Fed up of telephone appointments

[OverTheRainbow88]

I want to see my GP (well any GP). I have to call at 8am on the dot to have any hope in hell to get a phone back that day. They only do calls backs on the same day, so you can’t book one for the next day or week etc.

8am I’m waiting in line to drop youngest off at nursery... finally get through, receptionist wants to know why I am calling, I don’t want to discuss my possible nipple thrush in the nursery line. Get told ok a GP will call you before 1pm today but they won’t give a time.

I’m teaching 8.30-12.15 so now I have to teach with my phone on, and try and subtly whisper to the GP I think I’ve got nipple thrush and hope the kids don’t hear.

AIBU to just want to see a GP face to face or given a set time they will call?

Eh. This is a problem that affects all working adults, it’s not specific to parents or teachers.

If you know you have a personal issue to discuss, you’ll have to purposely allow time to be in a private area when you call. Whether that’s dropping her off at nursery earlier or later so you can sit in the car at 8am, or asking someone else to drop her off?

GPs are only just starting to see patients face to face, they’re not completely back to normal, so I think you’re unreasonable to want a face to face appointment if they’re not currently offering them. Just tell your manager that you need time to discuss a medical issue with your GP and if last minute cover can be sorted when they call.

We have to fill in an e-consult form before we can access a phone call from a GP. And if you're not very careful how you fill it in, you get told to ring 111 or go to Urgent Care, when you know you just need to speak to a GP

Do people prefer to take the morning off work instead??

There's no way you would have your phone on in class, and answer it, let alone have the conversation you say you will be having! It's an immediate safeguarding fail to have your phone on you in school.

YANBU : I also wish it was possible to book a phone appointment during an actual time slot so I wasn’t constantly missing the gp calling back at a random time during work and having to go back through the E-form to book another random call-back. Argghh !

@Healththrowaway199

We’ve been given a time slot as such to drop our kids off at, and if I don’t leave the nursery by 8.05 I won’t make it to work on time.

@FluffyPJs
I can have my mobile in my classroom and turned on... no safeguarding issues there.

Just a suggestion, don't shoot me down, if you suspect it's thrush why not buy over the counter cream and see if if works?

I’ve been trying the cream for about 6 weeks and no prevail, also cut out marmite, alcohol, sugar etc and eating lots of live yoghurts. I was hoping they may do a swab and check it is thrush before I keep trying.

@OverTheRainbow88 what age do you teach?

I agree I’m fed up of over the phone appointments. I have called the gp several times now for a problem which needs checking and every time they say I can’t go in person unless red flag symptoms however I am really struggling.

Yanbu.

Last week I was having painful muscle spasms. I filled in an e consult form. Got an automatic receipt thingy saying I'd be contacted next day.

Fast forward a week.... no contact. Rang up. Oh sorry, we haven't got your e consult. Forwarded them the receipt - no explanation. Wanted me to do it again but I asked if I could just book a phone appt instead.

Well okay, if you must..... asked me if I had any times I couldn't talk. I said could they ring after 2pm, as I was chairing meetings all morning till then?

The doctor rang at 11am. When I was chairing and couldn't very well just swan off. As I'd missed the call, I'd therefore missed my appt and was off the list for that day.

@FluffyPJs

Secondary, when I was pregnant having a mobile on and in my room was on my risk assessment form for teaching certain classes. Anyway, mobiles in class wasn’t the thread topic!

But if you can take time off go go to a doctors appointment, why not just take tim off to take a call?

Because Iminaglasscase you have to take the WHOLE day off. Because you don't know when they'll call. Which is ridiculous for a 5 min phone call.

I agree. I got a message saying you will be called on this day and be available. No time. Of course they called and i couldn't speak as on a work call. The nurse (Dr didnt call) did call back but was stroppy that I wasn't available originally. If they just give a time you can plan around it. Plus yes I want to see someone in person. How can medical services be properly administered like this. I am really confused as to why there is not more fuss being made about this.

I also have done the e-consult which also apparently got lost. Which apparently had never happened before??!! Er really? They wanted me then to send some photos to a link. No way seeing as the previous electronic communication was lost. No appreciation of data protection issues either.

My surgery hasn’t even got an e-consult! Which from theM all going missing anyway maybe isn’t such a bad thing!

@OverTheRainbow88 sorry, didn't intend to derail your thread

Yeah, I had a nurse's call back. No time given. So I missed it and kind of assumed they'd try again as there's no new information needed. They know I need a call. But nothing happened until I called back. Which of course was in the middle of a work call, which I could quickly say I needed to duck out of, but, yeah, it's not great.

I think these phone appointments are a cop out for GPs.

Mine has even failed to carry out a promised phone appointment for which I waited several hours- and only rang when I wrote a letter of complaint.

Useless!

Agree! I wish gp would even give an hours time frame for when they are likely to call. At present my GP can call anytime between 9am and 8pm! That’s a long time to have hold of your phone. If you miss the call then they’ll try once more within 5 mins or delete you from the list which is unreasonable. It would be fairer to say they’ll call between 10 and 11 or even a 2 hr slot but 11 hrs is too long.

No doubt that giving birth will soon be done via a telephone call from a midwife too!

Some badly organised GP practices by the sound of it. At mine, you phone reception and are given a set timed phone appointment - eg “Dr Bloggs will call you at 14.45 on Wednesday” . If you can’t manage that, they will offer an alternative time. I switched mine today for an hour later, to allow me time to get home through our 2 mile roadworks.
Our GPs will also see you in person at the practice if they need to examine you or do tests.

Wow, some of these practices sound hopeless!! I’m a GP receptionist and we are booking phone appts in the first instance (the doc might decide thereafter to see them f2f or see photos etc). We can book anywhere up to six weeks in advance and they’re offered a time to suit them, in an hour time slot.

So call your work and tell them you may be 10 minutes late or so as you need to urgently speak to your GP and seek treatment?

Even pre-COVID, the 8am rush to get through to a receptionist was present. Nothing has changed in that department.