GP just told me why we are only allowed same day appointments!

[QuacksLikeADuck]

OK, a caveat - if you see a Dr they can book appointments for you in the future. But if you phone reception, they will only ever offer you an appointment that day. It means the phone lines are jammed for the first hour, then all appointments have been taken by 9 am!

I was moaning to the doc about this and she said, "well I think the official line is that when you phone up, if they offer appointments beyond today, then people often forget to turn up"!

So as patients we are apparently too stupid to be able to manage the concept of an appointment beyond today. Why do some idiots who don't turn up have to ruin it for everyone else.

I think the best idea would be to offer appointments in the future, but have a one strike and you're out policy - so as soon as someone performs a no-show, a note is put on their file that they are only allowed same day appointments from then on! If I was feeling kind perhaps I might let them have a clean slate after 12 months .

I normally book on the day but if I book in advance I get appointment reminders by text which I hope cuts down on the number of no shows. My hairdresser and dentist prompt you for active confirmation by text 24 hours before your appointment but I guess a GP surgery couldn't enforce that on vulnerable users - they could send additional reminders 1 hour beforehand though, and make it really easy to cancel by return of text.

At our GPs you can ring up anytime to book appointments for any time.

Because of MrsLHs condition, we spend a lot of time in various medical facilities. We both want to weep at the obscene number of "did not attends" posted, usually weekly. Never less than 10% anywhere, and around 15-20% on average.

So that means AT LEAST 10% of the NHS budget is wasted. It really is that simple.

I would happily require everyone to lodge a deposit with their GP when they register - say £25. Miss an appointment - lose the deposit. Which I know is a very unpopular move, although I suspect mainly with the people who would end up paying it many times over.

Unfortunately, (stupid) people equate "free" with "costs nothing". Which is one (not the only one) reason why the NHS is in the state it's in.

Ours is great, you ring first thing if you need to be seen that day or call in the afternoon or log on and book online for appointments in the future. No triage so you always get to see a doctor. They do some minor procedures too which is a plus.

To be fair LH, those missed appointments really don't simply equate to wasted budget. As you've noticed, they are pretty consistent so most well run practices balance them out against the inevitable overrunning appointments. Obviously it would be better if everyone did turn up on time and never missed an appointment - especially for smaller practices, but I'd be surprised if many GPs often found themselves sitting twiddling their thumbs for ten minutes because of no-shows.

My GPs run telephone appointments within 1 hour slots for things like discussion of blood results, and those are very convenient - I don't have to miss work and hang around in a waiting room, and the GP can use any spare five minutes she might have within that hour....eg a no show slot.

You are lucky you can get one at all. We are not an ill family but in past 3 years we have tried tried 4 times to see a doctor with 0 success. twice we had to go to an open clinic an hour drive away, once I had a paddy! and they saw my very ill son at 6 at night having called at 8am, once we finally got one.

They release appointments 2 weeks in advance on friday. When they go that its. If you call you go on a list to speak to a doctor- you don't then get an appointment unless they deem it to be urgent. I have a long standing, life limiting but not life threatening condition- I need to see a hospital consultant every 2 years-I need a referral- this never qualifies for a GP urgent appointment (obviously) . I have been waiting since 1st week in December to get an appointment with no joy so far.

yanbu. sometimes we're ill and need to be seen the same day. Other times it can wait. Today I went to an appointment that I made 4 weeks ago for something that could be peri-menopause related and needed to be checked, I certainly wouldn't want to be calling in the morning to be seen for a long term problem.

our doctors are great in my opinion. You can usually get an appointment for a day or two in advance, they will fit in urgent cases that day with an appointment if you phone and if you want to be seen that day for anything at all you turn up between 8 and 9.30 and wait. I usually arrive at about 9.29 and am seen between 10.30 and 11 - a bit of a pain but they do see everyone who arrives in the end.

At our practise we have patients who will make an app. in the morning for later in the day , and then they don't turn up!
What an absolute waste of time. They get 3 chances and then there out.

I would kill for same day appointments!! My place has a bloody 4 week wait for Doctors, and the number of times I've requested an appointment with a doctor and explained to the receptionist why it has to be a doctor (generally because whatever I need seen to can't be done by a nurse) and then found myself in a room with a nurse is truly distressing! Then of course it's me that gets the "I can't deal with this, you know I can't deal with this, why didn't you book an appointment with a doctor, of course the receptionist wouldn't have booked you in with a nurse for this problem"

None of this is helped by the fact that the receptionists seemingly can't get appointment times right either, on several occasions I have presented a hand written slip (filled out by a receptionist) to a receptionists with the date and time that I am stood in front of them for them to tell me that no, my appointment is later in the week / earlier that day and I 'must' have requested for it to be moved >.>

I have completely given up with the surgery, the only person I see there now is the midwife who I can book appointments with directly, other than that I brave the walk in centre unless I think I'm at risk of dying in which case I make full use of 111...

Our GP surgery now has a notice board saying how many appointments have been missed that week. It varies but 30-40 is the average range.

It saddens me because it is a big surgery 4/5 (?) GPs plus nurse and it's still a bugger to get an appointment.

That makes sense Hoppinggreen. I just went to my surgery in person today to make a non urgent appointment to see a particular GP and there were only two timeslots available per day from next Monday to eternity. So 20 mins of pre-booked appointments a day and the rest only available on the day. Must certainly be cracking through some targets there!

If you have a same day only system, then how does that work with someone like me, who needs to have a blood test then see the GP five days later?

DH needs regular blood tests. This would be impossible if we needed to rely on his surgery to do them for the simple reason that he could never guarantee getting an appointment on the day they are required. Instead, we drive 12 miles to the Outpatients Department at our nearest major hospital where they have a walk-in blood testing clinic. Job done. But I'm sure the system ought to work better than this!

The thing is, they know exactly who the culprits are though, so I hate that guilty feeling, even if I know it's not me!

That said, I phoned up once when ds was very small and unwell, and the receptionist told me I could always pop down to the drop-in surgery that afternoon if he didn't improve, but to see how he was nearer the time. He did improve, so I didn't go. The next time I went, the GP commented on the "missed appointment." I explained the circumstances and he apologised, and amended the screen. Hope I wasn't on those statistics.

My surgery has a sign that tells you how many hours of missed appointments occurred each month. Last month it was 36hrs worth. So 216 x 10 min appts

Re: needing a follow-up appointment, our GP gives you a specific slip to hand to Reception if he wants to see you again for a certain reason within a given time-frame.

YANBU.

A system that won't let patients book any appointments in advance is stupid, not everyone who needs to see a doctor needs to see one right now. Making all the appointments same day ones just clogs up the system so that people with chronic long term problems or problems that can wait a few days are being forced to compete with people who have an urgent problem that really does need to be seen on the same day they're calling.

The GP surgery I use has a mix of same day appointments for emergencies or people who need a doctor urgently, and appointments that can be booked a few days or a week or two in advance for people with less urgent problems. I think that system works pretty well.

I booked an appointment online today, unless it was for a blood test, which I would choose to go to the hospital for as they do them all day long, the earliest is 9/2
Often, if I am lucky enough to get offered a call from a nurse I then get sent to the out of hours surgery for an appointment.

I cant make calls and wait on hold indefintely until I have both kids at school, so 9am, by which point there are no appointments left for that day, unless I want to go at a time when I would have to take my kids along.

I have never not turned up for an appointment.

It is an intensely infuriating system.

My GP has a system where the majority of appointments are released on the day and I think it works well. Previously there were tines when I needed to see a doctor but was unsure whether it justified an emergency appointment.

I would recommend online booking though if your surgery has the system.