Waited in hospital since 10pm to see out of hours gp. It's now 2am. Do I give up and go home?

[GrrrlPwr]

There's 5 people ahead of me in the queue. Receptionist has no idea how long they will all take.

Do I go home and plead my GP for an appointment tomorrow?

Feel so stupid to have waited so long and to go home. But I ache so much. I need to go to bed

There seems to be no joined up thinking e-consult would be great but my doctor stopped using it so you have to wait on the phone wait for a callback wait for another callback only to be told we can't help you today try tomorrow

I had 20 minutes wait for 999 to pick up last week and then a 7 hour wait for him to be seen at the hospital.
Im going to book in for a first aid course today as I think it's an important skill to have at the moment

You need to get some pain relief, or get someone to nip to the supermarket for some paracetamol and Ibuprofen. A pp is right though about not always needing antibiotics for tonsillitis. There’s a criteria depending on symptoms.

A cynic might even think they are trying to deny access to healthcare.

Call gp as soon as they are open- hang in to speak to receptionist and explain you need antibiotics today and what happened at hospital.They should get a dr to phone you and prescribe for u. This is what I did as econsult is not the way to go if u know you need antibiotics

@Malibuismysecrethome

Severe tonsillitis can be a medical emergency. The throat can close us. Croup can be very dangerous for young children especially.

Yes this, I have had quinsy twice complication of tonsillitis and was hospitalised, it can be really serious. Hope you get the treatment you need and feel better soon OP.

the nhs is overwhelmed
and i cant believe anyone thought seeing an out of hours GP was a good idea at 10 pm

DH went to our local walk in recently and was seen and out in half an hour. Couldn’t have been more impressed.

A friend of mine works in a&e and it’s horrendous, she’s at the verge of quitting as the pressures are too much. It’s overwhelmingly busy.

A centralised system is possible for the NHS. My good friend designed the police one. There is no will to change which will probably be the end of healthcare in this country.

@MrsLargeEmbodied OP is SICK! And needs an out of hours GP. Doesn't matter if its a good idea or not.

When would be a good time to see an out of hours GP if not 10pm, which is out of hours?

but 10 pm is the time to sleep

@eurochick good point

I once had tonsilitis over Christmas. This was back in the day where urgent care centres weren't a thing! DH went to an out of hours pharmacy on Boxing Day who recommended soluble cocodamol and to gargle with it. They said that it has antibacterial qualities so it might help cure the tonsilitis as well as relieve the pain. It worked a treat! The pain got so much better and by the time I could get a doctors appointment after Christmas I didn't need it and it had gone.

Might be worth a try whilst you're waiting to get antibiotics?

I had a 6 hour wait in A&E at the weekend with my eight year old child who had a broken bone. My DC was in so much pain. The staff were so overworked. The system needs changing!

@FrangipanFlower

I waited from 1-8pm with my three week old today, it’s shocking. I hope you get seen soon and are tucked up in bed ASAP OP

Same here. Had to go to A&E twice in two weeks with my 3 week old, waited 7 hours each time. She had bronchiolitis too so wasn't nothing. The second time didn't require hospital but GP refused to see her as she was 'too young'' and told us to go there when she could easily have done what was required and saved us the 7 hour wait. The system is a huge mess.

Hope you feel better OP, I have collaped from tonsillitis before and cried with relief when OoO GP recognised I was in a bad way and prescribed AB. Felt better very quickly after that.

@Malibuismysecrethome

A centralised system is possible for the NHS. My good friend designed the police one. There is no will to change which will probably be the end of healthcare in this country.

There's no will to invest in a complex NHS system on the part of this government, especially after the war criminal's government spunked such a huge amount of money on their effort.

I've suspected for a while that the Tories want to let the NHS fall apart so that there's no opposition to breaking it up and privatising it. Plus we have a health minister who's a devotee of the political thinking of Ayn Rand, who thought everything should be done by individuals and that government shouldn't provide public services.

The service was groaning at the seams even before the double whammy of Covid and Brexit.

Not sure if this is helpful but my gp listen to my stymptons over the phone and prescribe antibiotics without seeing me. They’ve done that for UtIs and chest infections.

Lakielady I agree and I’m still apoplectic at the enormous waste for Nightingale hospitals that were fully equipped, never used, dismantled and then presumably the equipment sold off for peanuts. No one has ever asked where everything went.

Sadly I don't think it's a new thing. When I was about 6 weeks postnatal I had a coil fitted and that evening got terrible cramps as bad as labour pain and the coil came so low down I couldn't sit. We don't have ooh or urgent care so got to A&E about 8pm to be told it would be 6am before I'd be seen. I was breastfeeding dd and couldn't sit as the coil was poking so low. I gave up and went home, spent the night in what felt like labour and saw the gp the next day.

@MrsLargeEmbodied

the nhs is overwhelmed and i cant believe anyone thought seeing an out of hours GP was a good idea at 10 pm

Because if she left it until this morning to call her GP there's a good chance she wouldn't get a call back until this afternoon so she could be waiting for 18 hours + for antibiotics when she is in pain? I presented at A+E at 11pm for a UTI a few weeks ago as I couldn't wait up to 18 hours for antibiotics which my surgery had made me do the last time I had symptoms. Couldn't get through to 111. An out of hours GP is supposed to do precisely what it says on the tin. What time would you suggest is convenient for someone to try and see an out of ours GP?

@SarahJeffers341

I would not wait in hospital with tonsilitis… I am sure it’s horrible but not an emergency. If you have a GP you can fill out an online form and they should call you back.

I once waiting too long to see a Dr with tonsillitis as I was too ill to get out of bed. Ended up in intensive care with sepsis. Any bacterial infection can quickly become a medical emergency.

I'm north west,

Broke my leg and ankle in June Spent 6 hrs in A&E before I was given pain relief/ x-rayed and got a cubical.

Had an MH breakdown on Friday. Gp rang me back within an hour.

Some places have it in order. Some shambolic.

I had a brilliant service with 111 last week. It was out of hours so they booked the appointment at the local Urgent Care place. I walked straight in and saw the GP. Had been seen within an hour of my first call to 111

i would suggest 10 pm is a time to sleep, sleep is medicine