Doctors appts as rare as hen's teeth (as my granny would say!)

[punicorn]

AIBU? I just want a Drs appt for my DS. Rang surgery this afternoon for a fairly non-urgent appt and was given a date THREE WEEKS AWAY!! Took it but after I had put the phone down I thought to myself 'No Way'! Rang back and was given an 'out of hours' appt at another surgery 3 miles away at 7.30pm one evening next week. Checked with DH to make sure he could be home in time to be here for DD6 but he reminded me he was at a conference that day and couldn't guarantee being back. Quite apart from all that I would quite like an appt at my local surgery 10 mins down the road and surely out of hours appts are for the seriously ill/urgent cases. What happened to the days when you rang up, got an appointment for the next day or so, saw the Dr and got on with your life? Aggggh......

I spoke to a very good specialist and said we were surprised how good the NHS was where we have moved to. He basically said that doctors want to work in nice places, ie not the inner city ‘enriched’ areas and if they have the choice I can’t blame them.

Spent 20 minutes on redial at 8am today but offered appointment at 10.40. With the exception of one doctor, they're great. If you need to be seen the same day they offer three different blocks of sit and wait appointments in the afternoon.

I didn’t realise these problems until I started working and spoke to colleagues. I always get an appt at my surgery, if I ring they usually say just come on in when you’re ready. Waiting room is always empty when I go in, rang for an appt as had tonsillitis, they put me through to the doctor who said just come in, he took one look at me and gave me penicillin. If it’s non urgent they just put me through to my doctor and I speak over the phone, but if I just walked in I’d never have to wait more than 5 minutes to be seen.

My surgery has the same wait time to see a GP for a non urgent issue.

HOWEVER....I got a phone call from the surgery inviting me to come in for a Free Medical Check UP with an appointment available the same week...
HOw can they canvass all their patients and create appointments for a free check up, taking probably 10 minutes at least yet it takes 3 weeks to see a GP about something that is more than likely an actual issue...
I declined

Next pre book appointment at my surgery is in 3 weeks time. So I guess I will just have to spend my mornings on hold at 8am trying to get seen sooner. It makes me laugh when experts on health professionals say not to let things linger and ‘if you are concerned go and see your GP’. Easier said than done in reality. This is why people end up at A&E because a smaller problem that could have been resolved earlier develops into something more serious when people are not seen by a GP.

@Sinistrophobia I hope your dd improves soon. FWIW we had similar with ds when he was tiny and after numerous things we tried, we went to a herbal medicine women (She was also a proper nurse) privately and got this disgusting thing to drink. It cleared up and has never come back (he's at high school now). Good luck.

The health check will be with nurse not a gp. The appointments are not interchangeable.

At our surgery it's usually 3 weeks for a pre bookable appointment. You get quizzed on what it's for and then they try to tell you that you don't really need an appointment. You can call at 8am to try to get a same day appointment. If you don't get through straight away then you won't get an appointment. If you wait to hear the options like press 1 for this and 2 for that then you will be something like 263rd in the queue ! I have realised you have to dial at 8 am exactly and know which option is for appointments and you stand a chance, it's utterly ridiculous. The strange thing is, if you get an appointment there are only ever up to 3 people in the waiting room with 3 or 4 doctors on and a nurse. It used to be quite full so I don't understand what's going on. I only ever book for my kids now and that's rarely. They do provide call backs which I use if I need anything. The attitude of 2 of the doctors is disgusting and one seems to be completely incompetent. Some are very good though.

We have good private healthcare so just use the GP to write a referral letter very occasionally if we have any issues. They are very quick to refer privately but until they know you can go private they insist you don't need referring for anything. It's just awful.

I feel very strongly that the NHS should always be there but it needs many changes. At the moment lives are at risk and I would feel concerned if we didnt have private healthcare.

My GP used to do sit and wait in the evenings - it was great! They’ve stopped now and will apparently be having extra appointments instead...

You can phone on the day for an urgent appointment after waiting an hour and speaking to an assessor to see if you really need an appointment - and it’ll most likely be with an urgent care practitioner not a GP.

Routine appointments - 3 weeks away but you can book those online or on the automated phone system.

When my DS was very unwell a few weeks back I had to redial 57 times before I managed to get through to the surgery. And once you actually get through you are actually just getting a place in the hold queue and might still have to hold for 10 mins. It's bonkers.
We did get a same day urgent appointment but only after they tried to fob us off with seeing a nurse. And the doctor was running almost an hour late, which is understandable but they don't ever warn of this on arrival - I could have taken the kids for a walk outside instead of trying to entertain them in a cramped waiting area.

And don't even get me started on 111. Called at 9am on a Sunday for a child with all the symptoms of scarlet fever, finally called back at 7pm by the OOH doctor and offered appointment for 10.30pm in a town 20 miles away. Child was fast asleep in bed by then so just ended up at gp next day.

There’s a massive shortage of GPs in this country. Medical students don’t want to be GPs because of negative portrayal, existing GPs are leaving the UK or reducing their hours due to having to work 12-14 hour days (doing admin in evenings), and costs of defence fees are going up 10% per year.
Patients are living longer and have more complex conditions, which would have been managed by hospital consultants in the past. Is it any surprise a non urgent appt takes 3 weeks!! (Its 4 weeks with my GP btw)

Ours operate a call at 8:30am for appointments, I had to dial over 200 times last week to get onto the you are in a que line, luckily I did get a same day appointment as it was for a child. However with my contraception you are told to ring no sooner than a week before you run out, I followed advice and called to be told they couldn’t book me in for three weeks!! In the end I had to go to a Cash clinic to get my pill as they wouldn’t do a prescription for even a month so I could wait the time. Now I ring up a month before, the receptionist gets snotty that I’ve rang so early and I remind them of the last time I rang at the correct time and just get an appointment the day before I’m due to start taking them again.

I think £56K is too little for a GP to earn. But if they earn so little, why do so many of them work part time? There are seven doctors at our practice. All of them work part time. And none of them are bookable in the next two weeks - actually, there are no appointments in the next two weeks, but the third week and the fourth week, all of the regular doctors seem to be booked (if they are working) and there are only appointments available with locums. I think I am going to move to a surgery about 20 minutes away, but which offers an appointment with a GP within a week. Why can one large surgery in Central London offer this, but another not?

At my surgery they are wise to the' book an appointment just in case then cancel if you dont need it' scenario . 3 times doing that and you're struck off their list.

At my GP you can book online, which is a big help in avoiding the 8am phone rush. But they don't have a locum, and have a policy that you have to see your own GP, so if your own doctor isn't available you can't have an appointment with any other doctor. You can have a triage call but that's it.

You can make appointments with a nurse, too.

However, there are so many missed appointments. Why don't people get off their bottoms and cancel them? Last time I needed to see the GP I was really lucky, I logged into the online system in the evening and there was an appointment the next day so someone must have cancelled it. Thank you to that person! Otherwise I would have waited a month.

Those of you talking about insurance - do GPs have to cover the cost themselves?

GP here - nice to read a few supportive posts - i think its important to get the message out there, as there is so much GP bashing (thanks Daily Mail)

End of the day - the reason there aren't enough appointments is there aren't enough GPs. Its a hard job. If it was cushy we wouldn't have a huge recruitment crisis. We don't get paid nearly enough for the hours, difficulty and responsibility, and its no longer the rewarding career it was due to public entitlement and litigation culture.

Most doctors won't work 5 days a week - its too draining- but are still full time. If i do 3 days of 13 hours - I'm working full time (39 hours), but as we dont get paid by the hour it would still be a part time salary!

And yes my insurance per year is ￡8000, plus an extra grand on professional fees - GMC and RCGP, which i have to pay out of my own pocket.

My surgery does telephone triage which is awesome. The doc calls you back and makes decision on whether you need to be seen that day or not. For routine stuff like pill reviews you need to be organised and book on time, but I’ve never not had a sane day appt when it has been urgent. And ppl with colds/flu who don’t need to see a doc are told so on phone leaving spots free for the ppl who need them

Most Gp's have gone part time because it's the only way to keep going at all. 12-14 hr days when you are fire fighting unlimited work all day are standard so as pp said 3 days is full time hours but will only be part time pay as not paid hourly. I know many many people work long hours with far worse pay, but so many doctors are burnt or burning out that only dropping hours is the only way to stay functional. It's hard and pretty thankless job these days however much you care and however hard you try - you are in a system with massive demand expectation and no infrastructure or support to meet that expectation. There is no magic wand.

I know the OP is long gone but i cant get over this part of her post.

Rang surgery this afternoon for a fairly non-urgent appt and was given a date THREE WEEKS AWAY!! Took it but after I had put the phone down I thought to myself 'No Way'!

No Way! Says she at a three week wait for an appointment that by her own admission is not urgent. No reason other than she doesn't want to or thinks she shouldn't wait.

What happens when you get a referral to hospital? Kick off in a similar manner if you have to wait a few weeks to be seen?

Usually a 6 week routine appointment wait here