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?

My GP is ok unless you fall into the 'don't need to be seen today but can't wait 3 -4 weeks for a routine appointment' camp. Only slight annoyance is them insisting on everything being a telephone appointment first, even when it's clearly going to require a face to face appointment.

I waited a year for a smear which was entirely their fault as they had no apointments, no nurse, twice booked in & they had no record of the appointment - and the letters telling me I was overdue kept coming!

Mine did this Mon. I was shocked it was so quick. Got meds I needed the next morning.
Different if you don't know what's wrong though.

My GP couldn't be more different. I can get through either first time of they call back. Usually get an appointment same day or a routine appointment when you want one. This is in England. I wonder what is different there than these awful stories of frustration on this thread?

I have healthshield membership which gives access to a private GP line, I think the cheapest option is like £10 a month and it pays for itself through dental and optical fees I claim back.
They can only prescribe privately but if you just want advice it's free. Useful in a 'anything better than nothing ' situation or if you're desperate for meds and willing to pay.

I know, we pay taxes and shouldn't have to.

My surgery is better at picking up in the afternoon.
Cant get through in the morning.

I have also been told I cant book in advance and have to phone on the day.
However
I simply tell them it isn’t practical to phone as I can’t keep on hold for an hour every morning. To be honest I just wear them down, I don’t end the call, I keep pointing out this completely unworkable rule ( which came up on question time one year to Cameron’s shock, horror face…well stop that remark )
I wear them out till they have no excuses left, Eventually I get my appointment.
I find it more intimidating in person with a queue behind me which is why I don’t go into the surgery, that and I’m usually on a train or at work when they open.

We ve had masses of new housing and no new doctors surgeries, or extra doctors in the existing ones.
Your area must have a good doctor / patient ratio.

Ours has had long wait times to get through for an appt ever since I can remember.

I haven't needed an appt for while, so things may have changed, but one advantage of WFH is that I can just leave my phone on loudspeaker and get on with my work until I hear a human voice.

Going into the surgery is an expensive option - it costs 80p to park for 15 minutes anywhere nearby.

May I ask which country.

It doesn't matter which country. The service provided was private. You can get that in the private sector here.

I doubt it. It’s in a small city where 100s of new flats have been built.

Well not really. In a third world country everything would depend on your ability to pay.

Ok. You didn’t mention private and I thought you had a great deal.

Well that is unusual.
planners do insist on money from developers for additional services, so maybe your local council has put that into extra doctors, ours spend it on roundabouts and elderly social care.
maybe there’s a lower ratio of elderly in your area.
Who knows, but given the debate on Question time years ago it was a big problem then and still is now.

I think you’re very very lucky

What a ridiculous situation to be in. I do hope you can speak to someone or see someone to help you.
At my surgery, you can never see a doctor, but we do have an absolutely brilliant pharmacist who will ring and help.
Hope you can get sorted out.

I don't think this is fair at all. I have seen loads of changes over the years as they respond to changing context. The problem is partly lack of money - in our area there is a huge shortage of gps and other medical professionals. I waited a year for a smear partly because my surgery coyldn't recruit a full time nurse. Ridiculous restrictions on immigration & brexit are part of it.

And of course you need staff to monitor online bookings to prioritise urgwnt bookings for example.

What is becoming clear to me is that the computer systems that underpin the system are not fit for purpose. That requires investment to fix.

Belgium. Not private as such as we get most of it back. Also, people who can’t pay don’t have to. The hospital in question is a public hospital, not a private clinic

Surely everyone can see it’s impossible to marry the demand and the number of available appointments…..

12 years of tories = expect to be disappointed in public services……

The whole thing is a dangerous mess and the inefficiency creates colossal amounts of extra and unnecessary work. GPs are not supposed to be there to provide emergency services in the first place, but many practices are now treating everyone as either an emergency that should go elsewhere if the GP has no availability that day, or dismissable. The people GPs actually should be seeing thus end up with serious problems that nobody has reviewed for weeks or months, because they can’t get an appointment for day after day, or week after week; or wasting time in walk in clinics, A&E or talking to 111 when actually they have a very clear need to speak to their actual GP and thus get directed straight back to said GP to deal with their issues, having wasted valuable time being dealt with by at least double the number of people necessary, which is in itself creating massive excess workloads and costing extra money which the NHS cannot afford to waste.

No system that requires a patient to decide how serious their problem is and how many weeks they can waste not being able to get an appointment, is safe. I know people who have just ordered repeat prescriptions when they were told not to renew but to get a GP appointment if they got certain symptoms, because they thought a repeat prescription was safer than running out. I know people who have been repeatedly chased to have smear tests or asthma reviews, or diabetes reviews, but who have not been given any means to make the appointments they are being chased to make. I know people who have not had cancer timelines followed and letters they handed into their surgery in person that have been lost. The only way we know the system is going badly wrong is the continuation of excess deaths, because far too many people are unable to log the fact they have medical issues in the first place.

My dd lives in Bali....she can arrange to be seen by Dr same day she calls for appointment and have bloods taken and results sent by WhatsApp the next day ....only issue is that it's £350 for the blood tests and consultation ! ( luckily she has good health insurance through work- not everyone is so fortunate)

At least you are in the queue. Quite often at mine it says the queue is closed sorry and hangs up.

Oh I know I am so lucky @Thekirit My doctor even phoned me out of hours to check I had been happy with what he had prescribed me and assure me he'd referred me for a test we discussed. I was absolutely amazed!

I've only just registered there after moving and I thank my lucky starts every day because I know not everyone is so lucky

'shitty little country' sums us up nicely - I might have added 'in every way'.

Not true. I live in a third world country and throughout the region health care is free. We have a fabulous health service.

Ummmm no it is not!