Doctors and appointments

[Niffler92]

Called doctors two weeks ago to get an appointment for breast pain I’ve been having a while but is getting worse. Told I’d have to wait two weeks for a phone appointment, explained to the receptionist that I thought I’d need seen but no that’s the system.

Phone appointment today and sure enough I have to wait another two weeks now to see a person.

How long do you wait for doctors appointments?

It depends, but recent experience with an ear infection was excellent - emailed in and they sent an time for a face to face appointment the following day. We do have very good surgeries round here.

@Purplewithred height of the pandemic it was great you’d give them all the info on the form
And they’d call you with in 48 hours, now it’s just awful.

Breast pain should be seen immediately and referred on to the two week cancer protocol. Call back and reiterate the the issue, and ask to speak to the practice manager as well.

That is really poor OP. In contrast, I rang GP surgery at 2pm today re child's suspected ear infection - had just picked them up from school early due to being in pain. Called back within 30 minutes saying doctor wanted to see her and appointment offered for 4.15pm. Back home by 5pm with antibiotics.

That's poor, OP. They basically wasted a phone appointment and delayed your care by 2 weeks. Phone isn't appropriate for that.

I thought it should have gone straight to a face to face appointment but receptionist was very much ‘computer says no it’s not an emergency’.

@Niffler92

I thought it should have gone straight to a face to face appointment but receptionist was very much ‘computer says no it’s not an emergency’.

I'd make a complaint.

Ridiculous isn't it?! I saw a poll that said 80% of GPs don't want to go back to pre pandemic F2F appointments. It's so sad.

I had the same experience with a dodgy mole. Almost 3 weeks to wait for a telephone appt, then GP wanted to see me (really, to look at a mole, who'd have thought?) another 2 weeks for a f2f appointment then I was on the 2 week cancer pathway.

Thankfully, it was all OK but what's the point of a 2 week pathway if it takes 5 weeks to get on it?

I know I’m so annoyed the receptionist said because I couldn’t feel a lump she couldn’t make it an emergency. It’s ridiculous that the best GP service I’ve had here was during a pandemic.

Sounds like a training or protocol issue, OP. I'd make a complaint or it won't change.

Oh and fingers crossed for you.

It's ridiculous. You wait two weeks to speak to someone on the phone and then give them the exact information you gave the receptionist. Where's the sense in it?
I had and still occasionally have pain in my breast. No lump. Referred. Not on two week pathway. (Tell them about your mums sister who has breast cancer.) Consultant lectured me about wasting his time. Said pain is not breast cancer. He said he'd examine me because I was there ( you'd better believe you will, buster) but found no lump. Had mammogram. It was last year, 23 March, first day of lockdown. No soap and no handgel in the consulting room! Anyway it was all clear. So that might ease your mind a bit. But probably not.

I'd say it could be dealt with on the phone, as it should be immediately referred to the breast cancer diagnosis pathway. They don't need to examine you to make the referral.

Either way, it's not acceptable. The vast majority of referrals are not cancer and require no further treatment, but your GP has delayed a potential diagnosis by four weeks now.

I hope everything goes OK when you do get seen.

@ColettesEarrings

Breast pain should be seen immediately and referred on to the two week cancer protocol. Call back and reiterate the the issue, and ask to speak to the practice manager as well.

That's just not true. Breast pain is very common, most women will experience it at some stage and on its own isn't an indication for urgent referral (or referral at all unless symptoms unmanageable). That said, I do understand that any new breast symptoms cause a lot of anxiety and a 4 week wait to be seen is pretty stressful. I just wanted to reassure you that the chances of it being anything serious are very very small (I'm a GP)

It’s not the receptionists fault, she will be following the protocol set out by the drs in that surgery. The surgery I work in is initial Phone calls and then f2fand the receptionist get a bollocking if they go against that. The practice meeting got heated when the receptionists asked for exceptions that we all know need f2f but the partners said No.
Receptionists are low paid, take an awful
Lot of abuse and just follow the orders of the practice they work for.
Not a training issue that needs reporting!

No not my experience, I phoned surgery on Monday about a lump I'd noticed in my armpit. I was very open with receptionist and had a F2F with a GP on Tuesday and have been referred on to the hospital on the 2 week thingy (and now got that appointment through for 25/9).

Been pretty good of late - most recently:
econsult form sent at 9am
phone consult around midday
called in at the surgery at about 1pm for face to face appointment
arranged a DIY cervical smear kit while I was there.
phone call the following week with test results
follow up appointment made for a month later - happened this week.

this week - realised I'd not had a mammogram in ages
called & have an appointment for four weeks time

Our doctors are still doing triage by phone with the receptionist, who then makes a phone appointment with the GP. It takes anything from 3 days to 10 days depending on how serious they deem your condition to be. If I say it's for a child under 6 or symptoms similar to an UTI then they'll give a same day phone appointment and then gp decides if you need to be seen.

Our doctors have just started doing f2f appointments again. Before you had to ring wait for a call back and then they'd decide if they needed to see you or not.
But it was always a same day call back and usually a same day appointment.
I would email the practice manager and complain. I'd also change GPs and find one that doesn't make you wait 2 weeks for a phone appointment. That's shocking.

Phone call back by end of the next working day

If they need to see you after that then within 48 hours (and in fairness that was only because the doctor I had the phone appointment said she wasn't working the next day and she'd rather see me herself but if I wanted to see a different doctor I could have an appointment the next day

It's frustrating but acute breast pain alone is not an indication for an urgent/2 week wait referral.

You should expect a face-2-face GP appointment for this problem.

Can you do an e-consult at your GP practice? Things to also mention include: any breast changes, history of injury, breastfeeding, redness, fever, signs of infection, & last menstrual cycle, for example to exclude other causes of pain

Sorry if I miss any questions, the gp agreed with the receptionist, it’s stupid that the message you have to listen to before you get answered reminds you to tell the receptionist about your symptoms because it’s confidential.

@Newhorizon21 sadly they’ve stopped doing e consult I loved it as you could tell them everything before you spoke to them, but they’ve ditched that and the booking system through the patient access app.

@Niffler92 I love e-consult for the same reasons, it's a shame they've stopped it.

On first read of your post I missed that you've had the pain for a couple of weeks. Good advice above about contacting the practice manager