How long to wait for GP appointment. Angry, probably ABU

[Gertrudetrudy]

Hi,

Could I ask how long you wait to see your GP?

I am only in the UK 2 years so am fairly new to the NHS stuff. I have never had need to visit a GP or deal with the NHS until now (thankfully!)

I rang the GP today to try get an appointment and first the receptionist wouldn't let me pre-book, after some negotiation she managed to find me a pre-bookable appointment for 13th July! That's two weeks away!

I am astounded as this and quite angry tbh. It seems to me that people who work are at a massive disadvantage when trying to get an appointment (i.e. can't ring the morning of and hang around all day so have to use pre-bookable) even though it's our taxes that are funding this.

Is this a normal wait time? I'm from Ireland and it's about €65 to see a GP over there but there is never a problem with wait times or appointments.

AIBU to be this dissatisfied with the healthcare system?

My new surgery has the best system ever - clinics ever morning from 9-11 where you can walk in and be seen, plus nurse clinics every evening from 4-6. Booked appointments in the afternoon and I think Saturday morning. It's brilliant and actually I think it takes the pressure off - patients know they can be seen anytime so don't panic about booking and don't waste appointments by not turning up.

Having said that, it is a wealthy area with an older demographic. I do usually have to wait up to an hour to be seen but I used to have to wait that long for booked appointments at my last surgery!

We have excellent care; I'm so impressed!

My surgery has 3 types of appointments. Same day ones - you ring at 9am, you'll be seen that day. Emergency appointments - the same day if you need or the next day if you want. Routine appontments - 2-3 weeks. You can also ask for a phone consultation which is usually the same day.

No problem butterfly, that was in response to somebody earlier.
I can't afford it unfortunately but I would if I could

The trouble is, you can discuss it until the end of time, but if there are 20 appointments and 30 people who want an appointment, (some urgent, some routine, some inbetween) then how would you arrange it? Simple maths. Demand outstrips supply. What's the answer?

And dont get excited about the promised 7 day opening. It wont happen because the government cant (wont) afford it and there just aren't enough GPs.

I wonder if this feels different if you rarely use NHS facilities.

I've worked full time since I was 21, and have always paid tax and NI. In that time I have:

Had depression that was treated for two years.

Had two children, one of whom had to be kept in hospital, with me, for the first 4 days of his life.

He was seeing the doctor once every couple of weeks for a few months due to complications with ear infections.

Recently he's been referred to have an ASD assessment. Yes, the wait time for this is annoyingly long, but he's already had a number of people see him for an hour at a time, they've seen me for several hours each, and next is a full panel of people.

With DD, she was at the doctors regularly from 6 months to 10 months. At 10 months she got sepsis and was in emergency care, blue-lighted to hospital, the saved her life. Twice. We stayed in the children's hospital.

She was back at the doctors weekly until she was 14 months when she was rushed in for an emergency operation. Again, we stayed at the children's hospital for a while after. Nurses, doctors, consultants, anaesthetists, surgeons all keeping her alive.

On top of that, I've had free contraception, I've been long term ill (still working) for about 6 years, and two years ago that situation got dangerous. I've been able to see the same GP throughout for the past 6 years. When it became necessary, I was treated in an emergency, and moved to the care of a consultant. I still see him every couple of months. Aside from that I've had 6 months worth of intense therapy.

I've got an NHS prepayment certificate, which means I pay £10.10 per month, and I get the three or four prescriptions a month for that. That is the ONLY time I've been asked to put my hand in my pocket there and then. All that I've had, the several times they saved my daughter's life and the time they saved mine - that was taken from me slowly via NI.

I've been paying it for 20 years, and I personally think I've had my money's worth. So I guess that makes the NHS better for me than it is for you. I needed it; it was there, and I'm not dead.

I'm lucky, I live in a large city but our doctor had an online appointment system, if you look late at night or early in the morning usually you can book an appointment with a doctor of your choice that day.

If however you're phoning in then expect to be told "Next week."

For those saying they can't believe GPs close at lunch just be aware we are not sat there twiddling our thumbs doing nothing!!

We are doing home visits, signing prescription, checking blood results, acting on blood results, taking emergency calls, speaking to hospitals, taking calls from mental health teams, liasing with ambulance crews, having clinical meetings, meeting with social workers & health visitors, palitative care meetings, child protection meeting, sometimes we even manage to eat lunch!

I think people have a very narrow minded view of what a GP does and often don't understand the workload as it currently stands is unsustainable. Everything is being moved out of hospital to primary care but without increasing any GP funding. GP services are overstretched, 10 mins appointments are virtually impossible for those chronic multiple morbidity patients we so often see.

Weekend appointments aren't the answer as you are just stretching a service that isn't functioning well over a 7 day period, so you will never see the same GP, which will be a terrible for patient care, particularly those with chronic multiple problems.

The only people who benefit from 7 day appointments are the relatively well working population who tbh very rarely need to see a doctor. I worked a sat morning last month & 5 patients didn't turn up! (Probably because it was a lovely sunny sat morning!)

ruperta, what would you suggest? More government incentives to encourage medical students to become GP's?

I agree, its a chronic problem, I don't think weekend hours would solve the problem, although I think that would be nice. Its staffing and young med students don't see it as a viable career. I can't see the conservatives throwing money at the problem any time soon though, I think the system needs a massive overhaul but not to be privatised. It's such a privilege to be in a country where you don't have to choose between buying food and seeing the doctor.

I'm not her with a long term and sometimes expensive condition that costs my surgery money. I cannot emphasise just how much I love my surgery. I seriously would think twice before moving from their catchment.

Ok, you do have to understand and comply with their booking arrangements and yes, it's an 8am call if you want a same day appointment. Fine, you get one. Usually with the GP of your choice. Otherwise there are prebook able ones and phone consults often within an hour of asking. Even, in my case, on New Years Eve at 2pm and the day after the Easter break. The gps are lovely and 'my' GP has been a true friend.

I've spent a lot of time in that waiting room ( yes, they do run late) and the abuse the staff suffer both in person and the phone is a fucking disgrace. More than once I've seen the receptionists cry.

Yes, I'm lucky but learning the system really does make a difference and valuing our privileged care is something some of us have learned the hard way.

In an ideal world - more GPs, more nurses, at least 15 min appointments standard, increase funding to primary care that correlates to the increased workload, less GP bashing by MPs, more patient education.

Most of those things cost money so unfortunately inlikely to happen.

Should read another with a long term health condition.

I believe that when trials were done with Saturday and Sunday appointments they were unsuccessful because many people didn't want to spoil their weekends with routine GP appointments .

We have a small part time GP office in our village. You call in the morning and they give you an appointment for that day or the next. If you can't wait till the next day they give you one for the GP one village over as that office is open when ours is closed.

Just looked at online booking. 9 appts available for tomorrow. There are appts every day up to the 13th July. You can also phone in the morning and get appointments.

I love my surgery.

We have a 3 week wait. or you can go the walk In center and get seen the same day

In my gp's waiting room they display the number of missed appointments in the previous month. Usually well over two hundred. It's a big centre which offers a range of services, so it's spread over various clinics and practitioners, but that's still a lot of people's time wasted.

It's at least a week around here.

I waited a week for an appointment to be diagnosed with shingles, then was told off for not coming earlier because then I could have taken anti-virals. I tried!!

Also waited a week for a GP appointment simply to be referred to a hospital to gave my broken nose shoved back into place. The process was so slow that my nose was only sorted out on the last possible day (noses mend quickly, so you can only do the bone manipulation within 2 weeks of the accident).

Be aware that we only get funded about £80 per patient per year so very different to your £65 per appointment. In the end, every practice does it differently. 2 weeks for something routine isn't bad - if you'd said it was urgent I'm sure they'd have found you an on the day appointment. There is a recruitment crisis in GP - expect things to get worse

Yours

A depressed GP

electionfatigue ?80/patient/year??? Thats abysmal.
What sort of proportion of patients have no need for a GP apointment in a typical year? Pre kids, I probably went to the GP 2 in 10 years, but now we must be there a couple of times a year (vaccs, check ups, eczema reviews, and AD reviews for PND) there is no way you can fund that on ?80!
Hats off to you, and thank-you for letting us know quite what your (not) working with.

We are doing home visits, signing prescription, checking blood results, acting on blood results, taking emergency calls, speaking to hospitals, taking calls from mental health teams, liasing with ambulance crews, having clinical meetings, meeting with social workers & health visitors, palitative care meetings, child protection meeting, sometimes we even manage to eat lunch!

I have to laugh, this is such a classic public sector worker argument! Doesn't go any way to explaining why the whole surgery (inc phone lines) have to go into shut down at lunchtime.

Do you really not see that if you both GPs and admin staff staggered their lunch hours, then there would always be someone 'on duty' to see patients, answer phones, hand pre-written scripts to patients wishing to collect them in their lunch hours etc...

Y'know, like what happens in the real world where we aren't all cosseted in the bubble of zero competition?

Say there are 3 GPs for example, what is stopping one taking lunch from 11-12.30, another from 12.30-1.30 and the third taking 1.30-2.30? That way there would always be 2 GPs seeing patients and the people who actually pay for the whole system (those who work) might actually be able to access it.

...but no, all 3 have to go at the same time, it's just ridiculous!

It is precisely this inflexibility of thought and resistance to change that is destroying the NHS.

I sympathise - I'm currently struggling to arrange for a smear. My reminder got lost due to moving house so often so i'm now at least 18 months over due. I currently work 150 miles away from where I live and am self employed so I can't just hang around on the off chance on any day after Monday as I stay over in a hotel.

I can work from home, dependent on what is happening on client site, but its not easy to arrange in advance and this is normally a Friday. e.g. On monday, I worked out I would be able to WFH Friday with no issue. however, the surgery don't do Smears on Fridays as the sample won't be collected until Monday (rural practice).

I can't book up in advance unless I take the day off (and lose income). In the unlikely event I could arrange a mid week appointment in advance that did not clash with client requirements, I could maybe do that however it involves a 300 mile round trip and lost income.

There is no facility for arranging to get one done near I work on the NHS. I'm happy to pay to have it done privately (cheaper than taking the day off) but can't find a clinic willing to do it.

Basically i'm *. The surgery admits they work on the assumption most women work locally or don't work.

Usually within a couple of days. Same day for my children.

if you both GPs and admin staff staggered their lunch hours

Lunch hour?? Sorry, not familiar with that concept. Really, we don't get lunch hours.

Are you just trying to be obtuse?

The point isn't what the surgery staff are doing for that hour when the surgery goes into complete shutdown, be it lunch, admin, home visits whatever. The question is, why do you all have to do it at the same time?

Doctors are some of the most highly educated (and paid) individuals in the country, why is it beyond their competence to manage their practices so that there is effective lunchtime cover?

Actually we don't close - all surgeries are different. We cover a large rural area. If there are a number of home visits to make then all doctors may be out at the same time driving quite big distances to get there and back in time to get everything else done between morning and afternoon surgeries.