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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

118 replies

CAK111512 · 03/09/2019 09:10

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!

OP posts:

SouthWestmom · 03/09/2019 14:31

Waiting in a crowded room with loads of other poorly people is awful if it's hours. Waiting to see a doctor is not appalling if there was a system to leave and come back at a rough time so the actual in surgery waiting was reduced to twenty minutes or so.

arethereanyleftatall · 03/09/2019 14:45

Unfortunately,noeuf, I'm fairly sure that in a doctors surgery, that kind of ticketing system would be absolutely impossible to manage. It isn't a fairground ride, where the ride has the same amount of people on for the same amount of time each time. It's a doctors surgery. There could be emergencies, which take an unknown amount of time, at any minute of any day. A patient could go in for what they thought they needed a ten minute appointment for, and be in for an hour. (This happened to my dd when she was about 1, in for a cold as she wasn't breathing very well, on to the nebuliser there and then for about an hour, thank goodness for that doctor).
A sit and wait style, with a small triage, in absolutely the best way to get through as many people as possible.

TabbyMumz · 03/09/2019 15:04

"If your son is not able to wait without getting distressed he should be jumped to the front of the queue of the sit and wait."

No, he shouldn't. Most urgent cases should be seen first. Why should he jump the queue when there might be someone in extreme pain, or seriously ill waiting to be seen .

TheCatInAHat · 03/09/2019 15:12

I think people lose perspective on what is ‘serious’ in medical terms and think they should take priority. And if a tiny baby does have something serious they don’t belong in a GP surgery.

Iggly · 03/09/2019 15:16

There’s a sliding scale of serious - it’s not black and white, GP v A&E.

When I lived in London, we had fantastic GP provision - so it can be done.

Since moving out of London, despite being in a large town, I’m shocked and disgusted at the GP provision. It’s so so much shitter.

This is about priorities.

The government has not prioritised NHS funding, it has massively and deliberately underfunded the NHS, and used arguments about the NHS being too big/inefficient or about the ageing population to obscure that fact.

Sleepyblueocean · 03/09/2019 15:18

Obviously anyone with an emergency needs to be seen first but it is a standard reasonable adjustment for those who find it distressing to wait to be seen first.
My son hurts himself and others if made to wait when he is already in discomfort so it really isn't a good idea to leave him sitting ( not that there will be much sitting) for an hour.

pigeononthegate · 03/09/2019 15:18

@TabbyMumz an autistic child who cannot tolerate a long wait and cannot describe his pain/illness IS an urgent priority. Anything more urgent than that should be at A&E, not a GP surgery.

SouthWestmom · 03/09/2019 15:20

I think you could provide an estimate. You are number 14 - come back in 14 x 5 minutes type thing.

TheCatInAHat · 03/09/2019 15:28

pigeon it just depends. There may well be several patients who’s needs are more urgent. On another day, he might be the patient with the greatest need.

GibbonLover · 03/09/2019 15:32

an autistic child who cannot tolerate a long wait and cannot describe his pain/illness IS an urgent priority
Indeed but what if there is someone with chest pains, a confused elderly person with pain on urination and a pregnant woman who is bleeding also waiting to be seen? I would imagine their needs would take priority.

TabbyMumz · 03/09/2019 15:32

@TabbyMumzan autistic child who cannot tolerate a long wait and cannot describe his pain/illness IS an urgent priority. Anything more urgent than that should be at A&E, not a GP surgery.

Sorry, not true. There could be a child waiting in that queue with undiagnosed diabetes, or a confused elderly person with an urgent medical reason, who absolutely should be seen before anyone else. That's what triage is all about ..its not about seeing who can wait and who cant.
Everyone will think their case is an urgent priority.

TabbyMumz · 03/09/2019 15:37

Most people will try to avoid going to a and e, so go to their gp first, and then be sent on to a and e, so you cant say "anything worse than an autistic child not being able to say what is wrong with them should go to a and e". if that was the case everyone would be at a and e. It might be that there is very little wrong with the child who cant say what is wrong, like a headache, or a bit of tummy ache.

Sleepyblueocean · 03/09/2019 15:38

The last time non verbal ds had to wait in what some people might dismiss as discomfort, he lay in the middle of the floor screaming and biting himself and kicking at anyone who tried to go past. When I tried to move him which is difficult with a then 10 year old, he kicked and punched me. Letting him go first is much better for everyone.

MoanyAnna · 03/09/2019 15:43

@Livebythecoast . As do I. And yes my local surgery advises queuing in person to be there when doors open. Last time I was too poorly to get there !
I still feel ill actually

TabbyMumz · 03/09/2019 15:44

"The last time non verbal ds had to wait in what some people might dismiss as discomfort, he lay in the middle of the floor screaming and biting himself and kicking at anyone who tried to go past. When I tried to move him which is difficult with a then 10 year old, he kicked and punched me. Letting him go first is much better for everyone."

No it's not. As said above, people should be seen in order of most medical need first. There could be someone waiting to be seen who is in a potential life or death situation,and who needs to be sent on to hospital asap. They need to be seen first. There cannot be a situation whereby someone dies as a result of having to wait while less medically urgent cases are seen.

Sleepyblueocean · 03/09/2019 15:48

If someone's medical need can't wait another 10 minutes they should be at A and E.

Livebythecoast · 03/09/2019 15:50

@MoanyAnna - oh, I wasn't saying there was anything wrong with queuing at the door. Its frustrating listening to a constant engaged tone on the phone. I even use to tell patients to do it but obviously doesn't help if you can't physically get there.
Hope you're better soon x

banskuwansku · 03/09/2019 15:52

We have sit and wait and it was a pain if I needed to go there with a baby and an active toddler. Nowadays I go after dropping kids to school and the wait doesn't bother me. It must be difficult with asd child. In our surgery ill babies and obviously very sick people go first, the rest in order of coming in.

GibbonLover · 03/09/2019 15:55

Letting him go first is much better for everyone
No. It's much better for him and for you. It isn't 'much better' for a woman who could be losing her baby. It isn't 'much better' for a child at risk of slipping into a diabetic coma.

If someone's medical need can't wait another 10 minutes they should be at A and E
Plenty of people turn up at the surgery not knowing that they need A&E so that argument is invalid. Only a trained medical professional can make that call.

TabbyMumz · 03/09/2019 15:57

"If someone's medical need can't wait another 10 minutes they should be at A and E."
That's a ridiculous comment. When people feel ill, they go to their gp. It might then be realised that they are severely ill and need to go to a and e. You wouldn't necessarily go straight to a and e. If that's the case, perhaps you would send everyone to a and e, including the autistic child who cant say what is wrong with him. I know of a child who went to her gp, as she felt ill and it turned out she needed to be blue lighted to a and as she had diabetes and was lucky to survive. I also know a man who went to his gp feeling tired, turned out his heart was only working at 5 percent. My son had an accident at school and the gp saw him as an emergency case, then got referred straight to hospital. All of these cases were emergencies, but not known to be so until they turned up at their gp.

GibbonLover · 03/09/2019 16:01

Well quite Tabby, I can imagine that regardless of who is waiting in the queue, there are certain symptoms in people that mean they need to be seen immediately. Say a man in his 60s arrived complaining of tightness in his chest and feeling clammy. He's not a doctor so how the hell is he meant to know there's a very real chance he's about to have a heart attack? Only a medic can make that call and if that means that someone else with a non-life threatening condition has to wait an extra 10 minutes then so be it.

GammaStingRay · 03/09/2019 16:04

Letting him go first is much better for everyone

Christ on a bike, are you actually serious or just on a wind up?

Sleepyblueocean · 03/09/2019 16:04

At my surgery there is no triage. You get seen in appointment/ arrival order unless you walk in looking like you are about to collapse.
It is better for other people because it is safer and avoids them watching something very distressing or frightening especially now he is older and bigger than some adults.
It's what happens at my surgery, decided by medical professionals who are better informed on what is best than people on here.

Witchend · 03/09/2019 16:07

That is WELL out of order. And they wonder why people go to bloody A & E?
Surely you'd wait far longer at A&E even if it was appropriate to go.
I've done a few A&E runs and never waited less time than an hour (8am on Sunday morning), and I have definitely waited 12 hours (non-life threatening, and there were children coming in who were so I understood totally).

TabbyMumz · 03/09/2019 16:12

Sleepy.....any medic in the world will see urgent cases first. Yes there will be appointments, but emergency cases will go first, end of . The OP was talking about the sit and wait scenario. Our Gp has appts, but when I rang up to say what was wrong with my son after his accident at school, they saw him immediately as it was an emergency and he got referred straight to hospital. If that happened whilst an autistic child was there....my son still would have been seen first. And that is how it should be. You are absolutely in the wrong if you think someone kicking off on a surgery for whatever reason, should be seen in front of more urgent medical cases .

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