To feel annoyed about drs

[Hobnobhobbit]

Tried to book an appointment had to ring at 8 phone was busy so kept trying to ring but couldn't get through had to leave for work try ring at work all booked up can't pre book any appointments either and every time I have rung at 8 there all fully booked

Are you trying to book an urgent, same-day appointment? ie do you need to be seen today?

Mine is the same, really annoying. Sometimes they keep a couple of emergency appointments by, or you could ask for a phone appointment and the dr may then fit you in if they think you need seeing? I think this is why so many people misuse out of hours and A&E, because in some places it's almost impossible to get a bloody appointment!

Exactly the same at our GP's. They now recommend coming down to the surgery to get an appointment for the same day but that's not easy to wait in a queue if you have a poorly small child.
It seems to be either a 2/3 week wait for a routine appointment or an 'urgent' same day appointment and nothing much in between.

We go to the Dr's at 8am to get an appointment rather than ringing. Will of course not be practical for some people.

Yes it is a nightmare isn't it! I'm a GP and I can tell you that a huge proportion of appointments tend to be booked by the same people, often for trivial reasons that do not require medical intervention. Demand in our area for appointments has increased by something like 40% in 2 years. Sadly a lot of practices have now moved to same day appointments only, to try and manage demand. Some are moving to triage, which means you can't actually book an appointment until the GP rings you back to ascertain what the problem is. I don't know what the answer is. This is going to get worse though as many newly qualified doctors don't want to do General Practice and many practices are on the verge of collapse. In my area, a third of GP's are aged over 55 and there simply aren't enough new trainees coming through to replace them.

I'm having the same problem my DD(3) took a fall on Saturday night and we had to go to hospital she got stores as told stitches to be removed on Friday by her GP called to make appointment told them what it was for "it's not urgent no appointments for then call at quarter to 9 for emergency appointment for Friday" I said you don't always get
One on the day what happens if I don't the reply was "don't know you will have to figure it out yourself" they are a joke

Ours don't release some of the urgent's till later in the day and say they will always fit young children in. Our queueing at 8 am is for the 48 hour ones.

The only way to get appointments at our doctors is to ask what day they are releasing the next appts for X doctor in particular, and calling relentlessly from 8 that day.

Proudmummy - stitches would be removed by the practice nurse, I don't see why a GP appointment would be needed, unless the wound was infected or something? If it was a nurse appointment that you were refused, then that was very poor service on behalf of your practice.

I'm not sure how my GP surgery does it but they are bloody fantastic! Been with them for years, rarely go, but on occasions when I have needed to go I get through on the phone and get a same day appointment.
Happy to do telephone consultation too. Don't know how they do it but they do very efficiently.

Pineapple, it seems that people are completely incapable of dealing with minor illness these days. I worked 111 for a couple of years, the volume of calls from people demanding/expecting to see a Dr because of sore throats, ear ache, headache, d&v, spots/blemishes, coughs & colds was staggering. They just don't know what to do!!!

Ours are brilliant too. But we live in the South West and it is a village practice. I also wfh so can go pretty much any time.

Quite often I am offered an appointment with the nurse, who then has to go and get a doctor to confirm or diagnose.

Oh maaan, this is me today. 6 months pregnant, 1st time, IVF, older mother, shit scared of everything. Developed a stinking cold over the weekend and now it's a chest infection (I'm a veteran of chest infections) phone GP and told to ring back tomorrow at 8am to make an appointment to SPEAK to the Dr (possibly that day or the next day) or go to A&E. Primary care is f**ked. Closely followed by secondary and we are watching it happen.

Same as my doctors but you have to ring at 8.30
Once I pressed redial 43 times

It is annoying. But don't be annoyed with the surgery, be annoyed with under-funding of the NHS. We have fewer GPs than almost all comparable countries and they do more (in many countries they don't look after children or do any gynae work for example). Demand is growing relentlessly as the population ages and people's expectations change. There are not enough doctors to cope. It's crap for patients and it's crap for GPs -which is why so many are leaving the profession, so things are only going to get worse

Are there any surgeries near you who use online booking? Ours was the same (last time I rang 248 times at 8am, finally got through - no appointments). Then a few months ago they started an online booking system. It's brilliant! I've used it twice now, once early hours of the morning when I developed an agonising UTI, same day appointment booked then I could rest rather than having the anxiety about not missing the 8am phone time. If they have a suggestion box I'd put it in, the system is called patient services.

My record is redialling 97 times ! They have now changed the system whereby a doctor will call you back within 1-2 hrs & if they feel you need an appt the same day you get one.
Routine appt's (i.e. new pill prescription) are only available 2 weeks ahead

It's a really bad situation and unacceptable. I'd complain if our doctors were like this. We can book appointments online and if we need to be seen that day someone will see you. In the morning, if you're there by 10am, a nurse practitioner will assess you. She can prescribe and she can also get you seen by a doctor if necessary.

Recently I was poorly and you think it'll pass but by 4pm I felt really ill. I 'phoned the practice and was seen by a doctor at 4.50pm.

At ours, if they have no appropriate appointments, the receptionist arranges a phone consultation with a GP. They can either prescribe over the phone or, if the need to see you, they make an appointment. It works really well.

There are many things where you don't need a physical appointment with the doctor.

I am so lucky with my GP practise - so kudos to the ones that get it right... they have:

1. online appointments - work for non urgent things and also names doctors and sometimes you may even get same day cancellations - My DH had a cough and one morning coughed blood - we went online and he got a 7h15am appointment that must have been a cancellation

2. automated phone service, gives you the next available appointment, 24h service as well...

3. can talk to a receptionist if this isn't suitable or if you need an urgent appointment and can't find one online or on the automated phone

4. talking to receptionists they have urgent slots in the morning and afternoon

5. they always try to see a baby/child on the same day

The other week they even managed to fit my youngest in as i called coming home from nursery at 5h30pm and they said if i could be there in ten minutes she could be seen...

They are definitely going to get chocolates or biscuits for Christmas.

I love them!

Ours are not too bad for urgent things, we've always been able to get in the same day when needed (rash when pregnant/DH bad chest infection/anything for small DD) but routine things are a pain in the arse. I popped in 2 months before my implant needed replacing, to find out how far in advance to book. The receptionist told me to call one month ahead, so I did, to find that I could have it prescribed as a repeat by the same GP who fitted this one (great, she's my favourite Dr), but then I couldn't book a fitting with her at all. Had to call on a specific date when new appointments would be released at 10am. Got through at 10:01. No appointments. The other Dr who does them, for whom no appointments were available either, would have to see me twice, once to prescribe and another day to fit. The receptionists are very nice, and did eventually call me with an appointment, the first I couldn't do because of something unavoidable at work, so I've eventually got an appointment booked in for a fortnight after this one expires, 10 weeks after I first enquired and after I'd done everything they asked me to. Fortunately it's only a mild inconvenience to be without contraception for a couple of weeks, but if it was anything more important I'd be really pissed off.

Just to make it a little bit more inconvenient, the family planning clinic doesn't do routine contraception any more, so I can't make an evening appointment to have it done there, as I have in the past.

I feel so sorry for the practice nurses , who seem to take most jobs over from the doc and deal with injections, blood tests, clinics etc and are literally run off their feet, with a waiting list almost as long as the doctor. Bet they don't get anywhere near the same income despite now doing many jobs once done by the doc .

DHs doctors appointment system is appalling- ring up at 8.30, no hold lines so you have to redial hundreds of times, then on more than one occasion he's been told that the appointment available is 9am so not possible to get to but it's take or leave it.

My doctor's is great. Rang up at 8 the other week because DS was suddenly very wheezy. The receptionist said the doctor would call back to triage- they were on the phone less than 30 seconds later, and offered an appointment at 9am or "later if you can't get here that fast". Mind you there are about 20 doctors so you'd never see the same one if that is something people worry about, and it's a teaching practice which I know some people don't like.

If you really need to be seen today then call the practise and ask for a phone call from the Duty GP? if not could the Surgery Nurse help you?

Tell me about it. Our GP practice is the same. Awful isn't it? I phone at 8am (when the phone lines are supposed to be open) and either keep getting the answer phone,saying they are closed,please call back between 8am etc,FFS I AM!). Or it's permanently engaged. I get finally get through at 9am after trying a billion times only to be told 'Sorry' we don't have any available appointments for the next fortnight'. Same thing happens EVERY year when I try to book my 'flu jab. I go in the surgery on the 28th of September and ask for an appointment and am told 'We can't give out any appointments for 'flu jabs until the 1st October. Call back then'. So I do. And the same thing happens again. Can't get through. And when I DO get through,all the appointments for the next 6 weeks are taken,and the earliest one I can get us for the 14th November! Who are these people who always get through with no trouble and take all the appointments?! Grrr it drives me mad.