Doctors appointments - hen's teeth?!

[febel]

Doctors appointments, rare as hens teeth round here. .I just wondered if it was the same in a lot of other areas. We really struggle in this area to get doctors appointments. I'm not just talking about my own practice, but at many other practices in the area , and I mean within a 30 mile radius as have talked to friends about it. There are never any appointments on line , or if they are they go within seconds of being put on.

In detail...I have been trying to get a follow up appointment for a problem and have been checking most days on line, no appointments.
If you phone as soon as the lines open you rarely get through , and when you do all the appointments are taken. OMG I hate the waiting music too , especially when you are 7th in the queue!
Other option, which most people I know resort to if they can, is to go and stand in the cold outside the surgery which opens at 8am. Obviously you can't do this unless you are
a) well enough to do so
b) have someone to look after your children whilst you stand in the queue

So, in detail, I went the other day, my day off, and I am lucky enough, and well enough, to be able to leave the house and queue. Doors open at 8am so always be certain to be there a GOOD 10 minutes before, preferably 15 minutes. There is normally at least 7 people in the queue by 8am when the doors open. I was 3rd in line at 8am as the door opened.

The first gentleman, about 60 years old, asked for an appointment with a specific doctor. and was told there were no appointments with him. He asked if there were any appointments,they looked and offered him one, which turned out to be with a female doctor. He said he wanted a male doctor as it was a male problem. There are at least 4 male doctors in the practice to my knowledge. They said there were no appointments. Meanwhile the whole queue are listening, and the bloke in front of me makes a hurried phone call telling someone that he's just heard this particular doctor has no appointments.. The first gentlemen, who has queued for 20 minutes prior to this, turned round and left, without an appointment, and was told to try another day.

Next person, also a gentleman, second in line, asked for an appointment with said doctor , told there was none. Said he'd have anyone then. I couldn't believe what I heard then, as the receptionist told him there were NO appointments with ANY doctors. At all. That day. By now it was t the latest 8.05am He got cross, understandably and asked how on earth he was supposed to get an appointment, and yes he had been trying on the phone and on line. Also ended up going out without an appointment.

My turn. Told no appointments. I asked why and explained I'd been trying for days and was a follow up appointment. They offered me a nurse practitioner at another practice a car journey away. I took it as I was desperate. Yes, I saw her later on that day. No, she wasn't any good really, and I basically told her what medication I thought I needed (have a friend who also has same disorder and she was shocked they hadn't put me on this particular medication to sort it) Nurse practitioner prescribed it. Job done and lets hope my condition isn't an indicator of anything more serious. I was probably unlucky or unfortunate as I am sure there are many excellent nurse practitioners out there, I know there are as I am friends with some of them! However the one I saw showed no interest in me and I didn't feel there was any continuity of care. She typed away slowly with 2 fingers and didn't really seem to know what to say.

In a lot of cases there doesn't seem to be a continuity of care as you never see the same doctor, or the lack of appointments ends up costing the NHS far more as things become serious. One friend recently had an operation, was discharged early ,yes I can see why,, to avoid infection, but no aftercare at all and the wound did become infected.. She phoned her doctors and told them, and they said perhaps she was getting flu! Next day she was worse and there were still no appointments and if she was concerned to call an ambulance. Surely this costs a lot more than seeing a doctor? When paramedics arrived they said she needed antibiotics for her wound and ended up phoning said doctors. Funnily enough 2 appointments, yes TWO were suddenly available for her to choose one. She ended up in hospital a few days later on intravenous antibiotics anyway..surely if the doctor had seen her earlier this may have been apreventable..cost and suffering and timewise.

People I know, don't go to the doctor unless they are ill, or seriously concerned. They wouldn't go to A&E or calling an ambulance unless it WAS a serious emergency. We keep being told to go to the Drop in Centre, in town so a car/bus/taxi journey where you wait for HOURS. As I say, not just our doctors but all practices in the area.

I worry for our beloved NHS, what has happened to it? My sister and mum work in it so I know how stretched they are, and they say A&E /Walk in Centre are choked with people who can't get appointments at their own doctors. What has happened? Is it a new booking system creating the problems in our area (my son doesn't have a problem living in Leeds) Or is it common to a lot of areas?

My GP runs a doctor-first system. On the day you want or need to see the GP, urgent and non-urgent, you phone up and give your details to the receptionist along with a brief outline of the issue (optional). A GP then rings you back to discuss it. If they can resolve it over the phone (e.g., referral, prescription adjustment, reassurance, etc) then they do so, if they need to see you then they give you an appointment for that day. If they think it's more serious and you need to go immediately to hospital they ring the hospital and book you into the assessment suite, it's an offshoot of A&E but can only be accessed via emergency referral so rather than GPs sending people to sit and wait they go straight into the assessment suite as they've already been triaged by their own doctor (the suite has a proper name but I can't remember it. My mum was referred in when she was having bad stomach pains and within an hour or two of arriving she'd had an ultrasound, a CT, and was being treated).

Our surgery has two other surgeries as part of the same group and if they ever cannot get you in with your home surgery (has happened twice in all the time I've been with them) they will get you in at one of the other surgeries, all three surgeries are roughly a 10 minute drive away from one another. They also run a walk-in service at their largest surgery, for registered patients only, from 5pm to 8pm Monday to Friday where you go sit and wait to see a GP. They lock the doors at 8pm and everyone already in the building is guaranteed to be seen. I've been to that one a couple of times when the DC have been poorly and then gotten worse in the evening like small DC do so I've taken them along and gotten them seen.

Podiatry, bloods, midwife, smear, and medication/condition reviews are the only appointments that can be booked in advance.

They're doing flu jabs at the moment on a drop-in basis. Walk in, tell receptionist why you're there, take a seat and the next available doctor or nurse will jab you.

Yes, it's a problem everywhere. Sadly, too many GPs have enough of the stress and many of them either retired earlier than were expected or have gone pt. Not enough GPs in their 30/40s to take over.

Saying that, I don't get why you are dissatisfied since you did get to see someone, who prescribed what you wanted and saw her for, so except for the added travel, which is a small price to pay for the current situation, your needs were met.

We have the same system where we have some on the day appointments. I have worked out the best way of seeing my doctor of choice is to call the practice and ask which day she has these appointments (some days she will just have the pre booked rare as hens teeth ones and other GP's will have on the days) then I need to get there at 7:40am so I can be bearish to the front of the queue.

I once got there at 7:50am and there were 16 people in front of me

It's depressing and frustrating and I can't imagine how people manage that can't get along at that time of day. I do understand though people with certain medical conditions have a marker in their file which makes them more likely to be given a pre bookable.

I don't know what the answer is, other than money, because ultimately the practices are overstretched and from what I read on Mumsnet it really is countrywide

We are very lucky. Despite being a very busy East London practice we can usually get an appointment with our chosen GP the same week or even sooner if we see one of his partners.

If you urgently need to see a doctor the same day you just go there before 11am or 5 pm and they will see people in the order they arrived.

Absolutely not a problem in our surgery and we have extended appointments for all routine appointments. If you need to be seen same day you will be, if you need a routine appointment with a specific doctor it will be a couple of weeks wait.

So no, it's not a problem everywhere and having been in a surgery where waits were long I honestly think it is partially down to poor practice management as well as the shortage in GPs.

My last doctor was fantastic. If I couldn't get an app with him I would write him a note and he would call me. I have a chronic condition that flares up a lot.
I was in agony one day and left a message for him and he prescribed something for me and got it sent to the chemist that same day. I'm gutted I've moved across country and am now in the same position as everyone else.

Our rural surgery was fab until it took on the college students from the local agricultural college. Now it's a fecking nightmare. They block book a number of appointments out per day for them whether they are taken or not, it's lunacy.

I only know this because one of the receptionists is an old school friend and they're all really cross about it because they can't override the system and give them out, only the GP can.

Now you can be dying of sepsis but priority goes to the MAP for a student................

We can't move surgeries either as they're the only one in the area and we're not in any other catchment. Several villagers have now joined the patient group to try and sort it out.

One of the problems is that some patients will only see a certain Doctor even though another one has free appointments. They then complain they can't get an appointment which is not 100% true. When favourite Doctor is booked up and the patient obviously sounds unwell I have said "if I was unwell I would see any Doctor". It usually does the trick.

Also if you have to go to hospital about your male or female problem you don't get a choice of male or female Doctor/Consultant to spare your blushes.

Not a problem here. You phone at 8.30 and are seen that day. Occasionally you miss out and have to phone the following day. There are also emergency appointments and if you need a follow up appt you book that before you leave the surgery.

I appreciate we are very lucky here.

Yep our drs surgery is the same . You have to q before 8’clock to try and get an appointment

I have a chronic and serious medical issue. When this was undergoing diagnosis 20+ years ago and I was extremely I'll I was seeing my GP frequently. They would always fit me in as I was so I'll and no one yet knew why.
being well aware of this nowadays if I need some simple prescription etc i always use one of the private gp services which luckily i can now pay for, I pay my taxes etc but from both the point of adding to the chaos and my own stress it makes sense for me to pay a small fee on those rare occasions I need a GP consult.

My surgery is great, very clear apppointment process. Yes if you want a pre bookable appointment with your named GP it normally is about 3 weeks till the appointment, but you can always book one. And if you need to be seen that day you call before 10:30am, get a triage call back and then if needed an appointment that day. I have never not got an appointment and I live in the south east.

There are always urgent appointments but you have to wait between 1 and 2 weeks for none urgent here

Also if you have to go to hospital about your male or female problem you don't get a choice of male or female Doctor/Consultant to spare your blushes.

This is incorrect. I was blue lighted to hospital with sepsis recently (from my GP surgery), I had to have an internal examination and I requested a female doctor to perform it. The male doctor was more than happy to get one of his female colleagues to perform the examination.

You can always request a preference unless you are unconscious.

Great local surgeries. Can only book appointments for upto a weeks time, no booking ahead however 8-12 Is a phone line, receptionist takes details only if you want to give them. The on call GP or NP rings back , will either give an in the day appointment, book you in later in the week or do a phone consultation if appropriate.

There is a big drive to avoid a&e , appointments are always found after phone consultation if patient sounds Ill but not enough for a&e. Local A&es have a streaming service , sometimes there's a gp avaliable but unfortunately this encourages misuse as people assume they'll get an appointment.

Nurse Practitioners in my local are on the same level as the GPs so always happy to see them. I think some people assume a NP (Nurse Practitioner or advanced nurse practitioner) is the same as a PN , the practice nurse .

I do think if we had a point of access fee for appointments like many other countries there would be a lot more people managing their minor complaints themselves or making more use of pharmacists. More pharmacists are becoming prescribers at last

So if someone was concerned about a breast lump and referred to hospital and no female consultant available for a few weeks but a male consultant available the next day you would rather wait?

Also if you have to go to hospital about your male or female problem you don't get a choice of male or female Doctor/Consultant to spare your blushes.

You absolutely do get a choice, every single time I've needed any sort of examination that requires me to remove clothing or have an internal I've been asked if I would prefer a female doctor. I've also had a female chaperone present each and every time too regardless of which sex the doctor was.

Please don't spread misinformation especially when you purport to be in a job role where you really should know better. Having the choice of a male or female doctor is not about "sparing blushes", it is about a patient's trust and comfort and for many patients there will be additional reasons as to why they would prefer a doctor of a specific sex.

Regarding male/female preference of course you can ask. I'm a nurse consultant in hospital, it's patient choice . When doing an intimate examination on a male I would always ask if they wanted a male practitioner.

Patients should never be told 'There isn't one'. That's a PAls complaint. However there may well be a wait before the preferred sex of the examiner is avaliable which can lead to delayed treatment.

So if someone was concerned about a breast lump and referred to hospital and no female consultant available for a few weeks but a male consultant available the next day you would rather wait?

That would be the patient's choice and they have the right to it.

@TroysMammy That's a situation that isn't going to happen because I can't think of any male only breast team in the country.

I'm sorry but when I've been to hospital, gynae and breast clinic I wasn't offered a choice. Neither was a friend who had breast cancer, she was just grateful. It didn't bother me but I know it bothers some. Perhaps I should familiarise myself if I have more hospital appointments in the future. My point was you can't complain that there are no appointments available if there is but not with a favourite or preferred Doctor.

I do know about the choice of having a chaperone.

My surgery in Stirling is busy but very good, I’ve not been in for ages but son is due asthma review and I’m due a smear so will call next week about that but neither are urgent so will take what appointment I get both nurse apps.
My youngest son has asthma and if he’s unwell they will always see him within 2 hours and squeeze him in between pre booked appointments, they are very good.

My point was you can't complain that there are no appointments available if there is but not with a favourite or preferred Doctor

That's absolutely not the point you were making. There is nothing wrong with requesting a GP (or any other doctor) of a particular sex in any situation. We are allowed to have choice in our health care provision, thankfully.

I feel sorry for the patients at your surgery who have to put up with your snarkiness.

My surgery operates a phone triage system, so you ring at 8am and get put on a list for a phone call. Dr will then call at some point and either deal with it over the phone or bring you in that day. Getting advance appointments isn't possible except for things where they know you'll need to come in (like DDs 6 week check which can't be done over the phone). Understandably they won't take your word for what needs to be seen in person so it is for a very limited set of reasons that they'll give out advance appointments with a dr. You can get advance appointments with the nurse.
This works fine for me on maternity leave, and in my job at a fairly flexible office but I do wonder how on earth it works for people in a job where you can't just answer the phone whenever it rings, and you certainly can't leave with very little notice to get to an appointment. My mum, for example, is a teacher and obviously can't answer the phone in lessons and can't find out mid-morning that she needs to leave early for an appointment. The last appointment I had the dr called at half 9 and the only appointment she could offer me was 10:20. This would be impossible for so many people to manage. If you can't take the appointment they offer you that day, you have to do the same thing the next day (ring up, get called back and then offered an appointment).