‘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?

I quit the local gp surgery and went to gp at hand instead - so much better usually can get a video call same day and if I need to see someone I can usually get an appointment fairly quick - sometimes same day or the next day or 2

Oh and blood tests only done between 9-3
So I have to take a day off work for a blood test
Phone appointments when you eventually get one, have to take a full day off for that too because they can't tell you roughly when they will call and I work taking calls so..

It’s hopeless. How many people get sicker and sicker because they can’t get an appointment promptly, or just avoid seeing the doctor altogether? There has to be a better way than the 8am free-for-all.

Ours is brilliant. I was there collecting medications recently (on site pharmacy - rural surgery) and thought I'd book a blood test which I needed at the same time. I'd got my diary out but the receptionist said no no go straight through the nurse is free now.

On another occasion I needed a blood test , So the doctor told me on the phone and he suggested I came in that morning and he would do it because he was desperate to see a real life patient!

This is why I always end up having to use 111 service because I can't get appointments for things like mastitis!

My gp has had to put signs up to fill in the forms for repeat prescriptions because certain groups were insisting in booking an appointment just to see the GP to get a repeat 🙄

Also people going in with very minor issues that can be dealt with via a pharmacy, some pain relief and a bit of rest eg a cold.

The NHS is far too focused on acting as gatekeepers to deter people from wasting limited resources, rather than increasing resource

This. They assume everyone is a time-waster. I am lucky that I am healthy and never need a doctor from one year to the next. However, I will say that when I phoned and said my son had had stomach pains all night, they saw him at 9am. However, I don't think they realised until they offered the appointment that he was 17 - I think if they'd known that they would have put me off, but they thought when I said "my son" that I was talking about a young child.

My mum's surgery is rubbish, you can't even get a phone appointment the same day, sometimes you are waiting 10 days. Goodness knows what they are doing all day.

Mine are only doing book on the day appointments due to Covid. They don't like you phoning at all and want you to do everything online. For vulnerable or elderly patients who cannot do this it is a nightmare.

I have to phone in the morning for my dad whilst getting my kids ready for school. Then when you finally get through there are no appointments, rinse and repeat.

They tell you to phone 111 or go to the walk in centre, but none of those can do specialist referrals so if you have a medical problem that needs further investigation by a specialist it doesn't help you at all.

You used to be able to bypass the phone queue by going to the surgery in person but of course covid put a stop to that.

8am line open.
8am- 11am line engaged
11.01. Recorded message No appointments for today please ring tomorrow at 8am.

I changed from a surgery where pre-Covid people resorted to queuing outside the surgery to get an appointment at 8am, to one that has two practices within walking distance of my home.

The smaller practice tends to have appointments randomly through the day but specifically at school collection times so I can always get an appointment or through on the phone.

I suspect it helps that their larger practice is about 15 minutes walk away from an A&E as they know patients will just go there if they have infections/severe pain and can't get an appointment.

The annoying thing is that when they've run out of appointments for today, they won't let you book for tomorrow or even next week. You either have to do the same day thing or wait 6 weeks.

Our surgery is the same.. whether routine or emergency you can only call at 8am, so you have everyone calling at the same time, no proper call queuing, just please hang up and try again. If you’re unlucky they just say try again tomorrow! It’s an absolute lottery.. I could dial 50 times a day from Monday - Friday and still no luck, whereas someone could try first time on Friday morning at 8.02 and be the one call that gets through. I really wish they offered an online booking service, and would happily pay a “deposit” on an appointment to make that happen.

Our surgery has a duty dr system, basically if it's urgent you can ask to go on the list and the duty dr will phone you back and depending on the problem will give advice, arrange a prescription or arrange an appt with them or the nurse, same day if they feel it's needed.

You can ring up at any point during the day

I know we are so lucky to have free GP care but the wait times are worrying

As a pp said, we are not lucky and it is not free, we pay for it from our taxes and they earn very good money to provide the service so they should do better - a lot better in some cases.

We have an online booking service but they drip feed the release of slots so even that is a bit of a lottery but you can be lucky and get a next day slot if someone cancels.

I think there should be a deposit scheme for appointments to stop time wasters and ensure that people cancel. I know elderly people forget they have appointments, but there could be special arrangements for them.

@SeaToSki

This is why I am so glad I have American healthcare. I have always got through on the phone to my GP at anytime of day with occasionally a 2 min wait on hold. I always get a same day appointment, there is a walk in clinic for blood work and I can see a specialist easily, usually within 2 weeks of being referred by my GP

Except that you could get a similar service in Scandinavia, or France, or Australia without having to pay crippling insurance costs, deductibles or ever worry about leaving or losing jobs because of health insurance, or of people on lower incomes being bankrupted by health costs.

The NHS has its downsides and I don't think it's the best system, but having lived in both countries, I'd take the UK in a heartbeat. The US can offer better outcomes if you are wealthy - but even then, the lack of oversight of the subset doctors who'll do whatever their paying clients request (from implanting crazy numbers of embryos to prescribing highly addictive medications) is scary.

Ours has a triage system. If you want a same day appointment a dr reviews what it’s for and makes the decision who to give the appointment to. I’ve got appointments this way before, or after a quick chat with the dr a prescription sent to the closest pharmacy.

@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?

Yep constant source of annoyance here. Our surgery is two different locations under the same name and shares GPs, so everyone across both surgeries has one number to call. There is one person on one desk in one surgery fielding these calls. Statistically, it's unlikely you will get through, let alone get a call or actual physical appointment. For 3 weeks, I called at 8am and 2pm, trying to get hold of a GP, so we could get my DPs test results. No one called us. No one wrote to us. I rang and was told everytime the receptionist couldn't tell us over the phone we needed to speak to a GP. And for 3 weeks, twice a day, we would get told this, to be told there isn't any GP appointments or calls left. Call again at 2pm. Or 8am. Over and over. Last week I had enough of hearing it again, and being polite, and said, look, you must see we have called twice a day for near on 3 weeks. Can't you make a note of it for someone to call when they are available? Because clearly they need to discuss the results. So surely that makes more sense? You'd think I said I wanted someone to piss in her tea and spit in her eye. "You expect US, to tell the GP to call? Err, there is a pandemic you know". I wanted to point out they've been bloody useless since way before the bloody pandemic. But DP told me not to. She then said we couldn't get a non urgent appointment as that was two weeks away and the GP needs to speak to him.

Eventually, we got someone to call and indeed DP needs medication and will need to be seen at our local hospital at some point. The GP asked why we hadn't looked into his results before we DP really needs the medication. I explained I've been trying for 3 weeks and got nowhere.

I do wonder what these Surgeries (and others) will do once the restrictions are lifted and Corona is no longer a huge concern. Because I'm sick of people justifying bollocks behaviour with "it's a pandemic" said in a tone of patronisation as of you've failed to notice since March 2020.

The system needs a huge overhaul.

I hate this system too. Both me and Dp who have different doctors surgeries have this system and for dp it has meant that he cant access healthcare and hasnt been able to sort out some worrying issues for years as he cant face trying to arrange appointments

I can actually email a doctor at my surgery now which really helps, and they usually reply within two days. I find the ringing for appointment and then not knowing when they will call back, so stressful

YANBU at all. Ours has the same ridiculous system and a gatekeeper receptionist. We actually as a nation need to start complaining about poor medical treatment. Nothing seems to work around working age people. Covid has just given them the excuse to see as few people as possible.

I know we are so lucky to have free GP care
I’d actually prefer if it wasn’t free. Paying a nominal amount would discourage the time wasters.

Imagine being elderly and unwell and being on hold for the same length of time?
Imagine trying to get an appointment for your elderly wife/husband and you're not as strong as you once were, holding the phone?
Imagine the receptionist turning you away after holding the phone/arm aching for what seems like eternity?
And pre-covid you still relied on phone services because you struggled to walk the distance to the surgery.
Most NHS GP surgeries appointment system is a disgrace.

YANBU - it is a common and long-held thought that our own local GP surgery is not run for the benefit of ill people!