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.

I'm in London and have a good local surgery. Same day available for urgent things (particularly children).

My GP practice has an excellent system now. From 8am you fill in an online triage form. That is assessed by one of the GPs (not a receptionist or practice nurse) and you get a text in response (within an hour) offering either a phone appointment, or a face to face one. If the latter, it will be followed up with a brief call to check that the appointment time offered is ok, and to confirm it.

So far I've used the system half a dozen times and providing I've sent the form before 11, I've always had a same day consultation of some kind (or in one case, first thing the next morning, but that was not a remotely urgent situation).

I'm really impressed with it.

Yes - we are encouraged to phone on the day if required or if we hear wait is too long.
E consists very promptly responded to. Most GPs at surgery are very warm and very thorough.

Yes phoned yesterday afternoon non urgent appointment

Wednesday this week

The range of answers is extraordinary and often in the same area. I'm actually impressed the answers reflect that for many, the GP practice system is working.

I'm particularly interested in those in London who rate it highly. I'm in London but in an affluent area. Is there a subliminal push to get those who can afford to pay for a GP to use private surgeries instead? These are springing up around London because of the patchy service.

I've just sat on the phone for two hours and got to 1 person ahead of me and the phone cut off 😤

Yes, you put an e consult in and they either issue a prescription directly, call you for a phone consult or call you to make an appointment, never waited more than a few hours

I feel your pain as I had similar but with many more people ahead of me. I started calling before the lines opened.

Taylor Swift tickets area a breeze compared to GP appointments where i live.

Yes, East Mids here. Can always get a same day appointment for me/DH/kids, and we’ve needed quite a few over the last few months. Mix of phone/in person depending on the ailment.

Non-urgent is different - that’s at least a month’s wait, sometimes told we just can’t book it at all. So everyone escalates things to urgent!

We’re moving to an online triage system next week though, so no idea what that will be like.

No, and given the literally thousand and thousands of houses that have been/are being built here - with not a single new surgery - it gets worse with every passing year.
We are lucky enough to be living near to an UTC though and if you present there and need to see a GP it is GP led so it is possible if urgent (but of course they only treat certain things there). How long it will last though, who knows, the trust have tried to close it more than once but the uproar was so huge they backed down.

Yesterday I gave up waiting on the 'phone and went to the surgery to book an appointment (I need a physical exam so a 'phone appointment would've been useless).

I could see 'my' Dr on the 17th June, or 1st available on the 7th June, I choose the latter, so a 24 day wait.

I'm in Kent in a relatively prosperous town.

Blimey I can understand why you haven’t told us where you are.
DH spent 9 months trying to see a doctor for suspected skin cancer. In the end we went private and saw a doctor in a couple of days. Funny how there are so many doctors available when you can pay but supposedly there is a shortage.
Midkands

I can get a response same day - this is often a callback to establish whether you need to be seen in person, or whether a prescription can be issued over the phone or whether a same day/routine appointment is needed. But we always get a response and usually within a few hours if we phone at 0800. Same day appointments issued by the receptionist are clearly strictly rationed though!

@JudyBlumesBlubber I'm fuming. This is for a medication review that I'm suppose to have every 6-8 weeks, my last review was 8 months ago. I called yesterday and I was told that I needed to call at 8am like the rest of em 🤦🏻‍♀️ I'm back on the phone with the "more than 20 people ahead of you message" I can't cope.

NW Coast. We usually get a same day.

We are SE , we get an e consult response usually on the same day but when the appt if needed is offered depends on what it’s for .

For an emergency yes. It’s 4 weeks for a general appointment.

Yes, our GP is actually quite good for urgent appointments. You have to go through the online system though to request them (they can't access them if you ring, only routine appts). I submit a request and I always hear back the same day (though it says within 48 hours). With my dc, they've always gotten them an afternoon appt (f2f or phone) with a request submitted in the morning. Last week, I put through a request for advice about an injury for one of the dc and I received a text message with advice and guidance about taking her to a minor injury unit within 15 minutes of submitting the form online. We are in the South West.

SW and I use the klinik online form at our GP and mostly get a call back from a nurse or GP same day, have from that been asked to go in usually same day also but for other issues they have responded by text arranging an appointment.

The only way I can see a GP is to go privately, otherwise you’ll sit on a phone for a week and still not get anywhere. And there are supposed to be 9 GP’s at that surgery and the senior guy drives a Maserati. I think there should be some sort of investigation into that practice because it stinks.

To book an appointment for the future it's a minimum of a 3 week wait.

There are 'emergency' appointments that you have to phone at 8am for however they are usually all gone by around 0815.

This is in Central Scotland

In ours (N Wales) I have always got a same day appointment for my kids, sometimes with a nurse but always been seen. Haven't tried for myself or DH as we luckily are never sick enough to need to see a Dr urgently. I did an e-consult for myself for a non urgent issue and the Dr called me within the specified time frame of 10 days.
You do have to call at 8am to get a same day appointment though which is frustrating but they do keep urgent appointments aside for urgent cases that have to be seen that day. They might also offer a phone call from the Dr who will then decide if they need to see you or not, I had this with my DD with a painful ear, Dr phoned me and sent a prescription for ear drops straight to the pharmacy.

I'm in Scotland and with my practice you can usually get a same day appointment. My bil is in England and the situation seems much worse down there.

Yes, usually next day or 48 hrs. Zone 2, SE London.

My GP surgery is amazing, easy to get through on the phone and you can book appointments using the NHS app. Cornwall