GP practice "not offering appointments"

[Darkestseasonofall]

This is a new low. Just called to make an appointment to be told they aren't doing any for the foreseeable future.
If it's an emergency you can call on the day and try to get a telephone consultation, but that's it.
I can see a huge rise in people attending ED in appropriately or just becoming very ill with avoidable things.
This isn't NHS bashing, I'm a nurse, but I can't understand how primary care can just opt out of 90% of their contract.
AIBU to think this is just silly?

If they are no longer offering the service they are paid to do, then presumably they will repay money to the NHS.

My GP is doing appointments. You call, someone calls you back for a phone appointment, and if it's a face to face issue you go in. It works better than the old system to be honest. I don't understand why some places are managing to operate and others not. Could it be a dodgy receptionist not painting an accurate picture?

How are they justifying it? My surgery started doing bookable face to face apts again last week.

Had a text earlier though to say you now can’t get a blood test at the GP surgery or the very large local hospital at all, so something’s going on.

Appalling. There can be no justification. Can you ask for a rationale from the CCG?

My surgery is the same, they triage on the day over the phone. I need a medication review but as it's not seen as an urgent problem I can't get an appointment to speak to anyone ever about it. No routine appointments offered at all. It's appalling.

My surgery tried to do this. Fortunately I work in the NHS, and had some quite senior contacts at the regional level who bollocked them and they've tried to backpeddle and said it was just a misunderstanding. Contact your CCG, local councillors and MP, and if in a city the regional cancer people to let them know what has been said. They can't just decide not to offer the service.

Ours are doing something similar for emergency appointments and it's working really well for us. My son has an awful eye infection. We've had video calls. Very efficient. My brother is a newly diagnosed diabetic. He's having his appointment ls in the surgery and I am booked in for a smear and a well woman check. But, the reception staff say what they've said to you, so it's not completely accurate, despite what they say.

My gp haven't done face to face appointment since this began in March

So what are they doing?? Not being a gp that's for sure.

This has been an ongoing problem since March. My 81 year old mother was examined in a car in a car park last week. You also can't turn up in A&E any longer, you have to make an appointment.

My GP are only dealing with emergencies face to face. If you need a smear test/medication review/blood test etc they aren't doing them. I think it's truly shocking tbh.

Most are doing telephone triage first. Then if the problem requires a face to face appointment they bring them in. To be honestly I think it makes sense, reduces people coming in when not needed. However that is different to doing an emergency only appointment which should not be happening.
The issue with the bloods is a national problem with a supplier, totally out of the gp hands

Mine also haven't offered face to face since march. You call and explain your issue to the receptionist, then the doctor calls back (you have no control over when, super fun when they ring and you're at school pickup so don't want to discuss your yeast infection or breast lump, or if you've had to work and lock your phone away, but hey ho) and they then might set a time for you to come in. Not an ideal system.

It’s absolutely disgusting. There’s no reason not to if wearing PPE.

This isn’t a question of telephone vs F2F though is it? If they’re not offering non-emergency appointments at all that’s ridiculous.

@JellyBabiesSaveLives

This isn’t a question of telephone vs F2F though is it? If they’re not offering non-emergency appointments at all that’s ridiculous.

Yep thats the problem here, no routine appointments so no smears, no medication reviews, no blood tests for ongoing conditions, no asthma reviews etc. Anything classed as routine is "postponed" but they haven't said when they're restarting them.

Ours will see people in person but only after a call back from the GP or Nurse practioner, I've found I can get everything done over the phone.
Your a nurse you know what the GP needs to know, I do the same phone calls for my patients too. We even do video calls if there is something we want the doctor to actually look at, and they will come into the Nursng home if it can't be done by video or phone.

I would change surgery if possible (assuming face to face appointments are very important to you). My surgery and the two surgeries of my family members (in different parts of the country) are doing f2f and home visits when required and have been for months - it was around April/May when we had the home visit

Presumably no staff available.

What can they do if no doctors?

All I know is ours, you used to put a repeat request in, used take 1.5 days be approved now it's less than an hour so can't be busy
It's locked up and shutters down, don't think anyone allowed in

@FedUpAtHomeTroels

Ours will see people in person but only after a call back from the GP or Nurse practioner, I've found I can get everything done over the phone. Your a nurse you know what the GP needs to know, I do the same phone calls for my patients too. We even do video calls if there is something we want the doctor to actually look at, and they will come into the Nursng home if it can't be done by video or phone.

I'm not a nurse but know what I need to tell the GP/Nurse but I can't even get an appointment with them, you get triaged by the receptionists who tell you that they're not doing anything "routine" at the moment. Unfortunately I can't change surgery as it's the only one in my town and the next nearest doesn't take patients from the town I live in.

Makes a mockery of the NHS public service adverts, the ones about 'just' a lump, 'just' a cough blah blah - use your NHS. The number of deaths because of covid rather than deaths with covid is going to be horrendous and a national scandal.

I need a repeat prescription for the pill, but need blood pressure taken first. Receptionist suggested I take it myself and the nurse will do a telephone consulation in 2 weeks time (first available appointment), if I cant take my own blood pressure then the first face to face appointment was 'several' weeks away...... so I await her call next week and im making up my blood pressure ! Ridiculous.

I'm a GP and I find it hard to believe this is happening. I'm also on tons of GP forums and it's not happening anywhere as far as I know. Most appointments are initially telephone triage and then patients that need to be seen can be booked a F2F review. We've been busier than ever, regularly working 12 hour days as have most of my GP friends and people on the GP groups. So it doesn't quite add up to me.... If they are genuinely not offering any routine appointments, then they would of course be in breach of contract and you should take it up with the local CCG. Is it that there were no prebookable appointments? So you have to call on the day? There's good reason behind this method currently. Is it that your individual GP is high risk/ isolating and thus not seeing F2F? In which case you should be directed to an alternative doctor. It just seems odd and not at all the experience of me and my colleagues.

I think the point I'm trying to make is that the implication is that GPs are doing nothing could not be further from the truth. We are burning out at a ridiculous rate and working harder than ever especially in the last few months. I'm sorry the access is difficult but it's almost certainly due to being overwhelmed with demand rather than the opposite.