Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
LukeEvansWife · 14/09/2021 10:38

Actually I wasn't one of those who shamed her for needing an appointment. I empathised because our health centre has the same problem and you can never get through.

SpindleWhorl · 14/09/2021 10:47

AIBU might as well be renamed 'The Ducking Stool'.

RuggerHug · 14/09/2021 10:48

Ah but pizzacrust if everyone read and understood what was being said it wouldn't be nearly as fun here Grin

lockdownmadnessdotcom · 14/09/2021 10:56

Complete nonsense like mild eczema and ear wax

Well it's not for you to decide what's urgent and what isn't (and anyway GPs are meant to be there for ROUTINE care).

If you have eczema you may have steroids and therefore need GP supervision.

If you have ear wax you may be slowly turning deaf and it might be that in your area the GPs will deal with it (in most they do not).

Anyway they have been talking about that but had some other condition.

It does beg the question why people were in the waiting room at all - I thought you had to wait outside until your appointment in these covid times.

Rozziie · 14/09/2021 11:01

@lockdownmadnessdotcom

Complete nonsense like mild eczema and ear wax

Well it's not for you to decide what's urgent and what isn't (and anyway GPs are meant to be there for ROUTINE care).

If you have eczema you may have steroids and therefore need GP supervision.

If you have ear wax you may be slowly turning deaf and it might be that in your area the GPs will deal with it (in most they do not).

Anyway they have been talking about that but had some other condition.

It does beg the question why people were in the waiting room at all - I thought you had to wait outside until your appointment in these covid times.

Right, so then doesn't it follow on that someone who isn't sleeping and is having all kinds of weird symptoms is also deserving of an appointment?

Why isn't the person who might need steroids for eczema not told to wait because it's just eczema and it won't kill them? Why isn't the person with the ear wax told to use an OTC treatment or pay for private microsuctioning, or just wait because being a bit deaf won't kill them?

Why is it only women like the OP who are shamed for needing to see a doctor?

And no, you don't have to wait outside. I go to the hospital and GP regularly and you wait inside, now with many maskless people.

Deletesystem33 · 14/09/2021 11:01

@Xenia

If they would just let us opt out and reduce our annual tax bill that would be something but to have to pay through the nose huge sums in tax and have basically no NHS care is a bit much.
Do you have to mention this on every single thread about the NHS?

We get it, you're rich and healthy.

RufustheBadgeringReindeer · 14/09/2021 11:04

cryalot

I am also not over 45 but have a pre existing condition that would need managing if I am in early menopause. Hence the need for the blood test

The above is what the OP said, youve no idea what her condition is so you felt you should be snide about menapause being a serious illness

RufustheBadgeringReindeer · 14/09/2021 11:04

Excellent post pizzacrust

RufustheBadgeringReindeer · 14/09/2021 11:13

It does beg the question why people were in the waiting room at all - I thought you had to wait outside until your appointment in these covid times

If ive learnt anything from this thread its that surgeries are all very different

Brefugee · 14/09/2021 11:28

Why should someone with excema - mild or not - pay for (ineffective) OTC treatments when they already pay NI ? My own excema has never responded to anything but steroids and it's on the slightly-more-than-mild category.

What do posters here think the GP is for? I'm aghast at a GP saying "come back in 6 weeks" and leaving it to chance.
My GP (not in UK, not private) would make sure their notes for the day include the instruction that an appointment is to be given before I leave the surgery.

I don't know what depresses me more: the slow death-spiral of the NHS (GP surgeries in particular) or people's attitude that you must only ever go if you only have 5 minutes left to live.

Rozziie · 14/09/2021 11:44

@Brefugee

Why should someone with excema - mild or not - pay for (ineffective) OTC treatments when they already pay NI ? My own excema has never responded to anything but steroids and it's on the slightly-more-than-mild category.

What do posters here think the GP is for? I'm aghast at a GP saying "come back in 6 weeks" and leaving it to chance.
My GP (not in UK, not private) would make sure their notes for the day include the instruction that an appointment is to be given before I leave the surgery.

I don't know what depresses me more: the slow death-spiral of the NHS (GP surgeries in particular) or people's attitude that you must only ever go if you only have 5 minutes left to live.

Indeed, and so why should someone with worrying symptoms like OP has be fobbed off with medication and no testing?

I have no idea why so many people here seem to think a GP is some kind of lifesaving urgent service. Her issues most definitely are nowhere near the most trivial thing people go to the doctor for.

UnderstandThis · 14/09/2021 12:18

I don't understand the attitude of a PP going on about people turning up at the GP with just eczema etc...

Surely, imo anyway, the whole point of the GP is that you go to them with smaller/milder health issues than you would go to say a hospital about.

You don't have to have a broken leg or a baby turning blue to request an appointment with the GP in fact you shouldn't be bloody phoning the GP for things like that!

And just eczema made me incredibly poorly last year. I had it in my ears. Both ended up with a nasty infection that was missed repeatedly by the GP, I was bleeding from both ears unable to hear anything at all and my ear canals were swollen shut. I wrote about it on here at the time and ended up going to the hospital where I was immediately put on strong antibiotics and told I have a very bad infection which could have lead to sepsis if left any longer.

Surely it's better that people with milder issues can see a GP sooner, so that it doesn't end up like that if left? Mild issues won't always stay mild, what's the point in leaving things until they are so bad they need more care?

Rozziie · 14/09/2021 12:23

@UnderstandThis

I don't understand the attitude of a PP going on about people turning up at the GP with just eczema etc...

Surely, imo anyway, the whole point of the GP is that you go to them with smaller/milder health issues than you would go to say a hospital about.

You don't have to have a broken leg or a baby turning blue to request an appointment with the GP in fact you shouldn't be bloody phoning the GP for things like that!

And just eczema made me incredibly poorly last year. I had it in my ears. Both ended up with a nasty infection that was missed repeatedly by the GP, I was bleeding from both ears unable to hear anything at all and my ear canals were swollen shut. I wrote about it on here at the time and ended up going to the hospital where I was immediately put on strong antibiotics and told I have a very bad infection which could have lead to sepsis if left any longer.

Surely it's better that people with milder issues can see a GP sooner, so that it doesn't end up like that if left? Mild issues won't always stay mild, what's the point in leaving things until they are so bad they need more care?

Oh my God. Can anyone on here read? I was responding to people shaming OP for not going to the doctor with her (quite serious) symptoms, saying that other people need it more. My point is that they don't need it more - people aren't going to the GP with their arm hanging off, they're going with stuff like OP, or less serious things. That's what GPs are for. If it's fine to go with eczema or ear wax, it's definitely fine to go with something that's stopping you sleeping and causing pain and discomfort. It's toxic to make OP feel that she shouldn't be bothering the doctor with something that could actually be quite serious.

GPs aren't for emergencies - that's the entire point.

UnderstandThis · 14/09/2021 12:26

I can read. And your reply made it sound like you were scoffing at the idiots in the waiting room there for just mild eczema or ear wax

"you're fine OP because some people turn up with ridiculous things like mild eczema!".

UnderstandThis · 14/09/2021 12:27

And I wasn't just replying to you either. There have been other poster's who've made out OP shouldn't be ringing the GP because she doesn't have a broken leg or some other emergency you shouldn't be going to the GP for.

Rozziie · 14/09/2021 12:41

@UnderstandThis

I can read. And your reply made it sound like you were scoffing at the idiots in the waiting room there for just mild eczema or ear wax

"you're fine OP because some people turn up with ridiculous things like mild eczema!".

The point is, these things ARE ridiculous/minor compared to what OP is experiencing. I'm not saying they shouldn't be there, I'm saying they definitely don't deserve to be there more than OP.

Do you just not understand the concept of context?

UnderstandThis · 14/09/2021 12:42

I understand perfectly well, you really don't need to continue trying to imply you think I'm daft. I don't need to agree with you. Do you understand that?

Rozziie · 14/09/2021 12:43

@UnderstandThis

And I wasn't just replying to you either. There have been other poster's who've made out OP shouldn't be ringing the GP because she doesn't have a broken leg or some other emergency you shouldn't be going to the GP for.
Yes, and I agree with you. GPs aren't supposed to be for emergencies, and nobody should feel like they're wasting time by going unless it's genuinely and obviously something they could just sort out themselves. New, concerning symptoms don't fall under that. OP needs to be tested and diagnosed.
Rozziie · 14/09/2021 12:44

@UnderstandThis

I understand perfectly well, you really don't need to continue trying to imply you think I'm daft. I don't need to agree with you. Do you understand that?
So you think OP should wait behind people with ear wax and ingrowing toenails? If not, you haven't understood my point.
UnderstandThis · 14/09/2021 12:46

No I don't think that. I think there was no need for you to bring other people's medical issues into your point and make out they are stupid in comparison to OP. And I'm not the only person who's disagreed with you. I'm sorry you find that difficult to accept.

Rozziie · 14/09/2021 12:58

@UnderstandThis

No I don't think that. I think there was no need for you to bring other people's medical issues into your point and make out they are stupid in comparison to OP. And I'm not the only person who's disagreed with you. I'm sorry you find that difficult to accept.
Well, there was, wasn't there? Because the entire point was that OP is no less deserving than anyone else to go to the GP. It's not as if everyone else has these urgent, terrible issues and OP will be laughed out of the surgery. People go about things that are objectively much less serious, so she should absolutely expect to get an appointment and not be fobbed off.
Spidey66 · 14/09/2021 13:09

@Rozziie
Originally i thought you were saying those with eczema/earwax shouldn't be at the GP, now I realise I misunderstood.

I do actually agree with you....GPs are there for routine things, and people shouldn't be criticised for not having serious enough complaints when attending.

Jeez, pre-covid, I went because it hurt when I went to the loo and there was some blood. I struggled for about 2 months. I was certain it was either piles or an anal fissure, but felt it needed diagnosis. It was indeed an anal fissure. It's happened since, and I know just to use lactulose and suppositories. Should I have gone? Of course, if only to reassure myself it was nothing more sinister and now I can easily manage it by going to Boots.

wateraddict · 14/09/2021 15:01

Are your trying using a mobile OP? I have realised using my landline gets me through much more easily, might be a similar set up so could be worth a try?

prettybird · 14/09/2021 16:00

Have to say, threads like this make me very grateful for our GP practice.

Telephone appointments: can always get through and then there's semi-triage from
the receptionist but if it's urgent you get a same day call back from a doctor. If it's non-urgent and you want to speak to "your" doctor (because they know your history) you can make an appointment for them to call you, but it might be a few weeks hence. The doctor will then either prescribe/advise/refer from the telephone appointment or arrange a face-to-face appointment.

This is inner city Glasgow.

My dad's surgery, other side of the city in the suburbs, is the same.

Ds, a student up in Aberdeen, woke up in the morning with a stomach ache (this was in the middle of one of the Lockdowns) and contacted us about 8.30 saying he wasn't feeling well. We eventually persuaded him (via WhatsApp) to ring his surgery which he did about 11. Got a call back from the doctor about 3.30. She assessed that she needed to see him immediately and he got to the surgery at just after 4 (a friend gave him a lift, despite Covid). By 5pm he was at Foresterhill (the big hospital in Aberdeen) and by midnight he was going in to theatre to get his appendix taken out which is what I suspected as soon as he described his symptoms Shock

My dad got a pacemaker fitted on the same day as seeing the cardiologist (on another matter but he a retired radiologist himself had commented that he was experiencing an irregular heartbeat, which he could see on his Apple Watch) Shock (dh and I had to play musical cars to get his car home from the hospital as he wasn't allowed to drive home to get his pyjamas etc as he could have fainted at any time Shock).

So the NHS can work well Smile

None of which helps IamaDancer Sad - but I just wanted to illustrate with my family's experience that the NHS is not dreadful everywhere.

I can only suggest that, in addition to ringing daily trying to get through that you register an official complaint (or "comment"/feedback) about the lack of accessibility. If you have to do that by post because of the lack of an on-line means of contacting them, then so be it.

JeffGoldblumsGlasses · 14/09/2021 16:45

@Seasidemumma77

I received a letter today from gp surgery asking me to call and book an appointment for 6wk post surgery checkup with doctor. I phoned to be told no advance appointments being made I'll have to phone when 6wks reached daily at 8am and 2pm until I successfully get a telephone appointment, where a doctor will then book me a face to face appointment. Absolute lunacy
seasidemumma77 yeah I had one of them. I tried once at 8am didn't get through, never bothered again funny enough 12 weeks after my surgery the GP office phoned me to ask why I hadn't been for my 6 week post surgery check up.

I just said I did try I phoned at 8am never got an appointment and couldn't be bothered to waste my life trying the line every day at 8am.

Phone went silent. They tried to book me in to come see the GP. But after 12 weeks and dissolvable stitches not too sure what the point was so I declined the appointment 🤷🏻‍♀️ they hung up on me in a huff 😂

Swipe left for the next trending thread