To ask the GP to see 3 people in 2 appointments

[guiltynetter]

I have a double GP appointment today (20 minutes) one for me and one for my DD. but over the last couple of days my 10 week old DS has started with a cold and i’m a bit worried he sounds chesty. would it be REALLY U to ask the gp to have a quick look at him too? I suspect it is, i know one appointment is for one person. but i won’t be able to get another appointment today unless it’s an emergency one.

If it’s any better my DD will probably take about 2 minutes to be seen, it’s just a rash round her mouth which she’s been seen for before and needs some more cream. last time we were in under 3 minutes. I’m a bit scared of annoying the doctor by asking him to see my DS too!

I'd make an emergency appt for DS; he'd qualify as he's 10 weeks old. I think it'd be better for everyone if the doctor had enough time to evaluate everyone properly; and I'd find it a bit less stressful personally!

Call the surgery and get them to allocate 1 part of your double appointment to your DS.

Every doctors surgery I have ever been to, requests not to do this. So no, I wouldn't. Call them and get a third appointment.

Call the surgery before you go - they can either prewarn the doctor or book a separate emergency appointment for the baby. It will save you the stress of it all. Hope you are all feeling better soon

I had this last week DS had tonsillitis and had an appointment and suddenly baby DD that morning developed conjunctivitis quite visibly and was horrid. GP was lovely and like a ninja doing them both v quickly. I asked with the caveat that if it were impossible I’d totally understand and pop to reception for an emergency apptnmt on the way home but she dismissed that idea. I guess was relatively easy to diagnose / treat.

Are your dd and your appointments essential for to today? If not, can you rearrange one of them?

I wouldn’t ask to squeeze in. Unfortunately doctors are time limited.

i think i’ll cancel mine and ask him to see DS instead. frustrating as my appointment won’t be for another 2-3 weeks probably! it’s a really busy surgery. ah well.

People need to get off their high horses ffs just bring all 3 of you and mention your 10 week old seems a bit coldish. I did this with an appointment a few weeks ago me and my now 10 week old had an appointment but when I was in the Drs I noticed my 2yo had a rash around mouth, it literally took 2 mins and the Dr was happy enough.

Most 20 min appointments don't even last that long when Drs are like conveyor belts!

Just take the baby in with you, mention it and say you appreciate if they can’t be seen, money on it, GP will have a quick listen and say they are fine, or write a prescription. I’ve done it before on a few occasions, not intentionally, the Gp noticed their cough and asked to check on 2 occasions (was fine, just normal chesty winter cough), and another noticed ds eyes were a little pink and suspected conjunctivitis may have started, so wrote a prescription to use IF it got worse over the weekend, as it was a Friday.

Our surgery is pretty good like this, however we can get same day appointments, and a wait is normally week max, so I appreciate it may be the down to the size of the surgery and population, that may be a factor.

Hope you all get well soon!

I would call and ask

I’ve done what you are proposing before when my baby became ill the night before a planned appointment. I was apologetic but GP was v happy to help.

What is annoying with phone on the day appointments people book one for themselves and then at their appointment ask the GP to see another. Why not book the other in at the same time? Of course the GP is going to be lovely about it but it isn't ideal as it makes other people wait for their appointment. Each appointment slot is for one person.

Don't cancel yours! No doctor would mind quickly looking at a 10 week old. Maybe phone in advance and explain but don't just cancel yours without asking first that makes no sense.

Take them all, if they don’t have time to see you do you drs do a triage? I went for DS1 and took baby too, dr was running too late to see DS2 but we waiting in reception for a few mins and the duty dr saw him quickly (my drs are exceptional though I don’t have a bad word to say about them)

I would have thought that the best thing is to phone & check?

Sounds doable, but is only 5mins per child!

I would say “I booked the appointments for me and dd but ds doesn’t sound well so can you look at him instead of me?”
I’m pretty sure the doc will check you all out at least as a quick triage, and let you know if you need to book another full appointment for you or not.

I think the thing with doctor's appointments is that they work on average times. So for a 10 minute appointment lots of patients will only require 5 minutes or less but one person will come in and need much longer. If people who need quick appointments bring another person with them it screws up the averages.

I would probably call up and ask. They might have an emergency appointment for DS or they might just pop a repeat prescription on for DD and see DS in her appointment or they might be happy to see you all.

DSis is a GP and says she wouldn't mind... it's a fairly quick check

I would have thought that most Gp's wouldn't mind tbh, but as pp puts-start seeing 3 people in 20mins & patients might not even be allotted 10mins!

I didn't know this was frowned on I've asked once but only about a slight rash around DS's nasal cannula.

DD has had that cough bug for three weeks now, got an (her own!) appointment and the doctor did a pretty thorough check ears, throat etc and we where in and out in about 3 minutes.

Would an appointment with a nurse be easier to get? They can sound chests and get a doctor in if needed in my surgery but unsure if that's the norm.

It's a nasty strain in my area, my 82 year old gran and baby son with lung diseases shifted it ok but otherwise healthy DD seems to be struggling.

Don't give up your appointment either you want to be well as possible yourself to deal with young kids.

i would, really not a big issue if your dd's appt is quick & straighforward

Ask reception to change your daughter's appointment and request a repeat prescription?

Don’t be silly! Just take all three of you