Does your GP practice operate appointments this way?

[BresciaBike]

My practice requires people to call when the practice opens (08:30) in order to book an appointment. Of course, the lines are busy but you have to queue, if you hang up then tough. They don't entertain appointment calls at any other time of day unless it's a GP (not a nurse or AHP) who books a follow-up themselves during a consultation. There is no online service, presumably because you have to pass the receptionnist's vetting process first. This has been the system for about four or five years now. I'm wondering how many other GP surgeries do this.

mine and it think it’s a decent enough system

We did have that for years but it's all online now unless you can't.

For on the day/emergency appointments, you have to phone first thing (they do operate a call back system if the queue is full). Generally speaking, there is always an appointment available with at least one of the 8 doctors but not necessarily with your registered doctor.

For routine appointments with your own GP, you can phone at any time or go in person and they'll book you in the earliest appointment they have. This can sometimes mean a week or 2 but think that's standard across the board these days.

We have 2 surgeries to service a medium sized market town (which keeps growing!), could be worse, could be better but the system works so I can't complain.

Mine doesn't.

They use Ask My GP and you submit an online request (these now close around 4.30pm and you can't submit until they open at 8am, or maybe 7am).
The GPs then triage the requests and respond, usually with a call and a follow up appointment if necessary.

I made a travel vaccination related request on a Friday a few weeks ago and had a response from a GP saying he'd refer it to the nursing team but appoligising it would be the next week because they were short of staff that day. It absolutely didn't need an immediate response, but that was the first time in the last 4 years that I've made a request (I've probably had 10-15 for various reasons) that wasn't dealt with that day or by an arranged appointment when I couldn't get in that day.

I'm very impressed by the responsiveness of our surgery.

Call first thing for morning emergency appointment if you miss all them you can call when they reopen after lunch for an emergency afternoon appointment.

Call whenever for another appointment. Usually if you can see a prescribing nurse you get seen quicker.

To see your own GP takes a bit longer. My GP is amazing, senior, works part-time to actually see them takes 4 weeks or so. Worth the wait if you can.

Can also do online, send photos, email information.

All in all pretty good.

If we phone and ask for an appointment it’s at least a months wait to see a doctor. If we phone and ask for a doctor call back you speak with a GP either same day or the following . They decide when/if you need to be seen. Sometimes they see you the same day. In my opinion it seems like a waste of GP time as you go over everything twice, but it must work to weed out the time wasters or those who could just go to the pharmacy.

We fill in a form which gets reviewed. They then send a link with an option of times for in-person or phone appointments - last time I did it (about 5 months ago,) I was offered a range of slots from the next day until about 2 weeks later.

Before covid, you could phone or fill in an online form for a named GP, any make or any female GP or the duty GP. Then over covid it was phone only, which was crap.

When I've had a regular thing come up, e.g. bloods or smear, I get a text with a link to appointments, which is a definite improvement on having to phone for a nurse appointment only to be told they haven't released them for two weeks time yet.

If you can't do stuff online, you can still phone up, then basically the receptionist does the formfilling for you, and will call back with the list of appointments, so it's the same review system.

However, it's a large town centre practice, which also takes trainee GPs, so I think they have more resources and flexibility than e.g. my previous village practice.

I'm the same.

The only way to get a GP appointment is to call on opening. They are all phone appointments so the GP can ring you at that time and personally offer you an in-person appointment if required or sign you a prescription to collect if that's all you need.

If there are no slots left you phone again the next day.

I've got one medication that's accidentally not been put on the repeat prescription list.

So I will need to phone back and waste one of the slots to have it added.

Reception staff refused to do it. I've to speak to doctor myself. What a waste of a slot. Sigh.

Ours is the same. In theory there are also pre-bookable appointments but the only time I have ever been allowed to book one was for a baby's 6 week check , for a smear and for a coil-fitting - if it doesn't fall into a category like that it has to be on the day.

It used to work ok. For whatever reason, it has broken down in the last year or so and people are complaining that they are regularly 'in the queue' for an hour plus in the morning and are finding it impossible to get an appointment at all. Inevitably, some of these people end up in A&E instead.

Phone first thing, if it's an emergency you'll get an appointment that day, if it's not then you are asked to phone back another time and you might get an appointment but most likely you'll be ask to phone back again. Eventually either the problem goes away/you get worn down or becomes an emergency, in which case you'll get an appointment that day.
You can also book online which saves hanging on the phone, but there are rarely appointments.
So emergency fine, any kind of niggly issues, screening, health check, ADHD appointments, HRT reviews then forget it.

We complete an online form during opening hours, response is usually same day. The annoying part is that they'll often schedule you an appointment, let you know via text and get annoyed if you haven't seen it. Once, they text me at 1.30pm with an appointment at 1.40pm at a surgery a 15 minute drive away. I didn't even see the appointment until after the time had passed.

Ours is 8:30-9am for on the day appts
After 10am for routine appts
I rang in the afternoon, no problems making an appt though it was a 2 week wait
From what I'm seeing it could be worse I guess

On the day emergency appointments are the same.

Follow ups like my HRT review can be booked anytime.

Some appointments for Nurses etc. can be made through the NHS app for my practice.

Same here.

Very unwell people are hanging up the phone in frustration and getting taxis to A&E.

Comfortably-off people are using private GPs for initial consultations and getting on consultant/scan waiting lists that way.

The online booking system is not fit for purpose.

It is shambolic. But the GPs and nurses themselves are superb. I think that UK medical schools offer brilliant training. I’ve no issues with the people or their qualifications.

Mine operates like this it's awful.
I've been trying for an appointment for weeks but can't get past the receptionist for love nor money.
Today I was told they only had emergency appointments left but they were for "heart attack and stroke patients " 😱 they didn't have an answer when I said surely they people would be directed to call 999 or attend a&e not wait 6hrs for a GP🤷🏻‍♀️

Ours let you ring anytime for appointments, but good luck getting an appointment in the next 2 weeks/14 days if you ring at 9:45. You have to ring at 8 the next day to book the day of free sessions that become available.

So everyone who rings up is basically fighting for the 40 or so appointments that are available on day n+14! Unless you're lucky and someone cancelled between you ringing and being answered.

Unless if course you bypass the system with the enconsult, which you fill in a long winded adaptive form, but you usually get seen or at least a call back within a day or so.

I can't get worked up about the receptionist vetting process. They will often send you to the community nurse that/next day, as you don't actually need to see a doctor a lot of the time. But people get pissy and insist on a Dr to look at a possible verruca or whatever.

Yes mine does. No online system at all, and no pre booked appointments except for children's vaccinations and smear tests. If you have a routine issue you still have to try and get an on the day appointment.

You can call our surgery anytime and be offered an appointment.

I've just changed surgeries, my last one you could phone any time and get an appointment, the same day if it's urgent or up to 2 weeks if not, there was 2 doctors and 2 nurses serving around 3000 people. The new one there's 11 doctors and however many nurses, you have to call at 8:30, the last queue I was no.28 and my appointment was 6 weeks in the future.

No luckily ours is all online requests now which is great - very efficient service.

I just phone at any time, they answer, and give me an appointment, usually for that day or within two days.

There's no online service because they don't need one.

If I ring for a repeat prescription, it'll be ready to collect from the pharmacy that day or the next.

It's because we live in a little village in Scotland.

I have to fill in a web-form for any enquiry. Appt requests are triaged by a nurse / doctor (?) who decides if we need to speak to a doctor on the phone, come in for an examination, or can be prescribed something without an appt - or can get help elsewhere eg over the counter pharmacy. We then get a phone call or text to advise outcome.

It works well for me and no waiting on the phone. Admittedly I have internet access and my English is good enough to describe symptoms accurately – which isn't true for everyone in my neighbourhood.

We are not able to phone our surgery for any appointments. An online form opens at 8am, where you provide all your details. In the morning, this is triaged and you are called back around mid morning - either by a receptionist to book an appt in the future or by the GP directly for more information. Once the surgery reaches maximum capacity for forms, the online system closes until the next day. Some days it has closed by 9am, other days you can submit until the afternoon. Once the form closes, you just get directed to 111.

If you try and call, the receptionist just completes the online form for you (which anyone in the waiting area can overhear!!) So although it works well for anyone who can use the internet well, i dont know how effective it is for elderly patients or those without internet access.

On the upside, I've never waited more than a week for an appointment.

Ours is a phone at 8am and hope for the best surgery as well. They only offer on the day appointments, no advance ones available. Annoyingly, they’ve just merged with two other surgeries and you don’t know where your appointment will be. Could be the one over the road from me or could be the one in town that’s around a two hour trip on public transport as there’s no parking!

Ours has the 8.30 rush but also an online triage form.

Filled one in a few weeks back with low expectations and the GP called me in the same day and I was hooked up to an ECG within minutes!

Last week, Friday, different issue, filled in a form in the hope of being seen within a week and was offered and appointment for Monday.

Pretty good I think!