This again! Becoming almost impossible to make a GP appointment. Surgeries system restricted even further...

[PunishmentRoundupWithJoon]

Just a rant.

When my GP surgery introduced the online system for making appointments (and it's not even that, it's a system whereby you give your details and then you're triaged - someone may call you or you may receive a text) it was at least available 24/7, and at weekends. It was then changed to a cut off time of 8pm. So if you were planning to do the online consult once you'd finally sat down after the kids were in bed - forget it.

Tried to make an appointment yesterday to find they've now narrowed it even further with a cut off point of 12 noon. So patients only have four hours (8-12am) of this service.

They really are committed to making it as difficult as possible to make an appointment, aren't they? And god knows what you're supposed to do if you don't have access to the internet!

I realise this has been done to death but just had to rant about it. I used to think my surgery was one of the 'good' ones, even after the online system was introduced but now, not so much. Not that it will make a blind bit of difference but will be emailing the practice manager (who won't give a shit, I'm sure) but as someone with medical issues that mean mornings are rarely seen and if they are, I'm unable to function, I'm quite worried about these further restrictions.

Oh and you can't book online or book any other appointment except on the day

Ours is awful too. You can’t fill in an Econsult at weekends. My doctor only works on a Friday so even if I fill in the form on a Monday and get a message saying I will receive a call by 6pm the next day I then get another message telling me I will get a call on the Friday. Even if I specifically put on there that I do not want to wait and I am happy to speak to any doctor. Unfortunately all the doctors in my are are run by the same group so no-one to change to.

In 2007, I was a student. I could book appointments online, choosing from a range of practitioners. This included call consults. Also drop in clinics for various things. Records synchronised with home GP. First job, visited an emergency clinic at night, next day records available to my GP, who they'd made an appointment for me with.

WTF happened?

I spent half an hour on the phone trying to get an appointment the other day, before their call system put me second, then first, then second, then booted me out of the call altogether.

I know it's an underfunded system but it's so difficult to get past the multiple layers of gatekeeping that I've pretty much given up trying to contact our GP.

I am between doctors, lost in the system...long story. Registered with a gp at my old home, and having a problem registering with new one.

Anyhow, I had a health issue 5 weeks ago. I tried to get an emergency appointment in the town where I work, but was told no, in no uncertain terms.

I rang 111 who ascertained it wasn't cardiac (one of the presentations was severe chest pain) then on their advice went to a pharmacist, who unofficially diagnosed then used 111 to get a prescription.

The whole process took a morning on 111, then from 5pm to 8pm, scrip was with my local pharmacy the following morning. It was a time sensitive treatment, and I got the medication just inside the window for it to be useful.

I have nothing but praise for the way I was treated, however it took a whole day and some ingenuity to get a prescription which would have taken a quick phone call, and 5 minute appointment with a nurse practitioner 4 years ago.

The system is on overwhelm. Bertiesgal's post earlier says it all. It's not the practices' fault.

I do wonder about how demand for services is measured as it must miss out a whole load of people who simply cannot navigate the system or make it past the GP receptionists.

My old doctor's surgery was useless and I had to start using a private GP near work which thankfully wasn't too expensive. I could never get through, never get an appointment and all dealings with them were really difficult.

Moved house and I can barely believe the difference. If it is an emergency, you call and they will see you or you go down and queue for an appointment on the day. If it's not urgent, you send a text and someone calls you back. I sent a text about a non urgent matter. Within 24 hours, a GP had called me back and arranged the next stage of treatment.

It has made me realise that it is totally dependent on what your surgery is like.

A ‘part-time‘ GP works 3x 12-13 hour days, and usually additionally does more work to catch up on their days off.

A full time nurse works 3x 12.5 hour shifts a week. Nobody (rightly) complains that nurses work part time.

Hospital consultants get dedicated admin time. GPs do not, despite having more admin!

Why is everything different for GPs?

i’m not a GP, but I know plenty of them and I would quit if I was one! Most of the ones I know are looking at other options.

I haven't seen a GP for 5 years now because I haven't been able to navigate the system.

Phone at 8 (I'm at work but can do this). Be on hold for up to 45 mins (can't do this). At which point either a) you have to wait by your phone for 3 hours for the to call you back. (I'm not allowed my phone at work for safeguarding reasons so I can't do this) at which point they might offer you a f2f appt. Or you're told the appointments have already gone so no call back when they advise you to call 111. When you're again on hold for up to an hour (I dozed off waiting the last time I did this!) Only to he told they can't help you either and to call your GP for an appointment.

Reminds me of that episode of Asterix where he's constantly sent to a different window to request a form required to access the form he was told he needed at the previous window only to end up at the first window no further forwards 🤷🏻‍♀️

My GP friends took early retirement a few years ago because of the ridiculousness of the new systems and working conditions. They said they spent more time doing paperwork than seeing patients and the model was all wrong.

Ok my transfer has gone through to my new GP
I rang and got through in 3 mins at 9.30am. They offered an appointment today, or a pre book one in 2 weeks. You can choose telephone (1hr time slot) or face to face
Absolute breath of fresh air!

It's like the olden days! 😁

Did I mention reception were pleasant? If they actually fix my thyroid medication I might leave an outstanding review

Mine just ignore the bloody form, it has happened to me 3 times now since Covid

Whereas with my GP surgery I recently left a 1 star review (the lowest possible) after being held in a phone queue for 2 hours and then cut off when I got to first in the queue. I was trying to make an appt for my x-ray results that they had texted me that I need to make an appt to get! When I looked at Google reviews, they were plenty of people saying exactly the same thing.

I would suggest you observe to them who is least likely to be available between 8am and noon. If a public sector body did this, they could be accused of failing Equality Act duties.

The only way I can see a GP is to use a private service but this is only since Covid and that is because half the GP's at the practice I'm registered with never went back to working full-time ; they work part-time from home ( £50k salary ).

I know the senior partner there is acutely aware of the problem and has recruited Paramedics and various other ancillary staff to try and help the ppl left patient facing. Hopefully, that will help. That doesn't stop him from driving a new Maserati though.

Private: you can have an online consultation almost on demand. A face-to-face appointment can be arranged within 24 hours and, subject to your insurance cover, you will be referred to a specialist straight away, if necessary.

Not cheap but necessary, and I work for the NHS so I'm not rolling in it. But then the private service I use was recommended to me by the doctors I work with because that's the service they use.

they work part-time or from home

A GP day is usually 10 - 12 hours and many log on from home to finish work. So 3 days plus some time at home can easily = 40 hours. Do you call 40 hours part-time?

So many responses! I haven't read through them all yet, just about to do so.

Received a text from the surgery earlier, and it looks like the form has been completed without input from me, so whilst I'm appreciative of them doing that, I really wish they'd have phoned me (in an afternoon!) to check the accuracy of what they put.

The text also informed me that as from December, all medication will have to be requested via the website, so that's another change. Patient Access has been the portal for repeat ordering for as long as I can remember.

I wonder whether the situation would have been so bad if the BMA had not voted to restrict training places, and the opening of new med schools to avoid "an over production of doctors". I know it was way back in 2008, but those doctors would now be in their working prime.

more medical schools are of no use when there is massive emigration of doctors for better working conditions abroad, and the government won't fund enough training places so loads get halfway through their specialist training and can't progress. If you want to fill a bath, turning the taps on more strongly is not a great idea if you've forgotten to put the plug in.........

Here we go, GP-bashing again. Easy targets. Whereas people don’t complain as much about specialists, but in general society likes to moan and there’s a selfish attitude of “I need this now, I can’t wait, or I can only do it between certain times”.
GPs are human too, may equally have health issues, have families etc. they’ll makes mistakes/work “part-time”….but if it’s acceptable in other jobs then why not as a Dr?
Regards to access…maybe if people looked after themselves a bit better too that would help. Demand from GP surgeries went down during lockdowns as presumably people also self-cared. But the world is selfish.

The bma (who are a trade union and don’t actually decide the number of medical school places) asked the government that medical school places were not more than foundation year training places as you don’t become a fully registered doctor until that first year so it’s a waste of five expensive years at uni . They never lobbied for med school places to be restricted unilaterally but for them to be made equal to first year training places - this could have been done by increasing first year training places instead of limiting medical school places.

E consult is often limited to in hours because despite all the warnings someone submits on on Friday night at 11pm saying “I have crushing central chest pain spreading to my left arm and I can’t breathe” which isn’t then looked at until Monday at 8am and by then their dead so the surgery has to limit it to one’s it can at least quickly check that day to ensure they don’t say that (and it dosent matter how well you design it to try and stop this people will happily tick the box saying “I don’t have crushing chest pain” and then In the free text box lower down write “I do have crushing chest pain” so a human needs to check them.

the surgery initially tries to stop this by saying they all have to be in my end of the day so a human can scan them, but then they find they are getting 100+ at 1700 on Friday so they be any get them done that day so they have to move cut off earlier to ensure an actual human can read all of them and tell those who might be about to die to call an ambulance

and it dosent matter how many disclaimers are filled in, coroners and lawyers will find it to be the GPs fault even if the patient deliberately ignored the disclaimer - or even if they don’t the GP will have to spend years stuck in litigation and spend £++++ on increased insurance bills