To think that doctors sit and wait system is a joke.

[CAK111512]

My son is quite poorly and needs to see a doctor. He has autism and cannot tell me whats hurting or in pain.

Doctors reception opens at 8.30. I actually manage to get through at 8.33 but all the appointments were gone but they could offer me the sit and wait appointments.

All the appointments gone by 8.33??

I asked How long she’d think it would be and said she couldn’t say but if my son was in distress they could offer another room for him. Which I am grateful for but to think it’s a joke that you can’t get a proper app at 8.33??

They are building more and more houses where I live and it’s becoming such a pressure on our local resources!

Yes that's awful, bordering on the ludicrous! I'd write a letter of complaint to the practice manager and in it make reference to cqc involvement should they not be able to provide you with assurances that they're working to improve their systems. In fact you can eave feedback anonymously on the cqc website

There should be reasonable adjustment under the Care Act that he gets fast tracked. They do at our GPs, and local hospital.

Yes it is ridiculous. I’m sorry you’re in this situation. At my GP practice there is a three week wait for anything other than the most urgent of situations. Pretty sure it doesn’t happen in many other OECD countries?

I’m from NZ. You ring and get an appt that day. Yes you pay if you are an adult not on benefits. Children and those on low incomes or who have chronic conditions are free or reduced rate. I have been living in the UK for decades and still can’t see why there is such a dogged attachment to the NHS being free at point of access for ALL.

NZ has a left wing government and has had a sliding scale of fees for GP appointments for decades. It has NOT been a slippery slope to the privatisation /US style medical system. It means that there is funding for more GPs and a more rational appt system.

I'm not surprised the appointments go so quickly tbh. Firstly, some slots would be already booked in advanced. Secondly, most surgeries offer online booking appointments and thirdly, if it's anything like the surgery I used to work in, we had people queuing at the door from 8.15 (opened at 8.30) to bypass the phone system and book in person.
I hope your son is okay x

to be honest I dont think that's bad?! its not like they're saying you can't see a doctor they're just saying you need to sit and wait...

my gp appointments are often booked up 2 weeks in advance but I know if I my kids are poorly. and need to see the doctor today they will ask me to come at 11 and wait. its never been more than an hour. I think that's fine.

It all just baffles me. At our surgery you cannot usually pre-book apps in advance. You have to ring in the morning then there’s not ‘offical’ Appointments. Just this sit and wait thing.

An hour is quite a long time for my son to wait. I don’t expect special treatment because he has asd but he will struggle in there with all the people, noise of the phone etc. I told the receptionist he has autism and she did say they prioritise children so hopefully won’t have to wait too long

A while ago. I took DD to one of those systems and we were waiting for 1.5 hours 😫

I’ve started using a private GP. One of my friends needed to see a GP for some bad depression and had the ‘choice’ of waiting 3 1/2 weeks to see her NHS GP for a 10 min appointment or paying £78 for a half hour appointment the next day for private GP.

It’s a crazy and deeply unfair system.

1.5 hours wait to see a GP on demand the same day you need them really isn’t bad and I’m surprised you think it is! Surely a GP appointment is something by definition non-urgent, and if it’s urgent you attend a walk-in or A&E or call 111 for advice.

I don’t think it’s bad at all that even though their pre-bookable appointments have gone for the day you’re able to still be seen by waiting a little while. And they offered to make it more bearable for your son with a private room too!

I get you’re probably worried and frustrated about your son’s health but your response seems kinda outsized to me, you’ve received very prompt care.

That is WELL out of order. And they wonder why people go to bloody A & E?

My DH and me went into the docs at 9.10am- 40 minutes after they opened the other week, as DH needed to see someone that day for something quite urgent.

3 weeks later, the same thing happened to me, but I rang them at 8.45am...

In both cases, the receptionist said 'come back/come in at 11.15 (for him) and 11.45am (for me,) and the emergency doctor will see you.'

Our surgery is fab though! My adult DD's surgery was shit like yours, and she registered at another practice - one mile out of her area. Not all surgeries do this, but some do. Can you ring around and see if you can move.

Hope your son is better soon!

Not being able to pre book appointments in advance is bizarre. Never heard of that before.

That is WELL out of order. And they wonder why people go to bloody A & E?

Am I missing something? I’ve been living in England my entire life and used several surgeries and it’s never been the case that your regular GP surgery is expected to offer you an appointment straight away for that day. There are walk-in surgeries where you can sit and wait if your GP hasn’t got spare appointments, there’s 111 for advice, there’s pharmacists for advice, yes there is also A&E, minor injuries units.

There are options for genuinely urgent cases and it’s a bonus if your GP can see you ASAP but it’s in no way unusual or shocking or negligent if you can’t be.

Ravenblack I'm assuming you're being sarcastic? The OP will wait an hour, possibly 1.5 hours but you were told 3 hours and her surgery is shit?

You've all received good service. OP included. Ravens DH has an appointment for something that was only "quite urgent" within a couple of hours.

They are on their knees people. Stop turning up for something you could've seen the pharmacist about and ffs stop going to a&e with minor things.

Your sounds similar to mine OP!

I cannot make a routine appt more that 4wks in advance, but they're fully booked for the next 3.5wks - so trying to actually make a routine appt in advance is nigh on impossible.

If you need a same day appt you have to ring after 8.30, but by 8.45 they're usually all gone.

Local hospital has an A&E and a emergency GO appt system.

Hospital GP appt for same day can be made via my GP surgery but it's available to all the surgeries in my area, so once the same day GP appts are gone (by 8.45) the receptionists start booking the hospital ones. By around 10am they've all gone.

A&E is walk in but won't see you for "illnesses" only actual accidents.

I do agree however it’s annoying as hell being unable to book in advance, many surgeries have had no choice but to move to a system where there are a few advance appointments available but also the rest of the day is open for same day appointments due to the number of missed appointments. Sadly a lot of people take the piss, book for a week or two from now and then ‘forget’ and don’t show up so it goes to waste. It’s less convenient imo to be unable to book in advance but with so many people as no-shows they have a better chance of actually seeing patients and having slots filled and attended with same day clinics.

I’d prefer being able to book in advance as it can take up an entire day having to hope you win a lottery ticket appointment that day at a random time you have no say over, and it’s wildly impractical for anyone who has a job. But then you’d get people complaining they can’t be seen for two whole weeks. So i can see why they offer a mix.

If it’s urgent though OP you wouldn’t have been okay with a pre booked appointment anyway. The fact they’ll still see you at a sit and wait despite the slots being taken, find a quiet room for DS, and prioritise kids, is actually pretty excellent service.

@FrangipaniBlue that can't be right. You must've misunderstood. If you have a heart attack or meningitis or sepsis symptoms your a&e will treat you. You don't have to have an accident to go to a&e but people turning up with a cough or a headache are ridiculous

I don’t see what’s so bad? They’ve offered to see him the same day, and a space to wait if he becomes upset - given the pressure on GP appointments all over the country I’d say that’s quite good?
An hour or two really isn’t that long to wait to see a doctor on the same day - some GPs run an hour late for their normal surgeries and in A&E you’d be waiting much longer. It also sounds like he might bump the queue if he’s distressed.
I hope he’s alright and doesn’t have to wait too long.
If you have a suggestion for how your surgery can improve access do suggest it or join the patient group - there is such a shortage of GPs that however inventive you get it’s still crap.

Could you ring 111? They've been able to direct me to somewhere I could go when my GP refused to see me for something that actually did require immediate attention. I'd say your son is in the same situation, maybe they can help, or even ring your GP to ask them to prioritise him? Best of luck, hope things get sorted x

Our (village) surgery used to operate a sit and wait system. They would tell you roughly how long it would take for you to be seen once they had added your name to the list and you could go home and come back later. In the case of my disabled DD they would ring me and tell me when the previous person on the list was going in to see the doctor to minimise the waiting time for DD.

I’ve said this before, a ‘in-advance’ appointment at my surgery is 1 week, if you phone on the day no matter what time you will be offered an appointment anything from 15 minutes later away, at a time suitable to you ‘we can offer you 11:15, 11:45, 2:00...’ and so on. God I love my surgery!

Thanks all. I have no choice but to stay at this surgery as there is only one in the area and I still have to travel 15 minutes to this one. We aren’t regular visitors to the doctors fortunately.

The no pre book thing is a pain. My Oh needed an app. He wasn’t poorly but had a worrying symptom. We couldn’t ring first to get an app due to work and school so miss the days apppintments, couldn’t pre-book. He needed an app based around his shifts and they point blank refused despite me being in tears saying he needed to be checked out and after I explained the whole story to the receptionist she reluctantly booked him an app for 2 days time so they can pre-book but they aren’t meant to. Thankfully he was fine but it was worrying at the time.

"There should be reasonable adjustment under the Care Act that he gets fast tracked. They do at our GPs, and local hospital."

The problem is when everyone wants to be fast tracked for various reasons.it has to be emergency priority first. So once all the appts are gone, you have to wait, and they will see the most urgent first, not those with disabilities, as more than likely most waiting will have a disability.

That’s pretty much how my previous surgery operates. The same day appointments go very quickly. As long as the surgery put in reasonable adjustment (room to wait in) I don’t see why he should be treated as more medically urgent then others attending for same day help.

I don’t really understand my current surgery - I rang one day was told no appointment for three weeks, rang day after and got appointment two days later (without saying anything was worse.)

That is WELL out of order. And they wonder why people go to bloody A & E?

Why do you think they would have been seen faster in A&E? Sure, there is a fast track system but the reality is if you are full of other people who genuinely have a priority even given the situation, you can’t just magic additional staff and a bed out of your arse (as much as you may want to).

The thing is no one wants to pay more taxes. People want to have everything covered, even paracetamol. They don't want to go to the pharmacist, they want to see a 'proper doctor', however minor the symptoms. They want antibiotics even for viruses. They don't want to pay at point of use. They begrudge paying for prescriptions even though it's only a fraction of the cost of the actual drugs.

Unless we stop pandering to all the Daily Mail sad faces stories, we won't keep our NHS. With an ageing population and too many worried well we need to change the way we manage our health. And start paying for our own paracetamol and going to see an osteopath rather than a doctor for our bad knee/back etc.

None of which helps the OP who really should be able to get an appointment. Although waiting an hour is pretty normal these days. I've waited almost three hours when a hospital surgery has overrun.

I think it’s impressive that you’re able to see a highly trained medical professional within hours of making the call. I can’t understand why people think his is ridiculous and are telling you to complain. In my view they are offering reasonable adjustments by offering you a quiet side room to wait in. They still need to prioritise appointments by medical need so I don’t think it’s reasonable to be fast tracked unless all other patients are of equal priority (medical needs wise) in which case I would expect your DS to be seen first.