‘Call at 8am for a GP appointment’

[purplepufferfish]

I work for the NHS and personally understand the stress that the service is under. I get it. But does this frustrate anyone else?

Call for a GP appointment. Get told that the nearest one is two weeks away and to call back the next day at 8am for a same day appointment.

Call back at 8am the next day, as is everyone else of course.

Finally get through at 10am to be told that the next appointment is two weeks away and to call back at 8am for a same day appointment!

Again I know that this is no one’s fault and I genuinely blame no one for this.

Am I being unreasonable for being frustrated?

My gp don't offer online bookings so you have to call at 8 for an appointment. My record is 87 calls before finally getting through, then I spent 45 mins waiting in a queue and just when I got to caller number 1, I got cut off. When I eventually managed to get through again, all the appointments were gone. Its a fun system!
Theres a walk in centre near me. I've decided to just go there next time.

If it is routine then arrange for 2 weeks time. Or ring 111 and get an ooh gp

It does sound frustrating. I thought (obviously mistaken) that all surgeries had a phone queue system. Both our local (rural-ish) surgeries have a ‘....you are 13th in the queue’ recorded message, so at least you are connected and just have to hang on.
But major sanctions need to be applied to those who don’t turn up to appointments....something like a £50 fee for wasting other people’s time, and/or a ‘3 strikes and you are off the doctors list’ penalty.

@Daisy8181. For me, this would trigger a formal complaint. Finding a lump in the breast, even in these times, should have warranted an urgent appointment and there is NO excuse for a receptionist to tell you you can’t have an appointment in these circumstances. My partner found a lump in his neck at the end of January and had an appointment the same day with his GP, an appointment with a specialist by the end of the same week and a hospital admission to deal with it a few days later. Thankfully everything is OK, but the message we are constantly being given is that the NHS is still open for business for non Covid problems. Obviously that’s not the general experience.

I never understand posts like this because it's so far from the experience we have from our surgery!

For donkeys years (well before covid) they've had a GP on triage. You call for an appointment, give details to reception and the doc calls you back. Sometimes it's a couple of hours wait but it's always same day. If it can't be sorted over the phone they book you in, either immediately/that day/A.N.Other time if it's not an urgent matter. It's awesome.

We've been with them 15 years and have never had to wait more than 2 days for a face to face, except for routine stuff like smears/imms etc.

I quite often have issues with getting an appointment with my surgery, but now its only phone appointments. Even then, when I state I cant answer the phone until after 2pm due to work, you can guarantee they call before hand. Theres be times, before lockdown, I have called at 8 am, and made 100+ calls and radials to get through after 10/20 minutes of lines opening and there's not been a single appointment left. And they wonder why people end up going to A&E.

It’s incredibly difficult for GO. Our local surgery has completely upped its game. They answe the phone quickly and arrange a call back time. If you still need to make an appointment the doctor does it whilst you are on the same phone to him.

I just phone up around 10am when the rush has died down, wait a few minutes usually 5th in the queue.

Speak to a navigator as the menu refers to them and ask for a gp to phone me.

Around 5pm I get a call from the gp and if it needs a face to face then it's usually next morning.

My surgery covers approx 15k of the town's population.

I don't understand why you are having difficulty, it's been like that for about 6 years here, if anything covid has just made it easier as nobody is walking in to queue at the desk

@purplepufferfish

I am so sorry to hear that others are having the same problems.

In response to the comment that I can wait two weeks so it’s not urgent, it’s more the point that I’ve been waiting this long to speak to a GP or medical professional to discuss my test results and symptoms after my previous appointment that I waited two weeks for that I may as well wait another couple of weeks at this point. It’s to do with a potential cardiac issue which I thought would probably be considered a priority and warrant a same day appointment but obviously not.

Thank you for all the replies. I agree that we are of course paying for the service and I do appreciate that. I just didn’t want to come across as attacking the GP directly but I really do appreciate that we are paying for this service and more should be done to improve it.

I would guess if they've had your test results and haven't called you straight in then it's good news? If they use the same system as us (elsewhere in NHS but linked records) then dodgy results flash up as soon as you enter the patient record so your receptionist would likely know. I can understand you're frustrated though.

Please don't go in with the "I pay your wages" line. They know.

I am registered at one by where I work rather than live. You can change to any GP you like, doesn't have to be in a catchment

You do have to be in catchment, otherwise they won't take you.

Is like that here. Phone at 830. But I start work then and can't just make a phonecall. Then no appointments after 530 on same day, which is crap if you're in work all day.
The argument is that if you're that ill, you wouldn't be in work.

I'm sorry if someone else mentioned this already, I'm afraid I've not read the whole thread. I can remember in the late Fifties and early Sixties, and even possibly in the Seventies, when all and sundry would turn up at their doctor's surgery and wait their turn to be seen by the doctor, unless, of course, they clearly needed immediate treatment, in which case they were looked at immediately and an ambulance would be called to take them to the local hospital. It could be a complete pain as you never knew how long you would have to wait, but you would be certain to be seen by the GP if you arrived during surgery hours. I think there must have been some appointments made in advance for routine things like vaccinations, though, but if there was an emergency, you didn't have to make an appointment, I think.The doctors would also routinely be on call for home visits, day and night. We didn't know we had it made, compared to nowadays!

Just sounds typical of GPs and their uncaring minions.

They lock their doors during a pandemic, see no one and don't give appointments.

And that's how they like it!

Mine is also phone at 8am. But only if they’ve switched the phone lines to open, or it could be 8.05/8.10 etc. By 8.30 I’ve phoned 76 times and not got an appointment.

If it’s for my children (under 5s) they will see them that day even if it’s in their lunch break (12-3!)

If it’s for me they send me to “urgent care” which doesn’t actually exist anymore and is A and E.

It’s awful. If you can’t get an appointment the nearest you can book in is 3 weeks away or try again tomorrow 😩

However, if it’s a recurring issue for me they take my word for it and prescribe me antibiotics without me speaking to the doctor. I assume they pop their head round his door, tell him what’s wrong and he arranges a prescription. Friday mornings are the only regular bookable appointments, nurse only for things like vaccinations or smears.

This is normal! My surgery has had this system for years before covid. I despise it. This is why people end up going to A&E to be treated even if they don't want to. When you are feeling dreadful and can't get an appointment, what else are you supposed to do? I fear that the system we have now with trying to call, finally get through, not given an appointment but given a call back, then finally being given an appointment as the doctor thinks you are poorly enough, to sit in the surgery for 20 mins waiting for said precious appointment, is going to stay. I hate it..

So frustrating! I have to say my Gp's are great. I have never not got a same day appointment if I really need one. They have been online for at least 10 years so log in before 8 and get an appointment.

I do know from friends that I'm lucky to have such great service.

The mistake I suspect you are making is that you need to phone at 07:59 and 30 seconds precisely.

I had another make with this problem - she was calling at "about 8" well it was ten past by which time it's too late.

I also found at our surgery which "didn't do internet appointments" that it actually did and it took a long complicated registration process but got you first dibs at the appointments (again log in prior to 8am!)

@Size5s - yes, I remember this hopeless system of ringing up between 8.00am and 8.05am in order to get a same-day appointment, from the Eighties in Central London. It's most certainly not new, and nothing to do with Covid at all, if that is indeed the current excuse.

Yes it’s ridiculous. I’ve redialled my doctors 100 times or more trying to get an appointment because when you call it doesn’t put you in a queue, it just says the line is busy call back later. All the technology that exists now and sick patients are having to do this.

Ours have stopped allowing you to make appointments via the telephone.

You have to use their eConsult online system (which is awful, asks so many questions with multiple choice answers that don't have the right options, and takes ages).

I phoned and said I can't use it as what I wanted to speak to the Dr about didn't fit into their system, the receptionist told me I had to use it if I wanted to speak to a Dr. When I asked what they did about people who don't have Internet access or aren't able to use it, were they not allowed access to drs? She vaguely said 'well we try not to let that happen'.

Happened to me too (before Covid!!) Only it was a 6 week wait to see my GP! Took me 4 days of phoning at 8am to get an appointment & that was with a different DR, not my own.

It just depends how each GP surgery allocates and releases appointments.

The mistake I suspect you are making is that you need to phone at 07:59 and 30 seconds precisely

Yes. With our GP, you can almost always get a same-day appointment if you call at exactly 8.30 am. Problem is that we leave for the school run at 8.20...

Must vary by surgery. I ring at 8 get held in a queue u til answered maybe 10 mins and then if they deem necessary a dr calls me back later that day and either virtually consults or ask me to go in. Pre bookable apts you call after 10am and hope for the best

@Authenticchicken

Yes I agree. My Dad died after trying to get a GP appointment and giving up. Also 8am is the worst time for anyone with schoolkids.

I'm sorry to hear about your dad OP, mine had a similar experience.😢 8am is really inconvenient for many commuting working people too, with or without children. I think it's a rule designed to keep the patient list down.🙄

Sorry not RTFT, but the same here...one was a 6 week wait to see my GP, or the 8am phone call where I have to tell the receptionist why, this is my major problem...what happened to confidentially?

I've had some gynae problems that have needed urgent referrals that I don't particularly want to talk to the receptionist about, I've tried to say 'it's personal' only to be told I have to give them details of what I want to talk to my GP about....do I??? According to them 'yes' or wait 6 weeks....then I don't....