Booked My First Private GP Appointment

[AutumnBudgetIsGoingToBeFun]

Can't get an appointment at my NHS surgery without alot of stress and phoning in at 8am for god knows how many days.

Tried to get an appointment a few months ago for something else and just gave up. I felt so stressed and I don't work anymore so I had time to sit on the phone trying to get through (god knows how people who have to be at work early cope).

Today I decided I was going to get help for something that has been bothering me for quite a while (although I only just figured out recently what it was having attributed it to something else). I literally couldn't face trying to get an NHS appointment and figured even if I could get through it wouldn't be deemed serious or urgent enough.

So booked today, appointment tomorrow. Booked online. Very easy. Sent form to fill in which took 5 mins just about basic details and what meds I am on, allergies that kind of thing.

I have mixed feelings.

One part of me is thinking - great I'll get this condition sorted and won't it be nice to have a 30 minute appointment with a GP rather than a very rushed 10 min NHS appointment.

The other part of me is thinking - is this the start of a slippery slope and how sad I feel when I remember how easy it was to get a doctors appointment 20-30 years ago.

It was interesting that the choice of appointments started at 20 mins for the shortest one - which makes sense given the NHS ones are too rushed so 10 mins is obviously not long enough.

You could have 20 mins, 30 mins which I booked, 45 mins or an hour.
Price £120, £150, £225 or £300.

I'll have to pay for the items as well I guess but it's a treatment which will be relatively short term rather than years and years (hopefully!)

I doubt I need a 30 minute appointment but I have plenty of other things I can ask him about.

I'm not expecting it to be any different really from an NHS appointment except it's in a nicer building and no doubt I will get the 'Hello Mrs Smith, How are you feeling today' nicer treatment that you get when you go to something private. The GP works or has worked in the NHS so I'm really just getting the same advice, just quicker and convenient to me.

I'll update after I've been for it tomorrow for anyone that is interested.

By the way did you know GP surgeries are not employed by the NHS. They are run like little businesses getting paid by the NHS for every patient they see. No doubt why they give you such short rushed appointments to maximise income. I didn't know that until recently.

My GP surgery is hopeless. Rude receptionists who just want to get rid of you. A few weeks ago I went online to request a repeat prescription as I was going to be away when my supply ran out. First the pharmacist told me my med had been cancelled and to call the surgery. The receptionist said she’d ring back. No call. The next day I rang again, we’ll call you back. No call. The next day I receive a text saying they can’t give me a repeat prescription as they issued one ‘last week’. My NHS app record had been altered to show 2 identical prescriptions issued the previous week (just after I’d requested them and been told they were cancelled). In addition, I’m still waiting for them to call me to discuss a blood test done 6-8 weeks ago, where the results were ‘abnormal’. No follow up so far. Presumably they don’t look at results. Fortunately, at least now, when you do manage to see a GP, they are helpful and friendly. The admin staff are beyond belief though. I wonder how much of their time is spent with patients just trying to get an answer.

I don't have insurance.

I spent £800 for blood tests and a followup scan for a suspicious lump in about 2023. I then spent a further £250 for more blood tests and then another £250 for an appointment with a consultant at the end of last year. DH spent £250 for an appointment regarding haemorrhoids which were preventing him from going about his life normally. He then had an operation under a general (home same day) but I can't recall what that expense was.

I am planning on spending circa £500 annually for a cancer check up (blood tests) going forwards.

I go to the Spire. Only have good things to say about them. They have a few locations around the UK.

My GP has a sign up saying that you can't make an appointment in person, you have to call. But then you call bang on 8am, are number 53 in the queue and then after 45 mins on hold they hang up on you.

True. I'm in a small village also. I've been with them for 11 years and can't fault them.

I’m not a GP but have worked in primary care for 26 years. It’s changed beyond all belief.

Off the top of my head reasons for the worsening of provision -
Different way it’s funded now, massively increased patient populations, much older and more complex patients, much more demand overall but also from people with no ability to self care, obesity, poor lifestyle, increase in health anxiety partly due to social media, reduction in funding for GP recruitment.

It’s shit. We as a nation need to get away from older models of healthcare and be open to change but it’ll never happen. The NHS needs depoliticising and breaking up but no politician will ever have the guts to do that so they’ll run it into the ground and blame HCPs.

Yes I did read something about the GP's threatening to strike over this new online booking system and saying they wouldn't be able to cope.

I only remembered last night about the change. No idea if it has made any difference at my surgery but I might try phoning them next week to see if it's any different.

Still going for my private GP appointment though cos it's booked now and a nice unhurried 30 minute appointment does sound quite nice.

If there really is far too much demand for the number of GP's available I can't imagine changing the booking system will help. This would only work if GP's were being super lazy and refusing to see people and now they can't do that.

I fear we are all going to be going private eventually whether we like it or not. Or not seeing a doctor like it was prior to the NHS being set up in the 1940's

I changed to private a few years ago because our local GP surgery is so poor. The last time I had an appointment with them about my knee problems, the doctor was so dismissive, disinterested, rude and most importantly, totally incorrect in their diagnosis, that I never bothered again.
They've got absolutely abysmal reviews online and still nothing changes.

We are in this situation because of the obsession with keeping the NHS free at point of service + no penalty for missed appointments + archaic appointment system. The British public doesn’t seem to want any change when it is about the NHS so we’ll see it collapse and can all pay privately.

Just a few examples (out of many) from France:

You don’t need to waste a GP appt to be referred to see most specialists.

The receptionists will arrange appointments with you in person or over the phone, so you can say if specific dates/times don’t work for you. No waste of time trying to re-arrange appts that you hear about from a paper letter. Paper letters are opt in, not the default.

No ‘calling at 8am’ crazyness. Some slots are reserved for same-day emergencies, others can be booked in advance (3 days or 3 months, no random rules about not booking to far away in advance)

Our (excellent) surgery uses the online enquiry form to triage treatment requests, and then call you with an appointment if they think you need one. They have been ultra-prompt with my two this year.

What has changed is that the majority of GPs appear to work part time. None of the 12 GPs at my surgery work full time there. Most work 3 days a week, 2 work 4 days a week. It's not enough, when patient numbers have gone up and a higher percentage are elderly.
Appointments can only booked at my GP by filling in an online form, then if you are lucky you get a link to book an appointment, which could be at any time from the same day to 2 weeks time, or if you are less lucky you may just get a triage phone call at 5pm.
Most days you don't even get to fill the first form in, as all the triage capacity is taken. They will not take phone calls or in person bookings at all, unless you do not have internet access.

Thanks for posting again.

So like me you are just paying for it.

I am always shocked at how much vet fees are and blood tests etc for the dog cost so I suppose the cost of a private GP appointment shouldn't be a shock.

Yes we have a BUPA (now Spire) hospital close by in Edinburgh so I might have to bear that in mind for future.

What happens then to those that can't afford it? No doctors for them then.

I am friends with a couple who retired from the NHS aged 55 and 58 and moved to Ireland. The head partner in my practice in Ireland retired when he was 70.
Maybe losing relatively young highly experienced staff is partly to blame?

it's like they don't want you to get an appointment then......... and they are not being very subtle about it then either.

Going private isn't going to work for everyone though.

The 8am system was implemented incorrectly, it was meant to just be for same day emergency appointments but became the defacto.

The online triage system isn't going to work for people who are used to phoning but it depends on the surgery as each surgery implements things differently.

Thanks very much for posting again to help us all understand.

So the current model really is unsustainable now and it's only a matter of time before we are all paying for doctors. Meanwhile GP's and their receptionists are getting the brunt of a confused publics anger and fear.

Understandable but sad. I guess the sooner we start facing up to this the better.

Please post any more info you think would be useful if you get time. I like to understand issues and your post was very helpful.

That's for appointments on the day.

So are the GP's all seeing private patients the other half of the time then?

I mean the chap I am going to see either still works for the NHS or used to.

I suppose if they can't make a profit from NHS patients then they have no choice but to do private work.

You know my surgery?

Your last paragraph is so misleading. It is correct they are small businesses with a contract with the NHS to run the service for patients, but out of that money they have to employ all the staff and premises costs, services etc.

GPs receive very little funding compared to the rest of the NHS but have the most patient contacts. As a PP stated they get paid a set amount annuallly depending on their list size and regardless of how many times an individual attends. More and more work is being added to their remit without adequate funding.

It is a shocking state of affairs how awful GP services are now but please don’t blame your local practice, they will be totally overrun (and only offer 10 mins appt so they can fit more people in).

My surgery uses the online triage form. It opens up twice a day and I’ve always been impressed. Sometimes a GP or prescriber will phone you back and deal with the issue over the phone, sometimes you get a link offering an appointment, other times a text message reply.

I phoned once worried about my toddler - it was 4:45pm and they squeezed me in with a GP at 5:10pm.

Having said that, I get an hour with a GP annually via my BUPA membership (paid for by my employer) and it is wonderful. I keep a running list of all my non-urgent things to chat about with them. I am not sure I would pay for it myself though.

I think anyone who fails to attend without giving reasonable notice should be fined. OK if you're in a car crash or something there can be exemptions, but the trouble with exemptions is that there are always people who will play the system. Nonetheless it might still help to reduce the huge amount of time, appointments and money lost by no-shows. I heard of someone recently who used to book a GP appointment once a month - just in case. If there was nothing wrong with him he just wouldn't show up. 😡

I am tempted to do the same OP as I’m just so fed up with having to call at 8am to get an appointment in two weeks time

Why would you be needing to ring back at 8am the next day if it were for an appointment at a future date? That makes no sense. If however you mean they only deal with appointment making at certain times and by phone, that's not what you've posted.

Ours also is call at 8 am. Then all appointments gone. You literally cannot book an appointment in advance. Not a day, not a week, not a month. No options.

Yes, same at ours.