Poll: Can you get a GP appointment within 3 days where you live?

[JudyBlumesBlubber]

Is the lack of GP appointments a particular problem in the South East or more uniform across the country?

My GP practice has an emergency "same day" phone line in the morning and the appointments are gone within ONE minute. Today there were 150 people calling for less than a dozen appointments. GP friends tell me that they prioritise babies and the very sick (e.g. cancer) which is fair but what about the rest?

Where I live, an appointment queuing system has been introduced to allocate non-emergency appointments using 3rd party commercial software; I've never had an answer or appointment from it yet other than a text to say to book an emergency "same day" appointment instead.

Is this the same around the UK? Anecdotally I've heard it's as bad in Devon/Cornwall and better in Scotland.

You get a response to e-consult within a day or two, usually doesn’t need an appointment. When I needed a referral to early pregnancy unit, the GP called back within an hour. This is in south east England

No (West Yorkshire)

I can get same day appointments without issue for myself and DC. Just ring at 8am and get in the queue.

I am in SE Essex/London border area

I got 2 same day appointments for dd in the past month. First time I rang 147 times before I got through. Spoke to receptionist who took details and said it now goes to triage and someone would ring me back. Rang back within half hour and got a same day appointment. Exact same thing 2 weeks later but 'only' had to ring 50 times. We're in Devon.

East of England here and I can get same day appointments without an issue.
They have an econsult system where you log a call and you get called back, its usually within a couple of hours but can be longer if they're busy.
Last week I logged a call for my baby at 8am, got called at 9ish and was given a 10.30am same day appt.
Never had a problem getting appointments for adults either - eg my husband logged a call a couple months back and got seen next day as it wasn't urgent.
They are a group practice and operate 4 surgeries and if you don't mind which one you go to (we don't as they're all roughly the sake distance) then it's very straightforward.

NW England. Online messaging system available from 7am to 5pm, choice of video/phone/in person consultations. Triaged by practice nurse and then referred to gp if necessary. Same day service. Works well but fails if you need a home visit - if only ever request this in an extreme case, eg. high temperature, vomiting, vertigo so patient can’t travel.
Haven’t seen GP face to face in more than 8 years and haven’t been able to get a home visit in more than 20 years. Have resorted to A&E on several occasions in an emergency.

Dunno. I never have reason to try.

East Anglia no.

I went to walk in.

Yes (Central belt Scotland)

No we have to ring at 8.30 no email, turning up in person or e consult.

Today was day 11 of phoning at 8.30 it took 15 calls as the queue was too full then I was caller 19 in the queue. Finally got though again to be told no appts - phone/nurse/ dr and to try tomorrow.

Gloucestershire

I can't vote because I'm on a mobile, but yes

I'm in North Yorkshire

Mid-Essex and our system seems to work really well - you fill in an e-consult and someone gets back to you that day. It's usually within an hour or two. If you just need a prescription they'll send it through without needing to go in to the GP surgery.

We're in a partnership with two other nearby surgeries, so they sometimes give you an appointment at one of them instead - but they do check you can get there as they're a 5 and 10 minute drive away.

Yes - very easily. Great service in a fairly new building. Lovely GPs who take their time and get to know their patients.
It's also next to a brilliant hospital with a A&E unit that sees people really quickly. I'm in Hexham, Northumberland.

Yes, without fail at my GP surgery. They are beyond excellent. In the past 5 years, I have never not been able to get a GP appt the same day (and between me and DD, we are fairly regular). This includes turning up at the GP at 5.20pm after been referred by the onsite pharmacist for DD. Putting in a request to the receptionist and being seen 20 minutes later. They are beyond amazing and I am never moving surgeries!

I'm in SW London and booking an appointment ahead no, that can be a few weeks away.

When I've been ill and actually needed to see someone same day. You call in the morning and speak to a doc over the phone. Generally off the back of that I've been seen the same day or triaged over the phone.

yes; Surrey. We’re in the perfect place for GPs - fairly upmarket small town and outlying villages with little deprivation and several good hospitals nearby. So gps want to live here and are able to provide a good service to their local patients. We’ve very lucky.

Yes, I'm in London. Our GP is brilliant. E-consults are responded to very quickly and a same day appointment offered if needed but they are also happy to deal with things over the phone. Last week, I submitted an e-consult, had a phone call within 10 mins where we agreed a plan of action and was able to collect a prescription from my local pharmacy 10 mins after that.

If you miss out in the 8 o'clock scramble, then it's Minor Injuries, A&E or wait five weeks for a telephone appointment (Midlands)

No. Not at all. South staffs.

I sent an e-consult last night about 5pm, got a text this morning saying an appointment was needed. There was one available this morning, but it’s not convenient, I booked for 9:10am tomorrow morning.

This is the same for me. London zone 2

South wales

Kids always get seen same day

Adult..

Urgent issue - call back same day and see doc or nurse

Non-urgent issue- appointment for either 2 days or 2 weeks time ( depending on what it is)

Always pretty consistent.

No appointments are available. Been trying since pre Christmas.

No econsult as it gets full/closed within five minutes.

Pharmacies near me refuse to diagnose or treat anything despite the government saying go to a pharmacist first. They refer you to GP or A&E.

Walk in centre - first time they refused to treat and sent us to A&E, second time refused to treat and told us to go to GP and ask for a referral. Both times antibiotics were urgently needed and not given.

I have several conditions that will shorten my life but I cannot get medication that I desperately need to protect my organs as I cannot get an appointment.

And yet my Surgery is taking on new patients across all four sites. Yay!

EDIT - East Midlands.

Yes. I can get seen if its urgent within an hour. Even on a friday afternoon at 16:00. Practice runs econsult only. Is very efficient in how they manage resources. Direct requests to best person to deal with them. Often this is nurse/paramedic rather than a GP. Most requests i have can be done over the phone, as they can for a lot of primary care work. You attach images and a description as appropriate to e consult. GP calls you back. Goes through it. Often i've been able to solve things over the phone. Last one i had was a period issue. Ordered bloods. Referred for ultrasound. Never even saw them. If they're not confident to make a clinical decision over the phone or with images alone they have always brought me in. Even for a mole i just wanted reassurance on. I've rarely needed to be seen. When i do they find an appointment that day. Usually within an hour or 2. My GP practice is phenomenal. Everyone should have access to practices like this.

East Anglia. Smallish but Busy GP practice covering a large area with huge number of patients. Large elderly and young population.

It can be done. It's just inefficiency and practice managers and GP's who are behind the times.