To think a 6 week wait for a GP appointment is totally ridiculous

[fussychica]

Just tried to book an appointment at our local surgery to get something checked out. Not been for ages and I was expecting a 2 - 3 week wait but apparently there are no face to face appointments before the 4th Jan and they are not releasing any appointments beyond that date until the end of next week. There are also no 5 minute telephone consultations available until after 21 Dec. Apparently there is no doctor shortage at the surgery.
I am really shocked and not quite sure what to do apart from go private. It's not an emergency at the moment but at the same time I'm not happy to wait 6 weeks to sort it.
Have written to my MP advising him of the situation, for all the good it's likely to do.

So is this the norm now or are the people of this town alone in receiving such a sub standard service?

Utterly ridiculous! Hope you manage to get something sorted soon.

I agree that there's not much your mp can do unless he can somehow magically knit a gp? It's a national problem, too few GPs and too many very sick folk.

Have you asked to be called if there is a cancellation?

I was annoyed that I had to wait till dec 4th but 6 weeks is ridiculous. That was online, I called up and managed to see a dr on Monday.

My gp is a 4 week wait without fail, bit if go to the walk in you could be sitting there for 4 hours. Don't know how working people do appointments?! (Currently a sahm who'd rater wait 4 weeks than 4 hours with 2 DC)

" too few GPs and too many very sick folk."
I don't think it's that at all, it's the ridiculous system that means you need to see a GP before you can be referred to the person you really need to see.

E.g a foot injury, there's nothing a GP can do about it and most GPs have less idea than I do about sports injuries, but you still have to see the GP before you can see someone who knows what they're looking at.

My last experience at the GP (four week wait) was to get some blood tests that had been suggested by an osteopath. GP agreed the tests were appropriate for my symptoms but I still had to wait four weeks and get the referral before I could have them.

The system has so many inefficiencies like this. Both if those appointments are a complete waste of everyone's time and money

There are a lot of things u can do yourself now. At our doctors I have referred myself for mental health and for physio. Maybe check with ur doctor it’s not something u can move along yourself

Certainly normal in my area. Would it be suitable to see a nurse? I find usually much more available and if they think you need a doctor they can usually get a duty doctor straight away.

Fucking ridiculous. And then they wonder why people end up in A and E.

It’s a depressing and unacceptable situation. We are a first world Country not third world. I would pay £10 or £20 to see a GP, if everyone who could afford it did that then maybe we could get appointments faster?

Then stop voting tories that cut ALL bugets not for any real need but for idological reasons.

I’m in guernsey. We pay to see the gp (unless you’re on benefits then it’s free)

I phoned up at 5pm today and the next available appointment was 5:45pm so I took it!

People would whinge in the U.K. if they had to pay but it’s a BLOODY good and popular service here. Nobody complains because yes you pay but you are seen instantly and treated like a valued customer not a nuisance. If you’re referred on to hospital that’s all free.

You're lucky. A patient told our Nurse she hasn't been seen at the Doctors since 2006 because it's impossible to get an appointment

Yeah it is bad. I sometimes have to wait 2-3 weeks. Occasionally get an appointment for the following week - or the next day if there is a cancellation. But 6 weeks is awful. Is it an option to move surgeries?

too few GPs

Too few GPs willing to work full time more like. Far too many only working part time, some just 1 or 2 days per week. When they're paid so much, they can afford not to work full time, not helped by a tax system that penalises them with a marginal tax/nic rate of 62% on their earnings over £100k.

That’s not the case everywhere. Same day appts if needed. Just phone at 8.30.
Booked an appt for a meds review for next Thursday, no bother.

There should be a charge for appointments - £10. Then when they turn up it's refunded. If they don't turn up, (and don't cancel it with at least 3 hours notice,) it's not refunded.

Watch how many people miss appointments then. Bet it would be very, very few.

I suggested this to the head of my surgery, but he said it would be too huge a task to implement. Shame really...

@WinterfellWench im all for it as long as it cuts both ways.

Patients have attended their appointments on time at a VC surgery and while sat in the waiting room have received texts cancelling their appointments.

I think the reluctance to charge for missed appointments is because the patients will expect this to be reciprocated and rightly so.

It seems to be really hard for normal working people to access the service at the moment.

At the other end, my retired step father who has self inflicted type 2 diabetes, gets seen pretty much daily at his convenience, is costing the nhs a fortune, and is a millionaire who fiddled the system to not pay as much tax in as he should have in his working years. Is he grateful? Nope. Thinks he's owed it. Arsehole.

Normal for my drs OP. It's so bad now that they don't even release appointments further ahead than 4 weeks but then that means that you can actually be waiting for a very much longer amount of time.

They heavily advertise a gp hub type clinic that they use here - basically an OOH service but it's advertised as being extended hours in which to see a GP. Only problem is that they can't do any routine tasks, can't refer, won't change regular medication, can't access your notes, won't order tests. So basically ok for an acute medical problem but not much else.

As someone with a chronic condition on some not very nice medication I actually find this all very frightening. My health isn't good and a deterioration needs to be picked up and treated early but that level of monitoring just isn't there, despite them agreeing to a formal shared care with the hospital.

Genuinely interested to know: How do you go private for a GP appointment? I have private healthcare cover and it's not something I've seen in the brochure. Is there a special kind of insurance or something?

it's the ridiculous system that means you need to see a GP before you can be referred to the person you really need to see.

That might be true for why GPs are overly busy, but it will save the NHS money in the long run so I don’t really see an alternative. If people could self refer to a specialist at a hospital, people would do it unnecessarily and take up those appointments instead. You need GPs to prevent that. An example would be a girl I lived with at uni who wanted to go to the hospital to see an ENT specialist because she had a cold. That’s it, she had no other health complications, and she’d only had it a few days. You need GPs to stop people like her taking up specialist appointments (which he did, as well as telling her in a much nicer way than I did that she needs to perhaps get a grip).

Exexexcel

All of our local private hospitals have a GP service - only used it once and had to pay myself as that wasn't covered on the health insurance. Otherwise lots of clinics near us in London and at the main stations.

I think you are at the same surgery as me, OP. About 2.5 years ago, I had a small painless lump on my shin. I asked for a routine appointment to get it checked. I took the first available appointment, which was 5 weeks away.

I eventually saw the doctor who, to my great surprise, sent me for an X-ray. The radiographer told me I has a fracture (!!!) and she was sending an urgent report to my GP and I should phone my GP that afternoon. About 3 days later, after constant calls and visits to the surgery, I finally spoke to my GP and she said she was referring me to the fracture clinic. That took another 10' days or so. Once the hospital got the referral, I had an appointment within about 4 or 5 days. Due to all the delays and various other factors, the fracture was very slow to heal.

Can't even book appointments at my GP anymore - nothing for same day or advance. All you can do is ring up at 8 to try and get a call back. If you can get one they assess and then if they thinks it's necessary then ask you to come in there and then. Which essentially means if you work then no GP appointments