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 suspect GPs will be just fine with directing patients to 111 once capacity for the day has been reached. May not be so good for patients though…

I agree that the difficulty getting appointments is unacceptable. But it’s all down to demand outstripping supply - so imagine how crap it must be to work on the other side of those telephone queues in any capacity. No one is doing this on purpose to spite patients. They are all working beyond safe capacity in many cases and utterly exhausted. We need more funding for primary care.

It really isn't anything like the developing world. You've said yourself you rarely use the doctor.

As others have said, the NHS is underfunded. Next GE vote for a government which will increase the funding. Oh wait, that will mean paying more tax.

Give over - you've gone part time to juggle appointments and referrals? I don't believe you.

An elderly friend, 93, lives alone, has serious chest infection. Her GP visited about midnight and called an ambulance. Still waiting.

It’s absolutely infuriating isn’t it. We have to ring at 08.00 so just when you are running around trying to get children ready for school. Have to listen to a load of rubbish about Covid etc to then get through to an engaged tone to then be cut off and try it all again. When you do finally get through to the on hold system you’re usually at least number 15 in the queue.

Three weeks ago I was on hold for 55 minutes, when I got through I was told I would have to phone back next day or phone 111. We have Dr IQ App but last time I used that it took them three weeks to action it.

Mine won’t pick up.

I tried ringing every day constantly for almost 2 weeks and it just rang and went straight to voicemail.

My symptoms continued to get worse and so I rang 111 and also couldn’t get through to them at all.

I ended up seriously in A&E and then admitted to hospital because I had an infection.

If I was able to be seen by a gp I would have only needed a 10min appointment and some antibiotics and been absolutely fine.

I don’t know what’s wrong with the system but it’s obviously not working and so something needs to change.

I think they need to create more walk in centres which will free up A&E.

An elderly friend, 93, lives alone, has serious chest infection. Her GP visited about midnight and called an ambulance. Still waiting.

That’s awful!

Why do they need A&E?
Can they not have antibiotics delivered?

They took our online booking away during covid and we aren’t allowed to turn up in person and book. So waiting on the phone it is

Par for the course at my surgery. "You are number ..... 25.. in the call queue". And that's after you've listened to the messages about life threatening illness, and Covid, and eyes and minor ailments.

There is no e-consult, no way to email them about anything, no online booking. No online ANYTHING. You can request a repeat prescription online and that's it.

No idea what's wrong with the system but it's totally broken.

and too many patients.

There was a piece on the news about doctors in Ireland. Poorest people and kids don't pay. Everyone else does.

This idea of a free for everyone healthcare system is not sustainable and needs to change.

How strange of you to be so dismissive. Maybe have a little think. I have health issues. I could probably manage them and work, with a sympathetic employer. I can manage them when I have to regularly spend 40 minutes on the phone to get an appointment just at the time when I need to be travelling to work. You have to take the appointments that you're offered so I need flexibility in my week. If I need to call for test results my surgery asks for you to call between 2 and 6, so after my lunch break and/or when I am travelling home and the wueue can be long. You often have to call hospital departments before 4pm and again put in a queue for up to an hour at the time when I'm available at work. Mostly appointments are given with no consultation and I can't always make them so, again I have to call to change them usually there is a complex system of multiple recorded messages and different options. Then you get through and the person can't help so someone will call you back and you have to be available to take the call. All the stress and anxiety exacerbates some of my conditions & requires a fair bit of time juggling and planning my diary too.

So, yes, I now work 4 days a week.

Lucky you, that you can't even imagine it, but a bit of empathy might be a good thing?

@Shar

@SharonEllis - I am not lacking in empathy or dismissive. Your response indicates an unsympathetic manager is the reason. Anyone with an ounce of sense realises you can't pick and choose medical appointments at a date and time to suit you/someone else.

Believe me, I have enough health issues of my own to know that is the case. I have a decent employer though.

It’s the same here. I got to see the GP who asked me to return in two weeks. You can’t book an appointment in two weeks; I had to phone at 8am on the day. I couldn’t get an appointment that day.
Rinse and repeat for 9 working days. Gave up.

Anyone struggling for appointments, download the push doctor app. They do calls and you can book same day normally.

It’s definitely not.

Obv depends what you’re phoning for and I’m in Scotland so i duno if you have this but we can now go and see a pharmacist for a lot of different things. For example I got antibiotics for a UTI directly from the pharmacist at boots.

You can't do that with mine, you have to phone.

I phoned up at 8am on the dot, you have to poise yourself, it's like some life or death game show.

Tell you what I don't mind is being able to get heavy tranquilizers prescribed from the comfort of your sofa. That's new.

My employer is fantastic, thank you. Its the hours on the phone dealing with the labyrinthine sytems that are not feasible, one occasion recently, over the course of over 2 hours, I was forwarded to the wrong number 3 times, sent to 3 full mailboxes and cut off twice. Each time stuck in a queue. I can't do a good job while regularly distracted by trying to manage my treatment and tests when the system is so inefficient. I'm struggling to understand why this is so difficult?

the new GP contract they are trying to get through includes stopping the 8am circus of trying to get through and requires surgeries to deal with the patient first time of ringing not expect them to ring back every single day...about time as its highly discriminatory. Not that it deals with the problem of workload but at least it doesn't mean the appointments all go to those who have the time/patience/desperation to hold the line or ring repeatedly (my GP's line just cuts you off straight away if there are 2 many people ringing, my record was 43 times of repeat dialling b4 i got onto the queue itself).

Most sound as if this ringing on the day system is new to you . We have been doing it for years . Ring at 8.30am and if you get the engaged tone, then we just keep redialling till we get through.

We all know that the appointments for the day will gone in about an hour . So if we are ringing for a different reason, after about 10am we get put in the queue . When the queue gets too long a recorded voice tells us to Press 1 and we'll ring you back . The longest I've ever had to wait for a ringback is less than an hour .

I got straight through to my dentist when I phoned at 4pm
Usually about 40min if I phone in the morning
The receptionist did say 'sorry lovely you will need to phone back in September' though until I told her it was urgent and got end of April instead.

Could be worse, could be 999 - I’ve had that a couple of times (I work in a field where calling is relatively frequent).