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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU - I have called the GP over 200 times this morning

540 replies

IAmADancer · 13/09/2021 09:12

Just that. I need to get a blood test referral for menopause symptoms but I can’t get through. I started calling at 8am and have called over 200 times. It’s still engaged.

I know that if I call back at 10am when it’s quieter they will tell me there are no appointments and to call back tomorrow. Then you go through the same routine all over again. I just want to access basic care. Feeling very frustrated

OP posts:
catfunk · 13/09/2021 14:23

It would help if you didn't hang up every few seconds Hmm

whatisthisinhere · 13/09/2021 14:23

You don't need a blood test really to confirm you're in menopause. If you really need one, cqn you book an online appointment? I never phone, because I know I won't get through

LukeEvansWife · 13/09/2021 14:24

@catfunk

It would help if you didn't hang up every few seconds Hmm
Several people have pointed out that it goes straight to an engaged tone
user1497207191 · 13/09/2021 14:26

[quote Faffinator]@Bagamoyo1 I agree demand is massively more than supply and I don't have an answer. But wouldn't it be a start for there to be multiple ways to access the GP and a variety of prebookable and non-bookable appointments? I know I'd get less of the rage if I could see via an app that there were no appointments available, rather than wait in a phone queue for 50 minutes to be told the same.[/quote]
This is the most important factor. The lack of consistency within the NHS is crazy. GP surgeries need to be instructed to provide online facilities for contacting the surgery, for booking appointments, etc. even more so when some continue to have locked doors. Likewise, they should also be instructed to provide proper appointment times for telephone consultations and not this ridiculous "sometime tomorrow" mentality where you can put down as a no show if you were engaged or had no mobile signal or just couldn't answer your phone quickly enough. I have no problem at all with phone appointments and have been in favour of them for many years, BUT, the current haphazard shambles needs to be rectified to make it fit for purpose.

user1497207191 · 13/09/2021 14:28

@whatisthisinhere

You don't need a blood test really to confirm you're in menopause. If you really need one, cqn you book an online appointment? I never phone, because I know I won't get through
As said many times upthread, lots of GP surgeries don't offer online appointment bookings, the ONLY way to get an appointment is to phone, especially as lots still work behind locked doors so you can't call into reception for appointments either.
KingsleyShacklebolt · 13/09/2021 14:30

@whatisthisinhere

You don't need a blood test really to confirm you're in menopause. If you really need one, cqn you book an online appointment? I never phone, because I know I won't get through
You do if you're like me and don't have periods because you've had a hysterectomy.

Why do people throw out such nonsense?

cptartapp · 13/09/2021 14:33

We let people pre book appointments. Up to three months in advance at the minute.
I think I had four no shows on Friday and another three not answering the planned phone call despite repeated attempts.

Grrreatt · 13/09/2021 14:38

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy

Also for those saying it’s not urgent, no offence but you are not me

Well, no offence but you do not need an emergency appointment. You don't have a life-threatening condition. You're not ask risk of injury or dying. You're just tired and pissed off.

Does your surgery have a website/online options? Otherwise, just wait until it's quiet and you can speak to someone.

If you have a life threatening illness or at risk of dying you should be going to hospital, not waiting in your GPs telephone queue Confused
girlmom21 · 13/09/2021 14:39

@LukeEvansWife

That story doesn’t help - person phones 96 times so jams up phone lines only to waste people’s time Shock
Yeah that was completely my intention because I had nothing better to do with my time... get over yourself.
NotMyCat · 13/09/2021 14:42

@Grrreatt that one is a bit tricky
I need infections treating quickly. Or I'm likely to get neutropenic sepsis. So I need antibiotics
If I spend 3 days trying to get through but can't, then I end up clogging up OOH because of a problem which could be life threatening when left

MsHedgehog · 13/09/2021 14:47

@LukeEvansWife How are people wasting time when you can’t even get through in the first place? You have to keep pressing redial until it finally connects, and then you have to wait for ages for a receptionist to answer.

youvegottenminuteslynn · 13/09/2021 14:55

@catfunk

It would help if you didn't hang up every few seconds Hmm
No it wouldn't because as numerous people have pointed out, with the type of system OP's surgery uses there is no queue function. You either get straight through to reception or an engaged dial tone. You can't wait on the line, there is no queue, you have to hang up and call again if you want to try to get through. It's literally either they answer or your call is not connected. No in-between. No middle ground. No queue.

I don't know why people don't seem able to grasp it? At least read OP's posts and it's clear.

skodadoda · 13/09/2021 14:55

@Greenandcabbagelooking

200 times in an hour? That means you spent 3 seconds per phone call. Have you tried holding on to see if you get an answer? You are probably in a queue, and every time to hang up you lose your place in it.
OP said it’s been engaged every time; not much point hanging on.
Grrreatt · 13/09/2021 14:57

[quote NotMyCat]@Grrreatt that one is a bit tricky
I need infections treating quickly. Or I'm likely to get neutropenic sepsis. So I need antibiotics
If I spend 3 days trying to get through but can't, then I end up clogging up OOH because of a problem which could be life threatening when left [/quote]
Fair enough but that poster made out as though GPs are solely for life threatening illness or risk of death.

They are absolutely not and you should still be able to speak with one even about a minor health issue.

Hospitals, A&Es etc.. are more suited to most life threatening / risk of death type situations, not GPs.

skodadoda · 13/09/2021 15:04

@redgoesfaster

Ridiculous posts suggesting OP does not need to see a doctor and should stop trying to get an appointment. It's not like she's called an ambulance for menopause symptoms. The NHS is clearly not fit for purpose if the front line GP service can't provide appointments, or even access to make appointments. What is most shocking is that instead of finding fault with the system most posters here pile on to the OP for having the audacity to seek medical care.
And this is why we’re sleepwalking into a private system. There are already media reports of people paying to see a gp privately.
Lougle · 13/09/2021 15:05

The trouble with all these things is that they're a sticking plaster to cover the real problem which is not enough people.

I did an e-consult for my DD on Tuesday. I should have been phoned by 6pm Wednesday according to their website. They didn't phone until Thursday, but I was in all day meetings Thursday and Friday, in a location with no reception. So they phoned again today, all sorted. The GP who phoned me said that they had 65 patients that they hadn't managed to phone on Friday, plus all of the weekend e-consults to start on. That's aside from all the patients who have phoned up.

Plumtree391 · 13/09/2021 15:05

Can you not just drop in?

lockdownmadnessdotcom · 13/09/2021 15:07

Supply is obviously much smaller than demand, but there are also ways GPs can make life easier. Allow multiple methods of contact/booking appointments.

Let people ask to see a nurse instead of a GP.

Let people ask for repeat prescriptions by email or phone depending on the patient's preference, given some older people can't use email. Also let people have more medication at one time - I know there's a risk of wastage but eg my DH gets eye drops every month, I would have thought it would be more efficient to let him get them every quarter.

Switch e-consult back on - it is ideal for sending a photo of a weird mole and asking to be referred. All the GP has to do is make the referral and reply to say it's done.

FreezerBird · 13/09/2021 15:11

@catfunk

It would help if you didn't hang up every few seconds Hmm
How will sitting there listening to the engaged tone help? Confused
snackodactyl · 13/09/2021 15:11

OP i’m sorry but i haven’t RTFT, does your gp surgery have a website? they usually have a link to an eConsult form on there due to Covid and you can fill in and request through that. they respond quite quickly and can action without going through all the motions of a face to face appt.

Thelittleweasel · 13/09/2021 15:12

@IAmADancer

Why not write a letter saying you cannot get through? Asking that the GP [or someone] calls you back. Blood tests are pretty rationed at present [in UK] as for various reasons there are no plastic tubes!

Original poster
IAmADancer · 13/09/2021 15:12

No, I can’t drop in. I can’t call later on in the day, I can’t wait in the queue as there isn’t one. I don’t even want a same day appointment.

All I want to do is speak to my GP about this, discuss it in the context of my medical history and conditions and what that means for me and be referred for the relevant blood tests. I would just like to be able to access my gp and I don’t think that is to much to ask.

For everyone giving me their opinions about what I do and don’t need in relation to this, whilst I understand your thoughts on what I should do, you are not me and don’t have my medical history. Because of this, telling me I don’t need a blood test or to see a GP is irrelevant. And I mean that in the kindest way possible

OP posts:
SpindleWhorl · 13/09/2021 15:15

I agree with @MrsAvocet and others about the system making work for itself.

I have a new GP who has this far cancelled seven different medications of mine, three of which were prescribed recently by hospital consultants. She has marked my repeat prescription records as ‘needing clinician reviews’ - three separate reviews.

Can I get these reviews? Can I fuck.

One of the meds, she already reviewed with me herself just 8 weeks ago and has now cancelled it again. This is a consultant prescribed med, prescribed indefinitely.

FairNotFair · 13/09/2021 15:15

Some of the posters on this thread - is it International Dickhead Day? Confused

YANBU, OP

girlmom21 · 13/09/2021 15:16

@IAmADancer

No, I can’t drop in. I can’t call later on in the day, I can’t wait in the queue as there isn’t one. I don’t even want a same day appointment.

All I want to do is speak to my GP about this, discuss it in the context of my medical history and conditions and what that means for me and be referred for the relevant blood tests. I would just like to be able to access my gp and I don’t think that is to much to ask.

For everyone giving me their opinions about what I do and don’t need in relation to this, whilst I understand your thoughts on what I should do, you are not me and don’t have my medical history. Because of this, telling me I don’t need a blood test or to see a GP is irrelevant. And I mean that in the kindest way possible

Why can't you call later in the day? Call now. You'd probably have got through in the time it took to write that post and could've insisted on a call back from a GP.