Walk in Medical Center priority waiting system

[Roseforarose]

Just wondered what your thoughts are on the waiting system at these drop in medical centres are. I went to one recently and was told at the reception the waiting time would be approx 2 hours but that they do prioritise on any that come in after if they are deemed worthy of being seen quicker.
I waited 3 hours and many came in after me that got seen fairly quickly. It did seem to cause a bit of resentment amongst the many who had been waiting for ages. It must be very hard to decide who should be seen quicker just going off a very brief description of your ailment to the receptionist.
AIBU to think the system might be a bit fairer?

... wish more people realised just how very lucky we are to have a national health service at all .

But it is not a case of being "lucky". Our forebears decided to set up the NHS and those of us who pay tax/NI pay for it so that is available to all who need it at the point of delivery. I agree that we are fortunate to have the NHS compared with countries where your access to healthcare depends on your ability to pay. But saying that we are "lucky" to have it implies that we should be happy with what we get and not question it, and I can't agree with you there.

PS: am not criticising triage system in walk-in centre in my post above - just questioning PP's statement that we should consider ourselves "lucky"!

Ours is a combined minor injuries and out-of-hours GP service, so a mixture of people with appointments made by 111, (or 101, whichever it is!), and those without. There's also a priority system in place. I don't think you could guess at who should be seen when.

Those whose conditions are not urgent and could wait till normal GP opening hours should be lowest priority.

Actually no

A few weeks ago I ended up sitting waiting in A and E for.......................... a bit of a sore throat.

To cut a long story short, I was not near home, I had the start of a sore throat, I went to the walk in centre who had a waiting time of 3+ hours so sent me to another walk in centre at the local hospital.

The walk in was closed so I was sent to A and E where, alongside emergency staff they employ a GP.

The GP took a medical history, looked at my throat and gave me a prescription for antibiotics 'just in case' it developed in to tonsillitis.

Now I know how ridiculous that all sounds, but when I appologised to the Dr, she was emphatic that I was not time wasting because my many and varied underlying conditions meant that I did need to be seen by a Dr that day.

The actual performance target for walk ins is the same as A&E, 4 hours so being seen in that time is excellent.

zoobaby

Took my 10 day old to a walk in because my GP survey refused on account that she wasn't registered and couldn't be registered without first producing a birth certificate (wtf?!?).

Please send an email to the practice manager and NHS England (or whereabouts you are) about this as the practice are in breach of their contract and should be challenged.

They should have seen your daughter, using a temporary registration if needed, and certainly not be sending you to the walk in as a get out clause. There is money in the global sum they receive to cover these sort of 'random' patients.

Sashh, if you have many underlying conditions that mean it is essential you are seen promptly when you are at risk of infection, that is a very different thing than most of us going in to a walk in centre with 'a bit of a sore throat'. Most people with that symptom would be time wasters, even in a normal GP's surgery.

If you frequently get tonsilitus and need AB you may find you can get a prescription to fill when needed.

Thanks Becles. The GP at the walk-in said they should have agreed to see her, even if under my name, so that gave me a bit of gumption to be more forceful with the receptionist in our next phone call. It was actually an eye infection and drops didn't clear it straight away so it needed to be swabbed and sent for analysis. I argued that it should be done at my surgery so results could come back to the appropriate place. Receptionist finally agreed that she could be seen (and registered) the same day. Have since spoken to a neighbour who had the same experience but she's more bossy than me her baby was allowed in.

Was considering writing a letter... focusing on positive of the 2nd attempt but also highlighting inconvenience of the 1st attempt.