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?

It probably wasn't well explained. You can almost certainly book a telephone call and they can decide whether you need to come in or not

Lots of misdirected anger towards GPs and nurses - the vast majority of whom have been working hard throughout. No matter how much health care professionals are berated there are only so many to go round. The NHS is beyond hope and it is not the fault of the health care professionals.
DOI GP.

ours are shocking too..I had a really painful ear infection and was triaged over the phone they gave me the wrong antibiotics for the wrong problem ...then blamed covid! I was in appalling pain for nearly 3 weeks any other time and it would have been done and dusted in a week. Thank godness it wasnt something serious ....absolutely shocking service.Then last week my husband took a call for me from our surgery,he apologised I was at work and would they like to leave a message?they said for me to call them so I returned the call when I arrived home only to be told by the receptionist no one had called me since April and we were imagining things,,,,beyond words at this point as was my husband who had in effect been called a liar lol ...Now I know the call will have been made from one of our lovely nurses regarding either a flu jab or a blood test but would they let me talkt o them NO! All in all a disgraceful service...

They shouldn't get paid if they're not providing the service. They're only refusing to do their jobs because they know that they can get paid to do nothing. It says everything about how little they think of their patients.

The sooner we have AI doctors, the better. These idiots don't realise they're making themselves obselete.

I think it’s a receptionist training issue. GPs are seeing patients in person for urgent concerns, or for treatment of issues which can’t be carried out over the phone. The receptionist should have clarified that they aren’t taking routine bookings for the foreseeable future.

You do need to speak to a GP over the phone first and they will let you know if they want you to come in. If they really aren’t seeing patients at all, they should let you know how to access urgent treatment eg give you the details for a local hub, or advise you to call 111 to get an appointment elsewhere.

I have seen my GP twice for my contraceptive injection so I can confirm they’re seeing a limited amount of patients at the practice.

Twice during lockdown, to clarify

@WillowSummerSloth

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.

Absolutely. I’m a GP and I’m exhausted. I’ve never worked so hard. We are doing telephone calls all day and face-to-face appts for those who need it. Keeping up with the endless stream of Covid government requirements is a whole job in itself. We’re doing all our flu jabs in our own time at weekends, for no pay.

OP YANBU.
I called my GP today to make an appointment for my B12 jab. After an impersonal 5 minute recorded message telling me they are not seeing patients in person unless it is urgent I finally got through. For the third jab in a row I have been given a date/time and directed to park in the carpark and await a call to my mobile. I must follow instructions and wear a mask. I need to drive to the tent, the nurse will come out and I should open the car window and she will administer the jab.

Drive through injections. Very Macdonald's.

@northernsquirrel

There are 'dirty' and 'clean' surgeries in my area, only the dirty one will actually see patients. The others are all closed to the public, receptionist fielding calls and GPs are all working from home. It's a nightmare.

That doesn't sound right. Is it "clean" by the fact no one is entering it!?!

We have dirty and clean surgeries. We have covid surgeries and non covid surgeries. If covid is suspected you go to the covid one. Otherwise it's a non covid one.

Both types of surgeries are doing F2F appointments.

Where I am routine appts started up about a month ago and I had my smear test for example.

To be clear there is phone triaging first plus an app service. They are not offering F2F as it was before.

To be honest though I quite like it. Most things can be dealt with perfectly acceptably over the phone or via the app. It's quicker to get a consultation and you don't need to actually go anywhere for the appointment.

I haven't needed a F2F during the pandemic but getting my blood test/nurse appointments has been much easier/quicker.

From a patient perspective after the initial shut down the service has been better IMO and where I am based of course.

Dentists on the other hand are a whole different discussion.

And after what seemed like good progress the hospital have stopped communicating with me and I can't get anyone to give me my results or tell me if/when I am getting a follow up appointment with the consultant. If nothing happens Monday I'm going to have to speak with PALS. 😢

@notangelinajolie

OP YANBU. I called my GP today to make an appointment for my B12 jab. After an impersonal 5 minute recorded message telling me they are not seeing patients in person unless it is urgent I finally got through. For the third jab in a row I have been given a date/time and directed to park in the carpark and await a call to my mobile. I must follow instructions and wear a mask. I need to drive to the tent, the nurse will come out and I should open the car window and she will administer the jab.

Drive through injections. Very Macdonald's.

But I quite like it. Much better than sitting in a stuffy waiting room and I'm seen bang on time and home there and back in minutes 😁

Nothing to see here. Keep clapping and paint some more rainbows to stick in your window.

All hail the National Covid Service.

OP, you’re a nurse. Tell us how your job is exactly the same as pre-Covid.

AI doctors. Give me strength.

Two weeks before lockdown I developed a bacterial infection and as I felt so ill and was worried about Covid, I asked if I could send photos to GP rather than walk for 30 minutes to get to surgery.

"Don't be silly as if you will get Covid from a skin infection" was what I was told on the phone.

The irony is that the surgery closed in March and still isn't seeing patients.

My surgery did this for a couple of year pre COVID. It used to drive me bananas. Literally unable to make an appointment until something got screamingly urgent, and then it was always a case of "well the only time the dr can see you is EXACTLY the time you'll need to be on the school run".

They have been so much better since March. The pandemic has forced them to use online access and I can now send them messages through the website or book telephone/video appointments at my own convenience.

This is why people are getting fed up with the "protect the NHS mantra". A lot of the NHS still doesn't seem to be doing very much.

My surgery is a bit better than yours and is at least doing telephone appointments, baby vaccinations etc. although the telephone service has been really shoddy. The doctor calls on a terrible line, seems in a huge rush to get off the phone and has twice given my baby the wrong medication because they wouldn't look at a rash in person. You could do a better job with google. I did have a virtual 6 week check after giving birth which was also fairly pointless as they wouldn't check my stitches in person even though I wasn't sure they had healed correctly and a virtual 8 week check for my baby (where they just asked if he was ok and feeding enough).

@Chessie678 couldn’t agree more with your post. My doctor also prescribed the wrong medication for my baby, because she refused to see us in person and instead offered an extremely rushed telephone consultation instead. I’m now just praying so hard that my child doesn’t develop any health issues because my GP is refusing to do face to face appointments, so we effectively don’t have a doctor.

Our NHS heroes... yeah right.

I do wonder what GPs think other professionals are doing throughout this crisis.

I know. Thank God firefighters don’t have the same mentality!

It's virtually impossible for my parents to get a face to face appointment and this has resulted in hospital admissions for my dad. ILs on the other hand, have had several home calls for fairly minor issues. It really is luck of the draw. DPs can't change at there is only 1 surgery in town and they can't drive any more.

@Dowser

It’s disgusting My son is a carer. He goes into over 20 homes a day in just a useless mask, apron and gloves.

Why should doctors be so up themselves.
My son has had to see to covid positive patients with no medical training and £10 an hour.
Makes my blood boil

My dd has a breast lump . She had a telephone conversation over that one.
Luckily she is a trained homeopath and as it was a cyst was able to dispatch it with a couple of well chosen remedies.

Ooops..forgot that’s the stuff doesnt work 😁

I'm a HCA in a GP practice. our doors have been open throughout. I also have a useless mask, plastic aprons and gloves and see between 30-40 patients daily and all for £9:45 per hour!!!!

yes they are offering appointments, but told me twice that they weren't, it wasn't until I said I'd contact the health board (their commissioners) that they told me I'd misunderstood and they were doing same day appointments.

@Darkestseasonofall is that something that could work at my GP surgery too if they refuse to see my baby? Do we have a right to face to face appointments or is it entirely at my useless surgery’s discretion?

@Nothingoriginalhere What does your job entail if you don't mind me asking?

To all the GPs on this thread thank you for your hard work

Nope - my GP is appalling and not a hero by any stretch of the imagination. Also, I’m sure some GPs do work hard (though I’ve yet to come across one myself), but so do lots of people in many other jobs for far less pay. Cleaners, to give just one example!

Same at my doctors
We are not even allowed to phone in the surgery
The recorded message says the phone lines have to be kept open for emergencies
Everyone has to do E consult
Doing one takes ages ,because if your not careful in your answers ,it cuts you off and says you need urgent help ring 111.
Then it ends your application that you have spent ages filling in
I found as long as I don’t say my mental health is worse than a 7 it lets my application go through
More than 7 it cuts me of and I loose the information
I only know coz of how many times I’ve tried to get a doctors appointment
Still haven’t managed it

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

Yes! Normally it’s days at mine, not minutes