to think that I might be able to BOOK an appointment for my DC's vaccinations

[drspouse]

...rather than be allocated one, and then if I can't make it, be allocated another one in the same location on the same day of the week?

Got a slip through with DS' preschool booster appointment. Our GP surgery is over two sites, one is in town with no parking nearby and horrendous traffic (our town centre is in the top 10 slowest traffic in the UK), and one is near my work, with DS in the workplace nursery, about 4 miles (did I mention the horrendous traffic?) from town.

The appointment is on one of my working days, at midday, in town. I know that DH can't do that day (for him to take a DC to a midday appointment means a whole day's annual leave, anyway).

I called to find out how to change it. They could change it to 12.20 that day, but otherwise I need to cancel it and I will be rebooked.

Great, how do I rebook for the surgery near work?

Oh, they don't do them at that surgery. Now, they do HV appointments at that surgery, and practice nurses (who now do the vaccinations) do work at that surgery, but apparently they don't do vaccinations there.

OK, how do I rebook for one of my days off then, or for the beginning or end of the day (it would be a pain to take DD too but it's pretty important, of course)?

Oh, you can't request a time, and the clinic is only that day. You can decline that invitation and they'll rebook you on that day of the week, at a time they choose.

Can I ring them to choose a time, if it has to be that day? Oh no, they don't take bookings.

Calling the "booking" line confirmed this - no possibility of actually choosing a time or a day. But I can ring the GP surgery and they'll try to make a separate appointment with the practice nurses (hmm, why didn't the first person tell me this?)

Rang back the GP surgery. Oh yes, we can do that, but I'll have to ring you back. So they are ringing me back with another appointment of their choosing which will no doubt clash with a work meeting, another appointment for DS or DD, etc. etc.

Does anyone else feel this is like being "summoned"? Am I not supposed to have a job, or any other commitments?

DS has had numerous hospital appointments (he has a not very serious long term medical condition but it's taken a bit to get to the bottom of it) and the hospitals bend over backwards to make appointments that we can make, even liaising with another department to have two on the same day at the same hospital.

The GP surgery are trying to be helpful, too, it seems this is "the system" and "computer says no".

Phew, that was long! Felt good though!

Just keep refusing them until one suits you!

Supremely irritating.

YANBU

Well, it took me so long to write that, that about 2 minutes ago they did ring back with an appointment that's slightly more convenient. It is on a working day, but near the beginning of the day, so I can either take both DCs or I think someone will look after DD for an hour (possibly DH or possibly a friend).

I've already b*ggered up work that day due to my own medical appointment later but I felt that was not their fault so accepted this one.

It's just the "we'll tell you when's convenient for us" attitude.

I agree these appt are a pain to arrange at a suitable time. I lucked out with my dd booster appt because it was on a perfect day and time for me to arrange taking her. Or so I thought. I was on my way to collect her from nursery (10 mins early but that was neither here nor there) to take her to her appt when my waters broke at 35weeks with dc2. I had been so focused on not forgetting dd's booster appt because I was worried a rescheduled appt wouldn't work as well as the one I already had that I took dd for her booster vaccination with my waters dripping everywhere and only called dh and hospital afterwards. Absolutely mad!

Hope you get to arrange an appt at a time that suits you though.

No. Don't be ridiculous. That would actually be a logical sensiblevapproach to booking appointments..

Yes. I think it's the most cocked up booking system in history. Job creation really.
After all 90% could all be done online with no cancellations as people could choose. Much better idea to give random dates and then moan when the appointment is missed.

I think you'd get more sense if you popped in to rearrange in person.

IME you're less likely to get fobbed off by a jobsworth if they've got to look you in the eye.

Their system sounds ludicrous and a waste of time for everyone involved.

Ah just seen your update, glad it's sorted, what a shame the process couldn't have been made easier.

nequidnimis you can't pop into the Health Authority and the GP surgery doesn't make the main appointments, it's the "computer".

It's all right for the first round of vaccinations because almost everyone is on maternity leave then. I believe the takeup for MMR is lower and I bet it's not just because of that evil man Andrew Wakefield. By 13 months almost everyone who is going back to work has gone back.

I'm a practice nurse and do the child immunisation clinics.

We do them on the same day each week, between 9 and 11. The parents get sent an appointment by Child Health Services (not us) with a time to attend. If a parent can't make the clinic we do our best to find a time in our normal clinics that is convenient but it can be tricky as we have 2 registered nurses doing baby and child imms. This is not exclusive to all practices of course but we do it with 2 nurses because the schedule is complex and it is safer to have 2 nurses checking the imms. Also with 2 nurses we can give the preschool jabs together, 1 in each arm so it's over more quickly!

So finding a time in our normal clinics when there are 2 nurses available can be difficult. We're not being difficult on purpose, just trying to offer the safest and most efficient way of delivering the immunisation service.

Mine run sessions every week for about 90 mins and you are told to drop in during the session. It cannot be done any other day as the vaccines wouldn't be on site any other day. I have never heard anyone complain about it tbh, even though it involves a long wait. It is a one off thing, so people generally work round it.

Maybe it is because you have been so lucky with hospital appts that oyu have these expectations. We have lots of appts too and have to take what we are given.

That's the same setup as at ours, Sidge. But if we were able to choose appointments ourselves in the first instance, or be sent one and then change it online (as happens with most hospital appointments - which are usually limited in location/day e.g. you can have Weds at place A or Mon or Fri at place B), then at least we could choose.

It isn't the GP surgery that is being particularly difficult (apart from the first person who didn't offer me the option of looking for one herself), it's the whole "we decide when you have your appointment and we have no way to look for one that suits you" attitude by the HA.

I've just had the exact same thing. I feel your pain OP.

I'm a practice nurse too Sidge. You have two nurses for child imms, wow. We do it single handedly in a ten minute slot, including admin. I keep arguing for longer, especially with Men B imminent. I'm off late after nearly every baby clinic I do! We'll see.....

I can imagine they must get a lot of non attenders. We run a childhood vaccination clinic once a week (at the same time the HVs run baby clinic). Parents make the first appointment but we make subsequent ones with the parent after we've done the vacs.
We are also happy to see children on different days if they've got working parents.
We rarely have patients who don't turn up because they've chosen the timings.

CPTart that's tough - we used to have imms clinic done solo (before I joined) but there were a couple of vaccine errors and the partners agreed that 2 nurses were safer.

I've done solo imms before (and do them occasionally now when parents can't make imms clinic and we can't rebook when 2 nurses are available) and it's very difficult to manage in 10 mins. The schedule is much more complex than when I started PNing and we have a lot of children presenting from elsewhere with incomplete or foreign imms schedules. We also have a much bigger list size than when I started, as well as being in an area with a high birth rate!

I do sympathise drspouse, it can be awkward to get appointments that suit. I think booking online could be difficult as you'd need to ensure patients booked in to the right clinic with the right nurse, for example. Our surgery online booking system doesn't let patients book in to certain clinics, it's not that sophisticated!

I had this discussion with my practice. In the end I do get an appointment for 4.30pm on a Friday.
I do vaccinations all day everyday with a full clinical examination prior to vaccination, including the admin which also includes billing and some the admin is with legally binding paperwork. My patients are more difficult than children as the scratch and bite. Every appointment is 10mins. I get it done as my patients vote with their feet if we don't accommodate them.

Lonecat I can almost guarantee that DS won't bite or scratch. DD... not quite so sure. Her fingernails definitely need cutting. Thankfully it isn't her turn for jabs just yet. And I'm planning to promise DS cake a healthy snack after the jabs too.

At least they're offering an actual time! Our surgery has a clinic 9.30 - 11.30 every Friday. You cannot make an appointment but I was advised to bring nappies, milk and toys as the clinic is packed every week. Instead I played dumb and turned up at 8.45 and said I'd wait for the first slot at 9.30. Thankfully they saw us at 9am. As we were leaving, the waiting room was packed with mothers and babies, ridiculous situation. I just don't understand what the problem is with allowing parents to book a time of their choosing like a normal appointment.

I've just had DS's pre-school imms appt through too. It's on the one day that I can't do as I work (one day a week). I rang to request a new one and got one that was more convenient for me. Still on the day I work but first thing so I can be in and out quickly. I could have booked one for any day I liked but the clinic day is a Thursday and that's the only day that they can have two nurses available. I'd rather that because it means both jabs can be done at the same time!

What they do round our way is just send a reminder card to book an appointment with the practice nurse. Obviously there must have been issues in the past with people not turning up to non-consensual appointments.

I had similar once. I had a card through the door with an allocated appointment. When I called, I was told I wasn't even allowed to discuss the appointment outside of the week printed on the card . Eventually after much discussion, I spoke with the practice nurse who sorted something out for me. She also said she'd remind the receptionist that one could of course discuss appointments at any time....

I have also had success with PALS. I was not 'allowed' an appointment for a flu shot on a Wednesday, say, for dd as that that clinic was for over 65s. An alternative day would have meant taking an entire day off work which I wasn't prepared to do: that's the point of working pt and especially when there was a clinic I was barred from attending because dd was under 65! PALS intervened and within 15 minutes of speaking to them the surgery called and offered me a Wednesday appointment at the forbidden clinic.

Our surgery runs a children's vaccination clinc 9.30 -11.30 on a Friday and refuses to consider doing vaccinations outside of those times. I work on Fridays. I made the effort to rearrange work and gives my DC the main vaccinations, but flu jabs just didn't happen for this reason.

YANBU op its crazy. GPs are set up for people without jobs. It's slightly easier if you work locally.