Doctors appointments, rare as hens teeth?

[melika]

Had to wait a week to see a doctor to get blood results. Had to wait a whole month to see a particular female doctor and have just booked her again and have to wait another month! My DH is suffering with joint pain and I tried to get an appointment yesterday and there was nothing left for weeks, I was told you have to ring at 8am today. So.....I did and couldn't get through until 8.15 and all the appointments had gone!

I am flabbergasted.

Receptionist said if he turns up between 8.30-9am
and 2.30-3.30 and says it is an emergency he can wait for a doctor.

So that is what he is going to do but it isn't an emergency! You have to lie to get seen. And...what is an emergency? If it was I would take him to A&E surely?

I picked this surgery after we had recently moved because it has ten doctors!!! What the hell is going on?

Cross post with Jolly in many ways

Ours does phone triage for a same-day appointment. Tis brilliant, because if you need a same day apopointment then you ALWAYS get one after triage ... though it was quite funny when I lost my voice totally and DH had to do the phone triage for me, from his office 50 miles away!

I rang for a routine appointment yesterday, for DD. It's tomorrow. That's the longest I've ever had to wait.....

My practice is really badly managed.if you phone up for a normal appointment it takes at least two weeks despite it being a big place with 20 appointment rooms. I just phone up say I want an appointment today, and usually get a call back with a cancellation.

Ours is great. I called yesterday morning for an appointment and was offered Wednesday. I needed something sooner so had a telephone consultation yesterday afternoon which was totally acceptable for my situation.

I can get a same day appointment no problem. The only difference is that I have to pay about £50 as we do not have free healthcare.

It certainly cuts out those people who are time-wasting but also means lots of people don't go when they really need to!

I have to champion my GP's surgery. I've just phoned to check on a repeat prescription and been told it's ahead of the time allowed and should be ready tomorrow, not only that but the GP has put a note on my file that I can have diazepam for pre flight use so I don't have to make an appointment before every flight. It saves me so much time and does prove that some surgeries can run efficiently and mine is a prime example. Really busy and the appointments do overrun but it's because the doctors take time with patients when they need it so I don't mind.
They also open late for people who work outside the immediate area or need to wait for partners to get home for childcare.

My old surgery was fab, you could phone at anytime of day and get a non urgent appointment within the week and at a time which was not a major inconvenience to you as well - ie after 4:30pm so no time off work needed!

My new one has had me in tears of frustration a number of times, I picked them due to the opening hours displayed of being open till 6:30 - only to discover the last appointment is 5:20! With a list of about 12 doctors only a couple appear to work at anyone time.

Getting appointments is a nightmare, you call at 8am and there are no appointments left for two weeks time (the earliest you can book) - one week ahead if you want the late night ones on a particular day!

Apparently the other in option in my town is worse!!! A friend told me they discovered ours is rated the 13th worse surgery in the country!

But jollyphonics the issue I have as a patient is that I am continually offered appointments with the practice nurse to weigh and measure me and to talk about prevention but I can't get an appointment with that same nurse to monitor the chronic condition I do have. That's been sub-contracted to another surgery where I can't get an appointment.

It seems to be that nobody listens to what patients need; nobody organises anything properly and this unfortunately leads to patients losing respect for the service.

We are continually asked to respect the time of the doctor but there seems to be zero respect for the time of the patient and far more of mine is wasted by the system than I suspect yours is.

And, if I am asked to make an appointment with the practice nurse I expect to see the practice nurse, not an HCA. The HCA may be fine but I want to know in advance.

You use ring that morning emergency appointments for everything here.

They only release routine ones up to two weeks in advance, they are impossible to get.

Ours takes a week - I thought that was bad enough. No walk in service that I'm aware of.

Mine has changed a few times, they have piloted various systmes the current one.

You can make an appointment with a named Dr up to 2 weeks in advance, you can make a single or double appointment if you think it may be a long consultation.

Each Dr does one day 'on call', you can go in from 8.30am and you will be seen by who ever is on call on first come first served.

Afternoons are appointment only unless you really really need to see a Dr, then you come at closing time and again are seen in order of arrival.

They are also linked to a walk in centre that does 8.00am to 8.00pm mon to fri, and 8-6 weekends and bank holidays.

Suppose I must just be lucky- I can call at 8.30am and very rare not to get an appointment for the same day- usually within a few hours. They also prioritise children so will always fit in an emergency.

I do know people who use other practises in the same town though who have to wait weeks for an appointment.

We have one lady doctor who is there twice a week and two others. They are all good waiting a month is insane- I would be finding myself another GP.

I don't like our new GP as the receptionists seem to think they are doctors. Anyone else get this?

That the frustrating thing, you can always get a same day appointment, but not an advanced one.

Because of when the DDs bus leaves, DH needs to leave for work, not knowing what's going on until 8.30 am is a logistical nightmare.

It would be so wonderful to have an online booking system for things that don't have you at home off sick.

I've got at least 10 free appointments tomorrow if you need one. Though you'd have to come to Australia. I moved here 6 months ago and access to primary care is generally much better here, as is GP access to investigations.

As a GP I was completely fed up of the NHS and how it treats it's doctors, other staff and patients. There are hundreds of us who've moved from the UK to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other places to escape it. Thousands more are retiring early and there is a GP recruitment crisis. UK GPs are drowning in demand from all quarters with various people wanting GPs open for longer hours, more continuity, more time spent with older people, more hospital work being done in the community, more home visits, more appraisals and revalidation etc etc, all for static or reducing funding.

The GPs you can't get an appointment with aren't improving their swing on the golf course enjoying their fictional £200k salaries, they're often so snowed under with work that they can't physically see any more patients without burning out. Many routinely work from 7.30am to 8pm 4-5 days a week (and even "only" working 4 days a week that's 50 hours a week).

I love the UK and I want to move back, but I can't face working in that system at present.

Sorry for the rant!

You can ring ours at 8 and be seen at 8.40 same day. Dh did this last week.

We have an amazing surgery. You can always be seen that day when you ring. If you want a specific GP ie if it is a follow up appointment it is usually same day or day after.

It does have about 10 doctors but it is also a very urban area. I think it is just very well run.

But the problem is ChrisPeaNuts working 50 hour weeks is completely normal in the UK in the professions. I do about 45, DH does about 60-70 - we are 50's we always have, we expect to. We certainly don't complain about it and we never ever expect our staff to address us as though we are more important than our customers. If the receptionist refers to Doctor Bloggs then I am Mrs Windy please. I just don't understand why those who work in the system do their utmost to subordinate the patient. I bet that doesn't happen in Australia either. If my staff shouted at my customers I would have them on a disciplinary.

We are lucky with our surgery. We have a walk in clinic every morning, yes you have to wait and dont always get to see GP of you choice but you do get to see a GP the same day. Sometimes(if you time it wrong) we might have to wait over 2 hours at walk in and some people really have a moan about the wait but I am always grateful to see someone the same day when I need to.
Booking appointments can be a bit hit or miss if you want to see a named GP but usually you can see within a week if its a morning appointment -evenings get booked up really quickly, so sometimes take a bit longer. We can either telephone for appointments or book some online but the online ones do go pretty quick. We can also order repaet prescriptions online.

There has been around 3 times when I have been worried about a test or I have needed advice/extra medication and the GP has rung me back at the end of the surgery and helped/advised/prescribed over the telephone.

What really annoys me is the people who book appointments and then do not turn up. Our surgery have started posting how many patients have not attended for appointments each month and I am quite shocked . So part of the problem as far as I am concerned with not being able to book some (not all but some) is the ''no shows''. Such a waste of time for the GPs when they could be using this time for people who need them.

No matter what time you call our surgery you will get a phone call the same day from a gp and they will assess whether you need an app which are always within the week.

I'm a GP and we have just moved to telephone triage, which is great for patients, but we are slowly drowning under the demand.

Are you aware that the practice gets £60-80 per year to look after a patient, no matter how many times they consult or need visiting? That has to cover pay for the doctors, nurses, receptionists, secretaries/admin staff, cleaner as well as pay for all the extra costs like sorting out the boiler, plumbing when it goes wrong, burglar alarm, insurance, heat and light the building, consumables like paper/pens/couch roll etc as well as a million and one other things. Generally everything except the actual rent on the building and some of the computer costs. Try insuring your pet for that amount and you won't get far.

It is the politicians who systematically underfund the NHS that you should be directing your anger towards, and those of the public who think it is appropriate to take up an appointment just to get free paracetamol or hayfever medicines rather than buying them over the counter.

Are you sure, Slowcomputer? Because I went to a talk recently which detailed the per capitation formula (GPs receive) and it worked out as about £900/patient, iirc. Not £70. I sat there thinking how much we were owed in trying to get help for DS2 when the other DC haven't used much of their quota.

The talk was by by someone who runs a health consultancy in London, Jackie Mellor, maybe? I am off googling...

The bbc suggests £150 per patient:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24389625

Well I'll admit I was wrong, this pdf (if link works) agrees with Slowcomp, works out as £4.50 per patient per month. I think it must have been the CCG funding that I clocked as £900/yr, but obviously most of that doesn't go to GPs.

Where I am it is £78 per patient per year basic funding. £150 would be luxury!

I wouldn't suggest that it's always the fault of doctors that we can't always access the care we need, but regardless of where the fault lies, don't expect people to be happy when they can't book an appointment when one is needed. Similarly, while I understand many of the constraints placed on GPs (several Dr friends regularly wax lyrical on this), it is also true that in our overstretched surgery there is a very cursory approach to patients (e.g. if you can walk into the surgery your knee is fine, never mind the daily agony for weeks on end). Like I say, I understand a lot of why it is like it is, but it's not acceptable. It's always like that and several others I know have the same experience.