To wonder what my GP surgery are playing at

[midsummerflowers]

They open at 8. I’ve been calling since 8. It just rings out and now I can’t get through at all.

What the hell is the point of being a doctor that no one can get through to?

@StrictlyAFemaleFemale

Have you tried turning up at 8 am and booking in person?

They won’t let you in the door

It's the same with mine. Try to call at 8.30 and Mondays are the worst and it just says user busy!

@midsummerflowers OK, I think you’re more in need of these than me to tonight so here you go:

Hope your baby is OK; try to relax and enjoy the weekend now x

@Fiddliestofsticks

Our GP no longer take phone calls at all. You fill out an online appointment form and they call you back with your appointment time. So you can fill it out in the middle of the night or 6am or whenever and they go through them from 8am and call you back with appointment times. It's actually really good. I filled it our at 2pm the other day and thought I wouldn't her back until the next day but they called within half a hour and got me an appointment the following morning first thing.

So how does someone, (usually elderly), who isn’t online, access your GP?

@SupermanInk Do you? I never pity myself: it’s the key to happiness

Do you?

I really do. We have a mum here to a very young child who is frustrated and concerned for her child’s health, yet you lack compassion for her. You’ve ignored her posts.
The system is broken. You’ve gone off on your own agenda.

It doesn’t matter. The OPs child now has medication.

Why is the system here so bad?

I’ve lived in several countries and outside of U.K. accessing healthcare has been much easier. Does the NHS need more GPs, or do patients need to stop relying so heavily on GPs?

Clearly current situation is unsustainable.

she clearly is on the wind up, don’t worry about it. Best ignored.

I know, it just annoys me on your behalf. I will take your advice and just leave the thread now. Hope your little one is ok.

We get over 100 calls per minute at times. Our phone system just can't cope and often seems as though it's either just ringing out or not working at all.

It isn't that you, your baby or all the seriously ill people that need us aren't important. It's that we don't have the resources to treat everyone. Locums are almost impossible to get, we have long standing vacancies, staff sickness, either COVID related (them or family members) or stress. Plus school bubbles bursting.

All the people who sat on "minor" issues when they thought it was too dangerous to come to us now trying to get appointments.

No extra capacity has been created. We've also lost staff to more "worthy" causes (some quite to take up temporary positions in COVID wards).

I really wish we could see everyone who needed us.

The system is broken. If no one can answer the phone because they are all on other calls then the system needs overhauling. This is not the fault of anyone in GP surgeries. They need urgent funding to pay for more phone lines (and in rural areas etc powers to make telecoms companies install the lines) and staff to answer them. If 100 people call one line at once of course it will cut out and the two receptionist cannot answer them all at once. Telephone companies charge for the amount of people you can have waiting on hold and so if the surgery pays for more capacity to be waiting then they employ less people to see patients…..

So they haven't seen baby but prescribed antibiotics, words fail me. Our surgery has been grim phone call wise, internet wise good. Five grandchildren v young they all get seen in person every time.

@Menora

I know it’s frustrating for you, many staff are in tears every day too at the sheer volume of calls and patients I am considering leaving primary care

You should consider joining my GP then, there was a group of 3 staff cackling so loudly when I went in to pick up a blood test form that the woman dealing with me had to ask them to keep it down. It was like walking into a beauty parlour

@Cbtb

The system is broken. If no one can answer the phone because they are all on other calls then the system needs overhauling. This is not the fault of anyone in GP surgeries. They need urgent funding to pay for more phone lines (and in rural areas etc powers to make telecoms companies install the lines) and staff to answer them. If 100 people call one line at once of course it will cut out and the two receptionist cannot answer them all at once. Telephone companies charge for the amount of people you can have waiting on hold and so if the surgery pays for more capacity to be waiting then they employ less people to see patients…..

We also have a queue out the door every monday morning, and walk ins every other day as well, so we have 3 receptionists (whose jobs are literally just to answer the phone and check patients in) and one of them is dealing with walk ins, so 2 to answer the phones AND reply to emails AND the text system.

All healthcare staff are at breaking point through overwork. I don’t think anyone who hasn’t worked in the NHS knows just how hard staff work.
It is chronic under resourcing that’s the issue. Please write to your MP, vote thoughtfully, and (if you know it’s not serious) maybe your community pharmacist could help a great deal.

My dd has had a dermatogical issues on her face since February which has severely impacted her already poor mental health. We must have had at least 7 telephone consultations with photos sent since then and too many to remember medications. Yesterday was the final straw. I demanded she be seen. As soon as the doctor saw her, she diagnosed it and gave her the right medication, saying she really should have been seen back then and this would be clear.
This is a minor thing, imagine what else has gone missed? Seriously, how can a photo diagnose??

We know the NHS staff are overworked but if it's taken 7 appointments for @Lepetitpiggy daughter to be diagnosed with something that could have been done at the first appointment.... if things are done properly the first time it saves a lot of resources

@England101 There would be more doctors if the Practices paid a fair amount to locums and other temps and not paid Partners so much.
That was my point.
Another point is how much extra tax would one be willing to pay?
Or how much would we pay per visit if we had to?

Just before this, she was allowed in to talk about her mental health so it's not as thought they weren't offering it. It's such a shame.

V, v good friend has just resigned as a GP - has done it for 35 years .

She’s been working from 7am, gets home 9-10pm in the evening, sometimes working through til 2am and expected to use days off to catch up, for CPD and practice management . Not sleeping, eating, etc - she had to leave or she was going to end up ill herself .

No longer sustainable .

She was a fucking marvellous GP and it’s a shame the NHS have lost her, and hundreds like her .

Postcode lottery aswell the gp surgery we had at our old house was shocking rude receptionists and nurses could never get an appointment. Our new one up the road is brilliant couldn't ask for better. They don't have the 8am phone in they've got 2 phone lines one for general which goes to the reception and one triage line which nurses answer yes you're sometimes on hold and it's not open all day long but so far the service has been great.

On our local marina a boat owner admitted he had recently retired as a GP stress. His wife had booted him out to boat play because he was under her feet so much 😅