‘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?

We have to call at 8am for a same day appointment. You get put on hold and are told what number you are. You have to hold for a bit but you can get an appointment for that day. If you want to book an appointment in advance, you just call at other times.

[quote BungleandGeorge]@GreenlandTheMovie it appears that employers have to pay a contribution on on top and the 120 is only for the basic package and their are costs on top at the point of needing care. So it doesn’t cover as much? There is optional additional cover? How much is that? What is actually covered as there appears to be quite a number of exclusions[/quote]
It does cover as much - where are you getting that from? My friend has just had 3 lots of cancer surgery, with hospital stays, following years of 6 monthly monitoring that she probably wouldn't have got in the UK and plenty of follow up. The option of the higher payment is for people who want things like alternative therapies like accupuncture and reflexology and recuperative stays in spas included. And even then its not more than 200 euros a month.

Yes, the employers pay a higher contribution. But employers pay that here, don't they?

Its illegal to exclude people from the basic cover - which is probably more extensive and with shorter waiting lists than under the NHS. Neither can premiums go up for people who have used it a lot.

Its based on non-profit making "sickness funds" (ziekenfonds) who compete on the market, so if one fund got a reputation say for having very long waiting lists for life improving surgery, customers would leave it and move to another fund.

I gave up on my GP for emergency appointments and just use 111 for out of hours GP

Excuses although I would like my income tax bill as a sole trader to be 65% less and opt out of those things I listed, I do support a basic welfare state not that it ever seems to be there for me when I need it. However this thread shows it is not really working too well as originally planned in terms of seeing GPs.

Since a year ago I have been very against the losses of our rights and freedoms however so do not feel 12 months on and still in effect imprisoned by law at home with weddings banned in London from 19 Dec to 29 March 2021 even without guests and longer elsewhere I am not feeling at my happiest with Big State at the moment not all those people who got all that furlough money (honest sole traders who declared before tax profits over £50k get no CV19 help whereas PAYE employees even on £1m a year can be put on £2k a month furlough) as Sunak seems to hate the honest and those who lied about profits get the money. And those walking up and down our private road day in day out whose litter I collect every day from gloves, tissues, masks, drug stuff - trespassers to a man and idle to boot in terms of not working - some are up twice a day.

@Xenia - have you considered fitting a gate?

[quote MRex]**@Xenia - have you considered fitting a gate?[/quote]
😂!

@Xenia it's been a shit time for quite a few of us- fwiw I understand where your coming from.

I can’t imagine many on £1m a year on furlough. My friend has been on furlough for 12 months now and worried about her job and money 24/7.

Changed GP surgery to escape this ridiculous system. As many people do I was commuting to work at that time so the system basically stopped me accessing healthcare.

But then what's the alternative OP?

I know it's frustrating. I've been frustrated if I have called the surgery later in the day to be told I need to call at 8 am. At my surgery they are not even giving appointments 2 weeks ahead. It's a same day appointment or nothing.

It's difficult to get through as my surgery doesn't even seem to be able to allow a large number of people in the queue so I would call and get "call busy" several times and have to keep redialling and then at some point would get through to the queue (which I guess allows about ten people given I don't think the automated system has said there are more then single figures in front of me).

When I was going into the the office it has the added inconvenience that by 8 am I would ordinarily already be on the train to work.

But if I really needed an appointment I probably wouldn't be going to work anyway?

We used to be able to book appointments from midnight online which was still not ideal as I tend to be in bed by then but this isn't available since covid.

Thanks for acknowledging that it your comment was motivated by annoyance and you wouldn’t really want to dismantle the welfare state Xenia. I suspected as much but felt the need to push back against the implications.

I think this thread is a rare example of people talking about alternatives to the NHS which don’t just focus on the US system. I think the NHS does remarkable things with the underfunded budget it has, and has some huge organisational advantages, but it’s really creaking at the seams and has flaws, of which the indefensible faster finger first GP system is one.

I wouldn’t be ideologically opposed to a proper review which considered the merits of introducing a well-regulated state organised European-style insurance element, looking at which of our neighbours’ systems work best while keeping as many of the benefits of our existing centralised system as possible. But the chances of that kind of open discussion coming from either party any time soon is minimal.

Bear in mind also that if you did go down that route you’d inevitably have a whole new layer of mouths to feed, from the billing and insurance industry, so you’d be millions down before you dispensed your first aspirin.

ElderMillenial One alternative is econsult for everyone who can use it. It enables the doctors to triage properly, which the 8am scrum makes completely impossible.

It's awful, they build more and more and more housing estates, and no new gp surgeries. Developers and the government urgently need to fix this.

Meanwhile its on all of us to actually turn up and only use the gp when we really need it and do our part. They should also charge a nominal fee - say £5 - for missed appointments.

If they build more GP’s surgeries because of the population increase, more GP’s are needed and there is already a massive shortage. The average number of patients GPs should have on their list is 1,600 to provide a high-quality service. However the average number of patients per GP is currently 2,100.

ElderMillenial One alternative is econsult for everyone who can use it. It enables the doctors to triage properly, which the 8am scrum makes completely impossible.

I was sure my surgery started to do something like this, a triage system so that they actually assessed whether an appointment was needed. I think this is a better system but then people complained about being asked by the receptionist what was wrong.

I do wonder who is using all the GP appointments. I don't believe they can all be necessary.

@ExcusesAndAccusations

ElderMillenial One alternative is econsult for everyone who can use it. It enables the doctors to triage properly, which the 8am scrum makes completely impossible.

This!

We've had such a bad experience with econsult in the past!
I originally loved it and found it to be so efficient but the last time I used it, I didn't even get a response, then had to call and eventually after 3 weeks or so was told that they were waiting for an appointment to be free with my doctor (no update given without me chasing) but it turned out my doctor is also the leading gynaecologist so never has appointments free! The thing is, I only had an issue with my wrist and would have happily seen anyone and definitely didn't need to see a gynaecologist.
My daughter has been trying to get a prescription for over a month and every thing she has sent them has been 'lost' or something has gone wrong. Still no prescription and her being a young adult, she doesn't really cope with having to push things along or making a complaint.
It needs to work properly and they need to keep you updated.