On hold for doctors. WTAF?

[RadioactiveWear]

Jesus.

I rarely use a doctor, thankfully.
It’s a Wed late morning, and I’ve been on hold for 45 mins in a queue to ask for an appointment.

WTF?

I never ring my GP for that reason.
Its quite close to my house so I go in person and never have to wait long to speak to someone.
very annoying!

Does your surgery have online booking via their website? It would probably be easier.

Last week when I rang i was in position 53, took about an hour, normally we can book appointments online but they removed that option during COVID and haven't brought it back

Pretty normal as they have a number of appointments for urgent matters available to book on the day. If it's not something you need to see the GP for today ring back in the afternoon.

Got thru only to be told no booking are allowed to be booked in advance. I have to call up at 0800 tomorrow or walk into the surgery at 0800 to make an appointment. From experience you cannot get thru to them at 0800 as it’s inundated. That’s why I called off peak, or so I thought 🙄

It’s really crap. I used to live overseas and never experienced this. It’s like living in a 3rd world country.

Yep - this is what happens when the NHS is chronically understaffed and underfunded.

Does your. GP have e consult? Our GP usually rings us back within 24 hours

Yes it’s the same system at our surgery. You can’t make an appointment in advance, you just have to spend an hour on the phone for two or three mornings.

Because obviously no patients have jobs / caring responsibilities from 8-9am.

What about elderly people, those with Disabilities, people with addictions, asylum seekers or refugees , women in abusive relationships, teenagers ?

They are making it as hard as possible For the people who need access to healthcare the most.

It’s just nonsense and appalling patient care .

I booked an appointment through the app for mine, got one for two days later. No fuss.

The telephone system many surgeries still use is bloody annoying though. Can you go at 8am?

Yes there are so many similarities 🙄

I do econsult now as I cant even get into the queue to be on hold. It just says "thank you for calling, please try again later" then it cuts me off 😟

However econsult is only accessible for a few hours due to excess demand. I can see that going soon too 😱

There are going to be so many health problems in the future, because of this.

We've become a shitty little country recently. It’s just awful.

It’s like living in a 3rd world country.

Is it, really? I know this is a saying but I wish people would stop using it. It shows a crass disregard for people living in very different circumstances that are unlikely to come close to experiencing from our cosy homes.

Completely normal! I've had a lot of health issues over the last 2 years and have gone part time because I spend hours on the phone and internet just juggling appointments and referrals.Time to get angry - we just shouldn't accept the running down of the NHS. Please lobby your MP!

We have to do an online thing - you e-mail through that, they get back to you and sort it out/telephone appt/make appt.

I tried it recently - someone got back to me, sorted prescription and made appt for blood pressure check that got changed a couple of times.

They always used to do the 8am scramble on the phone. It never works because some people have got the hang of it and others haven't. I had to do it once to get an appt with the nurse as they wouldn't do advance appts. After ringing a few times on the days I could go in, the receptionist said I could have an appt for what I wanted with other nurse. They rang me the day before the appt to say other nurse didn't do what I wanted and made me an appt a week later with the first nurse. 🤔

Ah yes, not being able to get a same day appointment is exactly the same as a third world country experiencing famine, no clean water, war and political brutality. How silly of us British people to have free at the point of access health care and the ability to criticise our government and health services without fear of persecution. You say you used to live overseas and never experienced this, perhaps time to return to wherever overseas you originally emigrated to if you’re that unhappy with your own country 🙄🙄🙄

Ours have all moved online now

I needed an appointment, by phone as is done now, so booked it Saturday just gone. Had the phone consultation this morning and a face to face on Friday.

Yep, that’s just how it is now unfortunately. I broke my ribs and needed a sick note after 5 days of self certification. Over 100 phone calls with the ‘too busy, call later’ msg before I got through. Only needed a note and hate the fact I had to struggle in pain to get there for a piece of paper whilst someone else in more need could have had the appointment.

www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/pressures-in-general-practice-data-analysis#:~:text=As%20of%20January%202023%2C%20there,full%2Dtime%20fully%20qualified%20GPs.

In the last year the NHS has lost 646 GPs (470 whole time equivalents) and the speed at which GPs are leaving is increasing and likely to shoot up following yesterday's announcement of a new imposed contract as the govt refuses to negotiate.

Remember this next time you vote

Yeah its just like that...

Our surgery doesn’t book appointments in advance and hasn’t for about 5 years!

You have to ring on the day unless it’s for a smear etc. You used to be able to ring at 8am for an AM appointment or 2pm for a PM slot. There would always be 30-40 people in the queue. They’ve now removed the 2pm call in so you can imagine what the morning one is like! Just impossible but I did get through once, 2nd in the queue, which was pure fluke.

I was on hold for 2hrs 22 mins recently just calling in late morning to find out why my son’s repeat prescription was missing items. Only 8 people ahead of me in the queue as well!

It is a despicable standard of service.

I read just yesterday that the system is now being forced to change, so that everyone who rings is either given an appointment on their first call, or pointed to another service i.e. pharmacy/111/A&E etc.

GPs are furious about it though and threatening to strike...

Yes. That's the imposed contract. With the same, already ludicrously stretched resources, we're meant to pull better services out of a hat. How exactly would you suggest that we do that, if the number of calls in the first half hour of the day exceeds the capacity of the staff available on that day?

3rd world country. Behave.

Isn't that a pretty offensive term too?