To think it's no surprise people rock up to A&E

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Obviously I'm not encouraging people to go A&E unless they really have to but you can never get through to me surgery. So it's no surprise people give up and just go to A&E??

I have been trying all day, it's either engaged or I get through and there's 10 callers in front. Last time I had 10 callers in front it took 45 minutes to an hour to speak to someone. My problem is not urgent but what if it was? you expect it in the morning but at this time of day?

my problem cannot resolved with an E consult. Last time I did an E consult I didn't get a reply for 2 weeks. They limit how many E consults they take each day too.

is it just my surgery who is pants at answering the phone?

but weirdly I was in the surgery for a while the other day - queueing for a prescription and the phone didn't ring once!!

My daughter has been really unwell recently.Tried to get a doctors appointment no luck called 111 they didnt call back till 4 hrs later. Took her to A and E was there for 8 hours sent away with medication. She was no better 6 days later managed to get a telephone app with doctors who then said to take her back to A and E. 4 hours there some treatment has to go back thursday but cannot be given a time so i expect we will be there all day. Im pretty sure if she had got the correct treatment in the first place she would not be so ill now.

Our gps is like this. It's so frustrating!! The nhs is in such a worrying state.

Pants isn't it. Hope she feels better soon!

It is, even though the staff generally are amazing!

I have two relatives that are GP's (in a different area to me). At a family gathering recently it got a bit heated between an elderly relative and them as elderly relative is frustrated with the lack of appointments (they do generally need regular appointments and not time wasting but they aren't getting them).

the doctors at my own surgery are excellent - once you can actually get through and get an appointment which isn't always possible.

Yep, they absolutely take the piss. It’s a miracle if you can even get onto the queue for our doctors, then you have to wait 15 minutes to get the message saying you’re caller number 20 in the queue. This is not first thing in the morning either, it’s just any time of day. They tell you that you have to call first thing to get a phone apt, but it’s absolutely impossible to even get onto the queue. The other week when I tried, it took 1 1/2 hours to even get onto the queue, then when I got through, they said I had to call first thing the next day because there were no apts left, or I could book a routine apt for three weeks time. Three weeks is no good to me, and I’ve tried to get through first thing. What do they think I’ve been doing for the last fucking hour and a half? Why do they think it’ll be different tomorrow? Honestly, you can dial on the stroke of 8am and still you won’t get through, what the fuck do they expect people to do?

GPs say that they are run off their feet, and I believe them, but fuck me it doesn’t look like it from where I’m standing.

I wouldn’t go to A&E unless I was at deaths door. I do feel like we don’t have access to healthcare in this country anymore, and I’m not convinced that even if I was dying, very obviously, I’d even get treated then.

It's a question of 45 minutes or whatever time waiting for a phone call to get through in your home/office eyt, or possibly hours of waiting in the waiting room of A&E.
I don't think people choose that unless really necessary.

Mine is a nightmare too. Can't book advance appointments have to phone between 8.30 and 11.30 to be added to the triage list. Any calls after that time will only be dealt with if it's an emergency. I got sent home from work a couple of months ago after feeling like I was going to faint and I had some other symtoms which I thought could be worrying so called to make an appointment that I'd be able to attend before or after work on a future date. As it was after 11.30 and not an emergency they wouldn't deal with me that day and told me I had to phone the next day between 8.30 and 11.30. To do this I'd have to take a day off work and sit around all day waiting for a call back so I didn't bother in the end.

To be fair they do deal with things quickly when it comes to children I phoned the other day at half 3 worried about my daughter and a lovely doctor called me back just after 5pm and put my mind at rest. However my friend who called for herself first thing that morning didn't receive a call back at all.

Also reminds me I was once asked to send a photo of my daughter's injured leg on WhatsApp so they could determine whether it was infected. This was in June and the message is still unread 🙄.

My surgery are hopeless as well. Phone at 8am for a same day appointment but there is no queuing system, you have to constantly redial. By 8.10 all the appointments have gone so they stop answering the phone completely. No e-consult, no advance booking, it’s ridiculous.

Ours has an awful system....we have to ring up and instead of being triaged over the phone we are sent an online form to fill out and submit back to them. We are then contacted by the GP via text and there is no option to engage in conversation with them by text so in effect it goes

" You appear to have an infection please go to the pharmacy to collect a prescription for antibiotics. If there is no change after the course please contact the surgery again. GP's name"

And that's it. No opportunity to ask questions about the medication/type of infection/expected time until recovery. It's all so impersonal and blunt. The maddening thing is though, when I went for my flu jab, there was not 1 single person in the waiting room and only 3 chairs there. That was at 11am on a Tuesday morning yet we are led to believe that our surgery is "currently overwhelmed" according to their recorded message when anyone rings them.

I'm a HCP I tried to fry an appointment with my GP for one of my DC, they said they couldn't squeeze her in so to go to A&E. I said it isn't an issue that warrants A&E attention and they outright said well that's the only way your going to see a doctor anytime soon and that was that

My surgery has separated out front desk from telephones. It makes it much calmer when you are there, as the phones go the people wearing headsets.

The surgery has looked after me- I've had excellent care- but they are really struggling to manage. To me it looks as though the GPs are working long intense hours, so don't want to be full time.

We've really mishandled things over the past however long, and got far too few medics and teachers- too few training and we aren't retaining the ones we have.

You shouldn't be going to A&E if you can't get through to your GP surgery.

There's 111 online where you fill out the same questions as they ask over the phone.

Lots of people could speak to a pharmacist for the things they want the GP for as well.

This has been exactly our experience twice in the past 18 months or so.

Well 2 of my family members have had face to face doctors appointments this week. The NHS is stretched, we've had to wait in a telephone queue for nearly 2 hours in one case, to be triaged then to be called in to be checked over.

If someone has an emergency and doesn't have the patience to wait for the phone to be answered and would rather wait in A&E for hours that is up to them but this is bound to have a negative affect on waiting times.

There are so many viral infections around at the moment. I'm flabbergasted that any doctor would prescribe antibiotics after a text msg exchange!

Ours is the same.
I also feel like I have no access to healthcare.
Cant get through to doctors and our local health board have been putting messages on their Facebook page only to turn up to A & E with life threatening symptoms.
They are now classing broken bones as minor injury.
We have NO minor injury clinics in Scotland so if the kids fall etc what the fuck have we to do.
It makes me so nervous for any of us to get unwell.

My DC frequently suffer from tonsillitis ( the type with white pus that requires antibiotics) and the rigmarole to try and get through for antibiotics whilst your child is crying in pain. On one occasion I called and couldn’t get through , tried 111 , they don’t take your call until after 5pm as they class the doctors surgery “ open “ until then ( ha ha ha ha ha )
Had to wait til 530 pm call 111 back to get through to an out of hours doctor

Obviously tonsillitis is minor but that was another unnecessary full day in pain as couldn’t get antibiotics til next day but other people will be in same situation with more major / painful conditions, which although not life threatening , could be really serious , what the fuck should they do ? If they can’t get through to doctors and A & E saying stay away.

Its actually horrendous.

Also our surgery is frequently not available and just point blank tells us not to call.
So don’t call the doctors and don’t go to A & E.

Mine were actually amazing for my last thing. Did e-form at 9am, had a call back at 9.45 and booked to see the GP after lunch. Follow up appointment arranged the same day for the actual procedure needed.

It's crazy how different the levels of responsiveness are from practice to practice.

I've just submitted forms to transfer to a new surgery as its impossible to see anyone at ours.
Had a phone appointment for menopause advice that I'd waited 5 weeks for, she then told me she would need blood pressure details so not worth continuing on the phone and booked me a face to face appointment for the next week.
Was feeling quite happy that I would finally see someone and then on the morning of the appointment it was switched to a phone one again. Spent nearly an hour getting through to the surgery to explain why it wasn't suitable and the next face to face appointment is the week before Christmas.
That's 3 months since I originally called to sort my symptoms out.
Had enough, sick of all the NHS adverts "if you don't feel somethings right the NHS want to see you", No they don't. You can't see anyone.
In the past year my youngest has finally managed to have a face to face asthma check up (after 2 years of phone ones 🙄) and when we went in there the surgery was empty.
I've had to go to A&E several times and even had a private operation which was delayed by getting the referral from the gp as it took 5 weeks to get her to phone me about it 🤬

ive pulled my back out a week ago
i rang the doctors-they told me to phone an ambulance
I did-they said at 8:20m there was ‘a bit of a wait’
fine-they finally arrived at 5:30pm
all this time I was stuck to my bed-I couldn’t get up at all
got through a&e within two and a half hours
ive been forced to phone the surgery 5 times for painkillers and a sick note as I can’t stand up without help and I fall over if I do manage it
theyve been amazing over the phone but at no point have I seen nor spoken to a gp

pre covid,I would have rang up,got an appointment,seen a gp and taken it from there

the last thing I wanted to do was clog up a&e even though I was told to-we wouldn’t have rang an ambulance either if I could have got down the stairs-my partner would have driven me there

but they where amazing once I got the help I needed but I still feel bad I had to go down that path

It’s worrying.
I do everything right - went to the GP for my daughter and they said it’s viral (didn’t even check her other than temp) she got worse and I couldn’t get another appointment so I went to the pharmacist- she didn’t even acknowledge my daughter who now had a painful swollen eye, headaches and ear pain. Phoned doctor again but told no appointments, try again tomorrow.

Phoned 111 on middle of night and we were sent straight to A&E turns out she had a very obvious (to a medical person) infection that is dangerous as it’s spreads so quickly- her ear drum burst and the lovely overworked staff couldn’t believe she wasn’t given antibiotics and said they are exhausted because they are treating children with serious conditions that could have easily been treated if they were seen (in person!) sooner

My GPS have honestly been really good of late. They have a form which you can fill out if it’s not urgent, filled it out yesterday afternoon and got a text with an appointment for tomorrow. Tomorrow wasn’t convenient so I rang them at 8.45 and got straight through with an appointment for Monday. It’s the 2nd time I have used it and think it’s been great.

Can we please stop blaming the GP surgeries for this farce?

You can't see a GP because there isn't enough of them. If your surgery is empty it's because there aren't enough GPs to make appointments with in the first place.

This isn't the fault of GPs. It's 12 years of Tory underfunding of the NHS.

I don't understand why this still needs to be pointed out to people.

Why could I see a GP before COVID restrictions but now I can’t?
Not saying lack of GPs isn’t a problem but the stupid phone appointment system they have put in place has a lot to answer for! My trip to A&E is just 1 example of it failing

Lots of GP's retired or went into different careers.

Because there's a shortage of GP's they need to limit patient contact to reduce the chances of them getting ill.

They can also do many more appointments via phone that face to face. We're talking the difference between 4-6 and hour and 12 an hour.

I was unable to get an appointment to ask for antibiotics for an injury. Receptionist sent me to Minor Injuries walk in, who sent me to A&E. It took about 8 hours from my first attempt and I ended up in intravenous. Maybe if I'd had them when I first rang, I'd have avoided 48 hours in hospital.