to expect to geta doctors appointment within the week?

[mustsleep]

it's nothing urgent but really needs sorting out

i have called this morning after nine waited on hold for ten minutes then been cut off

tried to fob me off with the nurse

wanted an appt during school hours bu have been given ten to four otherwise it would have ben getting on for a month

but last tim i made an appt and i wanted it fr a weeks time i was told to phone back the day before i wanted it as they didn;t book yo in tha far in advance

infact it's longer than a bloody week it's the 11th of october!

I think new guidelines state that you should be able to see a GP within 24 hours (but it can be any GP at your surgery). However, they do not have to accommodate you with times, which can be irritating! Perhaps try ringing again later or tomorrow morning and see if they have had a cancellation during the times you need to go.

YANBU, but from my experience round here, maybe unrealistic which also makes me . I could not hope to get a 'non medically urgent' appointment within a week either.
We too have had the 'don't do appointments that far ahead' nonsense, 'ring that morning' is usually what we are told, but if you do there are no appointments for anything less than near-death events, or if you are lucky you might get to see the nurse.
Makes my blood boil frankly. And don't even get me started on the attitude of the witches they call receptionists!

YANBU - Thats disgraceful

I never say to the receptionist what I want the appointment for, if I ring at 8:30 I will get one for that day.
If you think it needs to be dealt with before then just ring back up and ask if you can get an appointment to see the doctor today. It seems to be the only way to do it.

As doctors are having to do same day appointments their slots for regular appointments are getting less and less, they can't be seeing a regular patient at the same time as an 'emergency'.

i know and recepionist was like can't you see the nurse and i said no not really would like to see a doc
she said well what is it i will tell you if the nurse can help

ffs shall i just go and lay of the receptionists desk and then she can diagnose me herself

once in the nurse can hand you over to the doc

try a nurse they do care

this is why i love my docs, tey only pre-book early morning and late afternoon appointments, the rest they can only book the day before/on the day. its great

my mums one she can wait up to a month!

I think you are being a bit unreasonable. If it's nothing urgent, surely it's not a problem to wait a while?

All this comes down to the latest government guidelines that say you should be ale to see a doctor within (I think) 48 hours. In order to accommodate that, doctor's surgeries mainly only do book on day appointments. The book on day appointments are not all 'emergency' appointments so you should not feel bad about taking one of those. You are well within your rights to have one.

As for the receptionists, they drive you mad, don't they? I always ask them at which university they gained their medical/nursing qualification!

no what i am saying is that it used to be like this with you having to phone on the day

now i can't get get an appt for nearly two weeks because they have changed it - i have put off going for ages because it's so hard to get an appt and am not bothered about having to wait a few days etc but two weeks is a but much i think

pluis when i says it's not urgent i mean that my leg isnt hanging off or i'm at deaths door etc but it is important

If it's important then is it urgent in a general practice sense. If your leg was falling off you wouldn't be ringing your GP for an appointment you would phone 99 and get yourself to A&E. GP emergencies are not the same. Ask for an urgent/same day/emergency appointment or as someone else has suggested see a nurse. They are not doctors but they do have a qualification.

Or even 999

at my doc's though they take it as you need one that parcticular day if classed as an urgent appt - the nurse can;t really deal with it but i have seen her in the past both for myself and the kids

You have to ring the same day at my surgery.
From 8am the lines open and it's madness, redial, hang-up, redial and so on. It's worse than Glastonbury tickets. By 8.20 one day all appointments had gone.

If there are none left I ask to speak to one and if they need to see you they say come in, even thought reception says they all gone etc.

Our surgery now get the nurse to phone you back if you need an appointment on the day you phone up she then decides whether you can wait or not its really anoying. we can only get booked appointment and its usually two weeks befor you can see the dr, it was changed at the begining of the year you used to get an appointment on the day and only a few where booked in advance I thought the old system was better they say they asked patients and the majority prefer the new system they never asked me or any of my friends and we prefer the old system.

Our Surgery is really good, we ring up that day and normally get same day appointment, a few weeks ago when i had chest infection, rang at 9:30 i was in by 10:10am.

I dont understand doctors surgeries that work like this.

I wanted to get DD2 to docs today, so called at 8.27am (even though dont open until 8.30am!) and got put straight through, and hey presto an appointment at 9.20am.

DH turned up at 9.05am with her, and was seen straight away without even time to sit down!

Our old doctors was a nightmare though, and it does take the piss, but Im just thankful we seem to have a decent surgery now with people and doctors that care!

I would call back, advise the appointment on 11th Oct is NOT acceptable and you need to be seen before that date.

Jeez, DH only got referred to hospital by our new GP last week and has an appointment next friday. Amazes me how different areas can change so much!

Our old surgery was a bit like this. We switched GP's and the new one is fabulous - they always give us a same day appointment when we call, and sometimes it's so soon (10 minutes from calling) that we struggle to get there that quickly. So perhaps worthy looking to see which other surgeries cover your area?

I made a routine appointment for me and dd and had to wait a month though if I call on the day I can get an emergency same day appointment.

We moved and our new GP is fabulous but the old one was dreadful. The receptionists would always make you tell them what was wrong (is it any of their business, surely it's confidential?) and then would undoubtedly put you on the 'triage list' where the GP would call you back later that day and often write you a prescription without seeing you. IMO it was their way of meeting the guidelines without actually upping the ratio of patients they saw, or increasing the hours they were open.

I need to have some blood taken and was told I would have to see the nurse. When I tried to make an appointment with the surgery in my village the earliest appointment I could have was 31st October. WTF?

However I was offered an appointment at another surgery several miles away for next Monday.

These days it seems you can be seen quickly but you have to be prepared to travel.

That's ok for me but feel sorry for those where travel is a lot more difficult - particularly as this new state of the art health centre I'm going to on Monday is on an industrial estate, a good walk from any public transport.

I'm just waiting for the announcement that they are closing the surgery in my village altogether. Well, they might as well as according to the receptionist "I have no doctors here this week" and no nurses for apparently 5 weeks either.

My new doctors is amazing. I recently needed blood taken. I walked out of my drs appointment (it was her that wanted the bloods), went into a room along the corridor, had blood taken by a nurse there and then and had the results back the same afternoon.