To think that people don't realise...

[OhNoHelloSnow]

That there's way more healthcare professionals who can help them other than just the "GP or A and E NOW " options?

Seen so many threads recently where people haven't been able to get an appointment with a GP so think A and E is the only option left but are unwilling to try GP Nurses, Nurses Practitioners, Pharmacists, Rapid Response Care Teams (where available and if applicable), Self Referrals to services like Podiatry, or Physio, or IAPT (where applicable), 111, Out of Hours Hub GPs etc.

Just feeling like this all contributes to our over stretched GPs and A and E departments at the moment.

I think it would be good if large pharmacies or clinics could have drop in appointments for a nurse prescriber.

I had a child with glue ear and repeated burst ear drums. To get referrals to a specialist you need an appointment every time there's an infection, plus with young children you don't always know if it's teething or an infection but a nurse can tell in seconds. Same with a cough vs a chest infection vs asthma etc.

A drop in service could help eliminate lots of appointments for minor ailments that are too serious for a pharmacist but don't really need a gp, and would take the pressure off the booking lines.

For most services we have to go through our GP for referral so it's not easy for everyone. To even get an appointment we have to use Doctorlink which is utterly shite and only signposts to needing A&E or Gp and self care.

MissyB1
1: sign posting to appropriate services is poor or even non existent.
2: accessing these “other services” isn’t necessarily easy either! They are also busy and under resourced.
3: can we please stop blaming patients for the state of the NHS, let’s put the blame where it belongs- with the Government.

^This

Sick of this race to the bottom with people blaming each other for everything. The order of chaos, with the government laughing at the working classes turning on each other.

I'm amongst the millions who pay National Insurance and I wont be guilt tripped into not using NHS when I need to.

Even the HCPs in my family, one being a nurse practitioner, think that it’s too difficult for people to access appropriate services for them to be effective.

I spent twenty minutes trying to get through to our surgery yesterday. When the receptionist finally picked up the phone, and I got to make a routine appointment, it was for three weeks time. It was, a phone appointment, which necessitated that I had to wait in all day, as they won't give a time!!
How are they getting away with this?

YANBU that people don't realise - but whose fault is that?
I've needed referrals for quite a few conditions and every site directs me back to my GP. It takes ages to find anything else.
People are busy, and don't have the time to spend ages on Google or on the phone to various services.

Come up with solutions not blame OP

Because its seems embarrassing. If they want me to use a pharmacist for medical questions I want privacy there and then not have to ask for it.

Also to add as a developer I'll be happy to take on the making of this app personally. Assuming there's an API. You call can be my beta testers

111 Just directs me to general NHS pages with millions of redirects

*you lot can

At our surgery it is still nigh on impossible to get any kind of face-to-face or even telephone appointment with anyone at all, GP, nurse, nurse practitioner, whoever. We don't have a walk-in centre within about 45 minutes' drive, and how are you supposed to self-refer when you're ill and need a diagnosis first?

@DeeCeeCherry

MissyB1 1: sign posting to appropriate services is poor or even non existent. 2: accessing these “other services” isn’t necessarily easy either! They are also busy and under resourced. 3: can we please stop blaming patients for the state of the NHS, let’s put the blame where it belongs- with the Government.

^This

Sick of this race to the bottom with people blaming each other for everything. The order of chaos, with the government laughing at the working classes turning on each other.

I'm amongst the millions who pay National Insurance and I wont be guilt tripped into not using NHS when I need to.

Its a combination of the both though, why shouldn't people also take responsibility for themselves and their communities?

My street is full of young families though not elderly people!

That doesn't mean that they don't have health problems.

Plenty of young people have significant health problems but look fine to the casual observer - otherwise known as an invisible disability.

111 also has a tendency to dispatch ambulances 'just in case', so ringing them for advice can result in them sending an ambulance when you would never have called for one yourself.

While it can take ages to go through by phone our GP receptionists are actually not bad screening calls and making appointments with a nurse practitioner instead of a GP. In the majority of cases no further GP is needed but if you just stay at the surgery (well, in olden days) and would be seen.

But then they cut the nurse days short, the male nurse doesn't cover "female" problems and it means you still wait for ages to talk to someone.

Getting a physio who does self-referal is like gold dust, they prefer a referal or paying customer.

I

Not all services are available in all areas

While our walk in centre is advertised as walk in we need an appointment in reality or they send you away

Our nurse practitioner retired

You need to be referred by the doctor for everything and beg for them to do it

We had a minor injuries unit it replaced the a&e that was moved over 20 miles away it was successful it was also closed due to covid and never reopened my friend had a bad fall her leg was swollen called the doctor surgery they said go to minor injuries (which is closed and next door so the surgery knows its fucking closed) this is not something the doctor deals with (minor injuries is nurse led) she contacted 111 who said the same you need an xray its not for A&E to deal with just go to minor injuries its showing on our system as open (its really fucking not) she went to the chemist who said you need to see a doctor FUCKING TELL THE SURGERY THAT THEN so they rang next door (the doctors) and told them they needed to see her

She has had no xray but they are "confident"its not broken because she can weight bear I pointed out I could weight bear when my foot was broken

The pharmacist is also great. They have fab advice to my son regarding something on his finger and we were able to purchase some cream for it. The thing (a bit like a wart but not) was gone within about a fortnight.

I think going to the pharmacist can be hit or miss though.

My dd had a very sore throat had been ill for a couple of days and since it was the weekend i phoned 111. They said that we should go our local chemist and speak to the pharmacist where the pharmacist can then look at my dd’s throat and if she feels that she needs medication she can prescribe it.

She didn’t look at her throat, actually refused to but said it sounded viral so gave us a throat spray.
First thing Monday morning I phoned the drs and got an appointment with a GP who diagnosed tonsillitis.

Other dd had a uti, the nurse gave her antibiotics which didn’t work and since it was the weekend by this point we read online that you can go to the pharmacist and they can prescribe you medication. We went to 2 chemists where they refused to even speak to her about it, just said to keep drinking water and she’d be fine. She ended up phoning 111 who were great and made up a prescription for her to collect from the out of hours drs at our local hospital. If the first antibiotics don’t work they are supposed to give you different ones but the pharmacist didn’t want to know.

However same dd had a bit of dry skin on her finger which was really sore and no matter what it she put on it it wouldn’t clear up. We were away for the day and she popped into Boots to speak to the chemist there and ask if there was a cream she could buy to help it. They looked at it then gave her a cream for it and they even prescribed it for her, just looked her up on the system, so she didn’t even have to pay for it. So very good service from that branch of Boots, but not our local one sadly.

Hit post too soon. I also meant to say I’m not against asking at the chemist first if it’s something that they can probably help with, we just don’t always get good results.

I agree in general but you can’t always self refer to some of these additional services. Eg for physio, at least where I am, you need to have spoken to a GP first. Then you wait 3 weeks and miss the call with the phone quite literally in your hands waiting, it goes straight to voicemail.

@Ricekake because people have better things to do. And other countries can do it , so what's our excuse?

Wouldn't 111 be great if it could signpost folks to available services in their area and refer if needed?

Need an emergency dentist? Call 111. Need a physio referral? Call 111. Need a podiatrist? Call 111.
I don't believe GPs should be the stopgap to these services.

For those who don't know (and can afford it!), you can self-refer to private consultants without going through the GP. Dermatology, gynaecology, ENT, etc.

I've decided to change my surgery. I just can't cope with how awful mine is any more. They've fucked up my prescription again!! The final straw for me was my neighbour telling me that months ago (pre covid) while he was waiting to be called, he heard a full blown conversation between the receptionist and a patient calling, trying to make an appointment. It was on speakerphone!! . Who knows how many more times this has happened.

I would have reported the receptionist there and then. This is a serious breach of confidentiality.

While I agree that some people misuse the NHS, I think in many areas, there is a lack of alternative services and they are not well signposted or easily available.

I am rural but about 8 miles from the nearest town. There is a GP surgery in the next village. It would, in all honesty, knitting fog would be easier than getting an appointment.

You can never book in advance as all the appointments are always taken there is 4-6 week wait on those.
So, you ring at 8am and spend 45 minutes on hold to be told 'no same day appointments left'.

There is a 7 day access service - I tried them twice - fully booked.

111 is frankly not great. Again, up to an hour on hold, to be told you need a GP appointment. Except you can't get one (see above) so 'a doctor will ring'. Waited until 8pm one night for a call regarding my son's ear infection- still no one had called.

You ask about nurses - no appointments with them either.

We did have a (well used) walk in centre in town but it closed in March 2020 and is now permanently closed

In fairness, our village pharmacy is pretty good but can't prescribe things like antibiotics.

I need relatively regular physio due to a spinal problem. I pay privately for that as the NHS list is so long and the one time I went, they couldn't have been less interested. Think they realised it was a long term problem and didn't want me taking up regular appointments.

All of the above are largely due to lack of adequate funding but it does make it very difficult for people.

I'm fortunate not to require medical attention often but I can perfectly see why people become frustrated and go to A&E.

Where I live we have both A+E departments and Urgent Care departments (also known as Minor Injuries).
My daughter has some health issues and we have at times taken her to the Urgent Care rather than A+E. Sometimes we have then been sent onwards to A+E but usually we don't need that.
Recently when I was visiting my parents I put a question on the local Facebook group asking whether the town has a Urgent Care centre, is it based at the hospital etc.
I got probably about 30 different answers all saying different things. I am still not entirely sure if my parents town has a Urgent Care centre (thankfully didn't need one)
It's all so confusing. It needs to be much more uniform all over the UK.

@userxxuser GPs have near to no training in teeth or eyes, in fact they aren’t actually indemnified to diagnose/prescribe for dental issues - the fact that it takes ages to see a dentist isn’t the GPs fault - just like you don’t blame your dentist for not being able to get a GP apt. If it’s a mouth issue that needs a hospital referral such as a oral cancer the dentist will refer. Nail issues - you want to see a podiatrist - again not something GPs have much training on, although it’s a bit more of a grey area. Eye issues - opticians have the fancy kit to actually see the back of your eyes and measure the pressure inside them - they can also refer to the hospital if needed. If it’s a sudden loss of vison you need A and E/eye casualty

Our chemist does private consultations. It's just less than £10 and if you need a prescription it's included. I always use them they're amazing!