‘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?

@Queenpaw. The reason the blood tests have to be done before specific times is that they’re sent to the lab for analysis and they pick up from the surgeries at specific times. Actually up until 3 is pretty good. We used to have a 12.30 pick up so all BTs had to be done by 12. The samples can’t be kept overnight unfortunately. It may also be worth checking with your surgery whether there is anywhere else locally you could get them done if you pick up the form from them, eg local hospital.

@darkbrownistheriver - we had an online system which was amazing. I used it twice for the kids last year. However, it's not been running since Jan, not sure why.

Our GP used to have online booking through an app and could usually get a same day or next day appointment.

Alternatively you could ring at 8:30 or 1:30 for same day releases.

But they've disabled the online booking system during covid and the three times I've needed a GP for either myself or DC in the last 365 days there weren't even telephone appointments available. But nurse appointments always available. Our nurses are prescribers as well so I'm more than happy to see them if available.

@Darkbrownistheriver they don't offer anything before 9 so 🤷🏽‍♀️ means I use all my holidays for blood tests as I need thyroid ones and neutrophil ones separately every 8 weeks
Then I've no leave from work left for hospital appointments
I just wish they did 8am slots

Ours works this way too (or at least it did before lockdown) but you always get an appointment same day if you call pretty much on the dot of 8.30am.

Since lockdown they've moved to the system @Darkbrownistheriver describes and I love it, I hope they keep it forever. I've had two GP appointments in the last year, both over the phone while I was at work the rest of the day. I emailed photos to the GP via a central email address so they could have a look, prescription rung through to my closest chemist, magical. In the second case they said probably best to come in, which I did but no waiting around, straight in and out.

It was a teeny bit annoying having to have the phone nearby on all morning in case they rang back, and of course the GP eventually rang when I was in a zoom meeting but in the olden days I would have had to take the morning off work entirely and sat for ages in the waiting room so this was much preferable to that!

My parents have retired and their health is just the best hobby ever.
My mum loves the 8.30am bunfight.
Repeat prescriptions, of course they want to see the doctor, they haven't talked about that ongoing complaint for months!
They love the NHS, they clapped every Thursday, think 1% is appropriate because it's a global pandemic and will continue to vote Tory because their business leadership is what it needs to shake things up.
My parents and in laws have drained every last penny they paid in out of the system recently. Heart ops, bunion sorting, stroke physio, cataracts, hearing aids, etc.
Meanwhile we have a skilled, 35 year old at work waiting 3years for an operation in so much pain he's finally on morphine, we've gradually got the story out of him and now he's off on SSP.
I'm waiting for an eye op but they're working through the cataract waiting list first rather than the middle aged quality of life - I look like a fucking pirate for nearly two years now.
We have HGV driver who's hernia is now so bad it will be months to recover. He thinks he can't afford it, so is totally ignoring it.
There's not even a middle-aged check up, a chance to motivate a lose weight, have a get a grip conversation before old age creeps in.

So it all depends who you ask.

My mum has this problem in her area, she has to ring 111 and if they think she needs a GP appointment that day they will get her one. I think they reserve some 111 slots. Ridiculous system that only treats immediate problems and not chronic ones so then people eventually present to A&E seriously ill when it gets too bad.

This is a system issue really. GPs were told to ensure urgent appointments are available a few years ago, and this is a consequence of that rubbish idea. They have to block out lots of appointments every day to ensure "urgent" appointments can happen, but it means for non-urgent things you have to wait ages, then eventually if you have to wait long enough, non-urgent things become urgent, adding to the demand.

Basically they need an in between system. It used to be that you couldn't get urgent appointments because all appointments were booked up, now with the "everyone call on the day thing" no one can get through!

My GP surgery is the same. I had to hold for 45 minutes the other week to get told the same - try again tomorrow. They are not booking any appointments at all. It is all just done via the 8-10.30am slot on the phone.

It really is a shambles.

And all with the news that GP referrals were down by 6 million in 2020 . I'm trying to be reasonable......but that shows a clear reduction in demand, not the opposite.

YANBU, our surgery has had this same system for years. From 8am the lines are blocked as so many people call in, when you do get through there is no appointment for a couple of weeks.

Over the last three years when I have needed a quick appointment (one for each son and one for me) I have not bothered, I just went private and paid £50 for a GP at the local BUPA hospital. I realize that might not be a solution for everyone, but it's far quicker to get through, the receptionist is far nicer and you can usually be seen on the same day.

I did the same for my Dad when he was desperate to see a GP for a UTI (he's in his 80s). He'd been fobbed off with a 17 day wait and was in agony. He called me in tears. I went to his house, arranged a private GP immediately he was prescribed antibiotics the same day. Within 12 hours he showed good improvement.

Our system is great. You just book online. Every morning up to 50 appointments come on line. You just pick which doc and which time slot you want.

Sorry you’re having a tough time getting an appointment.

@purplepufferfish Do they not offer afternoon appointments?

Our GP practice is the same, 'call on the day to make an appointment for that same day.' Only a phone call back though, you have to have your head hanging off to get an actual face-to-face appointment.

But we can call at 8.30 a.m, and also 2.00 p.m. They close for lunch at 1.00 p.m and re-open at 2.00 p.m. So we always call at 2.00 p.m.

We sit by the phone, punch the number in at 1.58 p.m, listen to the message that says 'the surgery is currently closed,' hang up, then keep pressing re-dial then hang up, re-dial then hang up, re-dial then hang up. t

Then eventually, we get 'welcome to XXXXX Medical Practice, press 1 for an appointment...' They pick up within 20-30 seconds, and we get a call back by 2.30 p.m, most of the time.

Maybe try that?

As I said though, it's only EVER a phone appointment, and neither me OR DH have managed to see a doctor face-to-face since last February 2020. We can't even get to see a nurse at the moment!

Also, (pre-covid pandemic!) we have a same-day appointment (if you can get through) or wait 3-4 weeks system. Very annoying. Some people I know (who live 20-30 miles away and go to different surgeries,) can get an appointment for 2-3 days time! AND it's a face to face one, even NOW. If it wasn't for the distance, and the fact that they don't accept anyone from more than 5 miles away, I would move surgeries!

@AllDoneIn

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.

THIS in spades! ^

I remember someone complaining about similar issues with the NHS about a year and a half ago (when CHAT still had a 90 day shelf life on it, so the thread is not there now.) They were complaining that they were struggling to get a GP appointment, and that the GP practice and the receptionists were unhelpful. They were absolutely ANIHALATED by the posters on there, for having the temerity to attack the hallowed NHS!

Different attitudes from many now that many more people are having the same issues!

@DGRossetti and @Disfordarkchocolate as far as I know, most surgeries have closed off the option to book online!

@Windchangeface

I felt as if I was being ungrateful for the service

You don’t need to keep adding these kinda ‘but ofc I’m still so lucky’ caveats. The NHS on the whole is a great privilege for the country, DH is an NHS doctor so trust me we ‘get it’.

However, some bits of it are also shit , overstretched, badly managed and not fit for purpose and it’s ok to identify that and call it as it is the NHS isn’t really ‘free’ we all pay for it so you’re allowed to have a reasonable level of expectation without being ‘ungrateful’!

You sound like you’re being totally messed around! GP’s having ‘minimum 2 week waits’ is the main reason A&E’s and out of hours are always bursting at the seams. I know they’re ‘trying their best’ but whilst they get to close their doors at 5/6pm and on weekends, those 20+ patients they ‘couldn’t fit in’ just end up at the hospital demanding care from even more over stretched services.

As it stands, although over stretched and still working very hard, GP’s have a pretty cushy deal compared to their hospital counterparts, though I doubt that’ll remain the case once contracts are renegotiated.

Brilliant post, and says exactly what I am thinking!

@gurglebelly

But frankly the appointment systems throughout the NHS are bloody ridiculous. I mean the whole 'sit and wait for a letter' approach from the hospitals is just as bad, because inevitably it's 'sit and wait for a letter, phone them because you can't attend the appointment they have given you, sit and wait for another letter, phone again......'

This ^ pisses me RIGHT off. DH had to go to a certain specialist for a certain course of treatment in 2018, and he had 5 appointments that were meant to be 6 to 8 weeks apart. He had the first one, and instead of just booking him in for the next one, (where he had his works calendar on his phone,) they said they'd send one out!

Every. SINGLE. TIME the appointment was when he was working. Every single time. The first one he booked the day off, but then with the second one, he wasn't able to, and so he had to change the appointment.

Then a week before the appointment, the bookings line called him to cancel, because the specialist 'would not be available,' and another appointment will come out to him. DH said he needs to make the (new) appointment now, on the phone, because of his odd shift patterns, and the high chance the appointment will be when he is at work.

They basically said 'well sorry but you did change the original appointment we gave you.

He said 'yes I cancelled if because I couldn't get the time off! And re-made it for a time I CAN make it. Now when this new appointment comes in a week, the chances are high that I will have to change this too! Can I not just make one over the phone now, while I have my shift pattern in front of me?' They said 'no it doesn't work like that.'

As a pp said, they can't just assume everyone is going to be able to make the appointment time and day they send out, and they can't just assume most people don't work!

This happened so many times over 5-6 months in 2018, that it almost reduced us to tears of frustration.

I can't even phone my GP, you have to do an econsult form online and then wait ( up to 24 hours) for a doctor to phone you and triage. Then maybe you'll get an appointment. I've got a few health problems, but I haven't seen a doctor face to face for at least a year. It was like this before Covid too, now it's even worse.

I complained to the practice manager who told me that the system works for the doctor ( I bet it does! ) and to book online appointments through the NHS app. This app doesn't let you do anything and tells you to phone the surgery!

I know I shouldn't, but I just don't bother any more.

@DinoRhino

I don't like your attitude, don't talk to me like that. I am smart but as a new mother, I considered going to the GP for a situation but as I was passing the hospital I went there instead. Luckily things worked out okay, but not everyone has medical insight, the day the encounter an issue is the day they want to see a doctor. If waiting 2 weeks works for you, then great, but that isn't suited to everyone.

Our GP surgery is more 'accessible' now than pre-covid.

You fill in an e-consult, they (a doctor) phone you to triage/help, and invite you to a same day appointment if they need to see you face to face.
You can also phone and again they phone back later in the day.

Our GP has been like that for about 10 years. I normally phone get booked in for 2-4 weeks time and then just go to the out of hours one at the weekend (get antibiotics) and then cancel the GP appointment.

@Nnovember well I don't like your thoughts that people should attend A and E unnecessarily... Completely bloody ridiculous and is contributing to the shit storm that is inappropriate use of NHS resources.

Going to a hospital, just because you were "passing" rather than going to a GP is a total fuck knuckle move, new mother or not.

@GlitterFairy01

Our GP has been like that for about 10 years. I normally phone get booked in for 2-4 weeks time and then just go to the out of hours one at the weekend (get antibiotics) and then cancel the GP appointment.

I think the point is that you CAN'T get an appointment for 2-4 weeks time at OP's gp (and mine).

[quote littlepattilou]@gurglebelly

But frankly the appointment systems throughout the NHS are bloody ridiculous. I mean the whole 'sit and wait for a letter' approach from the hospitals is just as bad, because inevitably it's 'sit and wait for a letter, phone them because you can't attend the appointment they have given you, sit and wait for another letter, phone again......'

This ^ pisses me RIGHT off. DH had to go to a certain specialist for a certain course of treatment in 2018, and he had 5 appointments that were meant to be 6 to 8 weeks apart. He had the first one, and instead of just booking him in for the next one, (where he had his works calendar on his phone,) they said they'd send one out!

Every. SINGLE. TIME the appointment was when he was working. Every single time. The first one he booked the day off, but then with the second one, he wasn't able to, and so he had to change the appointment.

Then a week before the appointment, the bookings line called him to cancel, because the specialist 'would not be available,' and another appointment will come out to him. DH said he needs to make the (new) appointment now, on the phone, because of his odd shift patterns, and the high chance the appointment will be when he is at work.

They basically said 'well sorry but you did change the original appointment we gave you.

He said 'yes I cancelled if because I couldn't get the time off! And re-made it for a time I CAN make it. Now when this new appointment comes in a week, the chances are high that I will have to change this too! Can I not just make one over the phone now, while I have my shift pattern in front of me?' They said 'no it doesn't work like that.'

As a pp said, they can't just assume everyone is going to be able to make the appointment time and day they send out, and they can't just assume most people don't work!

This happened so many times over 5-6 months in 2018, that it almost reduced us to tears of frustration.[/quote]
I'm having a nightmare with this too at the minute. I'm pregnant and under consultant led care, EVERY appointment is at a time when I should be doing nursery drop off or pick up, it's like they know

My very elderly parents have to join a queue at 6.30am at their GP surgery (standing outside the actual building) to get an appointment. By the time the phone lines are open and being answered all the slots for the day have gone. My father has cancer, my mum is blind with various heart conditions and it's utterly ridiculous.

I'm waiting for surgery (live a few hours away from parents) and had a medical secretary call me a week ago about the appointment for that and she promised she'd phone back that afternoon. I'm still waiting...

"There is indeed no in-between option at my surgery either. It's either same day or three weeks time".

The last time I was told the next available appointment with a GP was in three weeks time I self referred to the local private hospital.

My GP surgery remains closed to walk ins but they have now started the e-consult system. And when you do get through to them there is now a short message at the beginning of the call to listen to beforehand. Its become yet another version of a call centre.

Dp had this happen yesterday rang after 2pm to book a medical review as per instructions on the letter, to spend an hour trying to get through for them to tell him "you need to ring back at 8am"
This was just for a general appointment that could wait a couple of weeks too but no apparently covid means they can only book appointments at 8am.
Never mind what THEIR letter told him to do. In the end he said he would just call them back when they stopped refilling his prescription.

My very elderly parents know the shifts that the 'kind receptionist' does and only ring then.