of out of hours arrangements, many seem reluctant to use them. The same way routine weekend appointments for other HCP were always poorly attended.

We can only access OOO GP through 111 in my area as they’ve shut oh NHS walk in centre. I’ve tried to access them twice in the last 2 years, once for a 9month old baby and once for me. Both times we waited nearly 24 hours for a call back which never came, despite repeated chasers. We went to A&E on both occasions in the end, despite not wanting to, as we needed to see a medic and get medications as soon as possible. A&E agreed we’d done the right thing both times when I explained how long we’d waited and got no call back.

I put in a complaint to 111 when it was about my baby. They took over 9 months to respond to tell me they don’t deal with complaints about the OOO GP. I had no idea who they were until 111 named them in the response to me letter. I was then “out of time” to complain directly to the OOO GP. I feel like our healthcare system is running on a wing and a prayer.

@cptartapp that's fantastic that you still have a triage nurse! Our surgery have stopped offering that service. I'm sure the nurses and receptionists are all very busy but that doesn't excuse this one being rude to OP. A key reason that people avoid seeing the doctor - whether family GP or out of hours - is that they feel they're being a burden/wasting someone's time. The rudeness doesn't help.

I'm not slagging off my GP surgery as they're great and I've never had a problem being seen, however this is the wording on their website re out of hours:

Out-of-hours cover is for emergencies only. If an emergency arises outside normal hours this will be dealt with by an experienced doctor, who may not be your own doctor. They decide whether the problem requires telephone advice, whether you need to be seen at the Out-of-Hours Centre or if a home visit is required. Patients should never arrive at the centre without phoning first.

I wouldn't consider tonsillitis in an adult who can drink to be an emergency on that scale, and so I probably would hang on til Monday morning. Same for lots of other illnesses - I'm asthmatic and so with a chest infection I may want someone who knows what they're doing to take a look at me but if my breathing was ok I would rest at home over the weekend and ring on Monday. I don't think the OP is at fault here, much as I understand the receptionist is likely at the end of her tether.

I really, really wouldn't use hydrogen peroxide as a gargle, the contraindications out way any potential benefit.
You can use a salt water gargle, or gargle with aspirin (providing you can take aspirin).
Warm water with a slice of lemon and a little honey can help soothe a sore throat.
Hope you are feeling better soon op

I'd of done the same as you. Waited till Monday to see if it'd self resolve or if I thought I really needed antibiotics. If it was one of the children I'd of tried to get OOH. The service is not great where I am though you access it through 111, call, on hold for ages finally speak to a person. Someone will call you back eventually/ hopefully. Then you can get an appointment at 6:30am an hours drive away.

As a single parent if it's my weekend I'd have to bundle up all the dc and take them with me. When you're ill and exhausted this is the last thing you want to do, so I'd wait for my lovely GP and their polite receptionists!

Thanks for so many kind messages 💐

As people have said, I was trying to self treat at the weekend/see if it would clear up on its own rather than avoid out of hours GP services. It was only this morning that i thought I should see a GP.

totally understand how stretched practices are right now but I’ve never been made to feel so bad for booking an appointment before!

Also, when I rang up for the appointment I didn’t even request one today, I simply said “I’d like to book a doctor’s appointment please”. My surgery is one of those where if you don’t call at 8am you won’t be offered an appointment for 2-3 weeks. Ie if I’d have called up at 10am they wouldn’t have offered me an appointment for tomorrow.

Yes this is currently happening to me. I have intermittent chest pains

Calls doctor because i feel its mild. Receptionist says call 999 or go to a&e

I'm sceptical but I go anyway. A&e turn me away and say phone 111

111 say visit A&E

A&E say visit Doctor

I'm currently on hold with doctor.....

I know its unlikely to be a heart attack. A&E cited my age being too young. 111 said age doesn't discrimate and GP says 100% not our problem no matter the age

NHS is FUCKED and healthcare is being blocked by jobsworth receptionists who are "protecting the NHS" but failing to protect people.