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

@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.

Why do people keep saying this? Lots of GPs don't offer online services. Mine included.

Tonsillitis is NOT just a sore throat. It is an infection. Sometimes it can develop into an abscess that can block the airway. It can be v serious.

Sending the OP home is not good. I hope she doesn't live alone and there's someone who can check on her.

@endofagain

WRT blood test appts, in my area you have to book online. It is very easy to do, you just go on the hospital website and register. (This is in response to pp who can't book by phone). I have to have regular blood tests and the system has worked fine all through the last couple of years. I thought all hospitals were using the online system now.

Not where I live - blood tests only via GPs

I rang last week as I am due to have an op in January and Consulrabts want my blood levels monitored - when I eventually hit through on phone I was told none available to book - when impolitely kept explaining why I needed it I was offered 8 Dec !!!

Scotland lets pharmacists prescribe anti biotics too.

@BeaLola that issue is with your consultant - they should be arranging your blood work (and they are paid for it), not your GP

No help for this situation but if you have access to e-consult I've found this the most useful way of getting in touch with a GP lately.

@CloseYourEyesAndSee

don't know where you are, but have you actually tried doing this lately?

Yes, several times recently, had both face to face appointment and calls back with prescription on same day.

You are very fortunate. DH couldn't even get face to face appointments when he was terminally ill. The NHS is unfit for purpose.

The system needs changing

It’s the GOVERNMENT who needs changing, PLEASE stop voting for the Conservatives!

I remember when Labour got in in 1997, the NHS was on its knees after years of a Tory government. Labour didn’t get everything right but the NHS was a good working service. After 10 years of Tory’s it’s back on its knees. If you care about the NHS do NOT vote for them.

Demand for all ‘acute’ services is way outstripping supply.

There is no way you will get seen fast in a busy urgent care/a&e for something that’s considered a minor infection that will clear itself in a few days and that could wait for the GP. It might be very painful and you might feel terrible but that doesn’t make it very serious I’m afraid.

NHS advice for tonsillitis is here: www.nhs.uk/conditions/tonsillitis/

I’d have waited for a walk in centre. Last Friday I broke my hand but decided not to go to casualty for this reason. Went to walk-in at 07.50am on Sat. By 09.20 I walked out with a plaster cast. Currently typing left handed 😢

Recently waited 4 hours in A&E with a child with a broken arm. My 11 year old DD was crying in pain, her arm was all wonky. The best they could do was give her paracetamol until she was seen by a doctor. When we finally saw the doctor he was cross that we hadn't been seen sooner as my dd's fracture was very serious, the fractured bone was pressing against main blood vessels and nerves. She needed surgery and plates inserted. I was begging the nurses to have someone attend to her sooner, but was told to sit down and wait for our turn. It's a shambles. My dd has developed a terrible phobia of hospitals, any program with hospital scenes like "24h in A&E" or "Ambulance" make her skin crawl.

It might be very painful and you might feel terrible but that doesn’t make it very serious I’m afraid

It was serious when mine developed into an abscess and then sepsis. So serious I nearly died.

PS - if your GP is rubbish please complain to your local Clinical Commissioning Group. They are the ones paying the GP on your behalf,, but they often struggle to know exactly what’s going on at each GP in their area.

If your GP is great (like mine) you can compliment them there too.

www.nhs.uk/service-search/other-services/Clinical-Commissioning-Group/LocationSearch/1

[quote Purplewithred]Demand for all ‘acute’ services is way outstripping supply.

There is no way you will get seen fast in a busy urgent care/a&e for something that’s considered a minor infection that will clear itself in a few days and that could wait for the GP. It might be very painful and you might feel terrible but that doesn’t make it very serious I’m afraid.

NHS advice for tonsillitis is here: www.nhs.uk/conditions/tonsillitis/[/quote]
You know tonsillitis can lead to further infections like sepsis, right?

It is serious, I'm afraid.

That's absolutely terrible you can even access antibiotics OP. I'm really quite shocked how bad things are at the moment in parts of the UK, it's frightening. I'm in NI and we're able to access the GP for things like this very fairly although I know the waiting times at A&E are absolutely ridiculous. Could you use an registered online pharmacy? I've had to do this when I haven't been able to get off work to see a GP, you can buy antibiotics after an online consultation but I think they cost around £40 with next day delivery (which I know isn't affordable for many people.) I'm really appalled at how bad things have become.

The time has come to let those who want to opt out of the NHS and pay less tax as a result do so or give everyone a voucher they can spend at public or private GPs which they can top up if they want to - instead all that vast amount of money goes on some areas of the NHS but the basic care is not there.

Eg the state could send an official to my daughter's house after her holiday and demand entry to see her passport (she was isolating) and then call every day and text and yet despite its being a first pregnancy she has been told there are now in her area no visits at home by a midwife after birth - what has been a core part of NHS care since it was founded.

@SnackSizeRaisin

The NHS is broken. So many really bad stories of long waits. It needs a lot more money though, not restructuring. Hopefully your GP can prescribe over the phone today.

The NHS isn't broken. People go to the hospital with tonsillitis then give up and go home because they're not a priority - and phone their GP in the morning. Which is exactly the right course of action. OP never needed to go to hospital.

@Xenia

The time has come to let those who want to opt out of the NHS and pay less tax as a result do so or give everyone a voucher they can spend at public or private GPs which they can top up if they want to - instead all that vast amount of money goes on some areas of the NHS but the basic care is not there.

Eg the state could send an official to my daughter's house after her holiday and demand entry to see her passport (she was isolating) and then call every day and text and yet despite its being a first pregnancy she has been told there are now in her area no visits at home by a midwife after birth - what has been a core part of NHS care since it was founded.

After years and years of insane waits for appointments and treatment we’ve now taken out private insurance for the whole family. Extremely expensive but needs must. Oh and I’ve never voted Tory!

Our GP practice has had to stop e-consult as it couldn't respond fast enough to provide a safe service. Just overwhelmed.

OP never needed to go to hospital.

She didn't go to hospital 🙄 , it was the out of hours GP

The NHS isn't broken. People go to the hospital with tonsillitis then give up and go home because they're not a priority - and phone their GP in the morning. Which is exactly the right course of action. OP never needed to go to hospital

As long as she doesn’t develop sepsis in the meantime, which is what happened to me.
I phoned 111 and was directed to an urgent care centre 15 miles away. They said the soonest they could see me was 2am. I had a breastfeeding newborn, a temperature of 41 degrees and was too ill to drive. A toddler DC at home in bed so DH couldn’t take me. I went to sleep with the intention of going first thing in the morning, got there and was blue lighted to hospital with sepsis. 4 days in intensive care followed.
Bacterial infections can be very serious, please stop telling people they’re not.

Oh and she didn’t go to hospital. She went to an out of hours GP. Completely the right course of action.

If your tonsils have white spots on them get yourself to a local chemist and buy some hydrogen peroxide, water down as per instructions and gargle with it every hour. It's vile as the bacteria oxidises and makes this awful foam that you have to spit out but you'll be fixed quicker than having antibiotics from the doctor and it won't mess your tummy up.

She went to hospital. Her thread title literally says she was at the hospital.

The person with sepsis was unlucky and if the OP had more severe symptoms she'd have phoned an ambulance and would've been treated but she didn't. If she'd have developed those symptoms at the hospital she'd have been treated but she didn't.

A cut on your finger could become life threatening overnight. That doesn't mean you go and sit in a hospital every time you cut yourself.

We can’t get through to our gp , I’ve called at bang on 8am to find I am 56th in the queue by the time I get to speak to the receptionist all appointments have gone and am told to try again the next day .