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

I got anti biotics prescription over the phone with a gp for tonsillitis, have you tried that?

Some areas are worse than others. I broke my thumb recently, phoned 111 they sent me to A and E. This was a Saturday evening, A and E were expecting me. Was in and out within 2 and a half hours. There was only 2 other people waiting.

@Floundery

Can you buy antibiotics privately without a prescription?

Most European countries sell amoxycillin OTC. We travel a lot for work and try to have this and other basics (like trimethoprim for uti's and acyclovir for stubborn cold sores) in stock at all times. Our GP service was totally inadequate pre-Covid, now we go private and only bother the practice for DS - for whom it's never failed to let us down.

This is one of the reasons antibiotics are becoming less effective- people take them when they don't need them.

@diamondpony80

That's awful, I've had tonsillitis and I know what it's like. The last time I had it (over Christmas) I was desperate to see a doctor and get some antibiotics but there weren't any appointments available. On Christmas morning it was so bad that I was desperate and used some online doctor - I think it was through an app on my phone. It cost me about £20 or so, but a doctor saw me via video in the app in about 30 minutes and had an antibiotics prescription sent straight to our nearest open pharmacy. So I got my antibiotics within a few hours even on Christmas Day. I just checked and the app was called Push Doctor. I've never had to use them since, but on that day I was never so grateful that such a service existed. Maybe check them out?

I agree push doctor Is brilliant. op just do this and save your sanity.

@Vapeyvapevape

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 .

Ime, first thing in the morning is the worst time to try and get through. My surgery switchboard opens at 8 or 8.30 (can't recall which), and you'll be waiting an hour to speak to anyone if you ring then. It's as though everyone's trying to get through first thing.

I find that if I can leave it until 9.30 - 10, there's only 3 or 4 people in front and I get through pretty quickly.

They do an initial telephone appointment to triage, but have plenty of F2F appts on the same day if they need to see you quickly.

I know that telephone appointments are difficult for a lot of people, but the receptionist told me that if I was unable to answer (I had to represent someone at a tribunal hearing that was being done via a conference call), the doctor would just keep trying until they got hold of me.

The service seems to have improved recently, since the 3 practices merged into one big one. The only confusion arises from them still using 3 different buildings, so patients need to check where to go if they're having a F2F and sometimes paperwork goes to the wrong place.

Our rural GP practice has gone from being able to offer an appointment next day, or within a few hours if an emergency, to bloody impossible. I have to wait 3 weeks for a phone consultation for irregular bleeding, but worse- DS had an episode of chest pains at a sports event at the weekend, I waited two hours for a callback from the doctor yesterday, watching the phone like a pot about to boil. Lost concentration and went outside to put the bins out for literally two minutes, and in that time missed a call from the GP, no second try, no possibility of callback, that was it.

There was no spare capacity in the system whatsoever, and Covid has fucked it.

I sincerely hope that no one on this thread will ever vote Tory again, if indeed they ever did.

How are you today. If you can't swallow your own saliva you may need hospital. Throat pain is just awful. DIFFLAM THROAT RINSE HELPS A BIT.

I have just had 137 calls to get through to GP so understand your frustration.

Thanks for sharing. This is so worth knowing about and sadly how things seem to be going now.

People's reading comprehension is shocking.
The OP was in the OOO facility which happened to be in her local hospital.

I wish our very skilled pharmacists would be able to prescribe medication/antibiotics for things like this.
It would make so much sense.
Sounds awful - hope you get seen and treated soon

@Christmas1988

OP, I noticed boots are doing online doctor consultations for just £19,it’s over video chat. Give them a call from your bed, don’t bother going out again now you’ll make yourself worse. Feel better soon.

If you download the push doctor app, and your surgery is registered, they have loads of online appointments free of charge

@Malibuismysecrethome

I HRH ink GP surgeries should be working as they were pre-Covid. They seem reluctant to see patients face to face and perform their part in the NHS.

It doesn't matter how they work, it won't mean that there are any more of them! There's been a drop of 2,000 GPs in the last 5 years. GPs are stressed and burnt out. Making them see more patients isn't going to help that at all.

Many GP practices were doing telephone appointments and e-consults before Covid. Appointments take longer now because of the need for thorough sanitisation between appts and they can't have as many people waiting because of the need to maintain safe distances.

You can't fit a quart into a pint pot, which is what GP practices seem to be expected to do. And they can't even expand the use of nurse practitioners, because there's a shortage of nurses, too.

Oh gosh @GrrrlPwr that's awful. What happened in the end?

This is one of the reasons antibiotics are becoming less effective- people take them when they don't need them

Who said she takes them without needing them?
My family are all in Spain. Since my sepsis incident, we go over we pick up a course of amoxicillin to keep in stock in case it’s needed. Haven’t needed them yet, thankfully, but we know they’re there if they are.

to be fair... why would you go to out of hours for tonsillitis? :S why wouldnt you have just waited til GP opened up, even if you got meds, it wouldn't have been an instant fix, sleeping would have healed you better than that extra dose of medication before the next day..

I get recurring tonsilitis (but not regularly enough to justify surgery) so feel your pain, it's awful and can be serious. To reassure you though, on the few occasions I've got fed up with it and been to see a Gp they've never prescribed antibiotics as said viral tonsilitis is far more likely than bacterial. I do react to antibiotics with stomach upsets and thrush so I'm not saying it will be the same for you as doctors do weigh up the benefits for each person, but just so you're not panicking as reading some of the posts about sepsis may be scary, but I think that's quite rare.

This is exactly why the UK has such a high rate of sepsis vs other developed nations.

The NHS is reluctant to treat bacterial infections, and miserly with antibiotics then medics at the top cry "why oh why are our rates of sepsis so bad?!"

It's disgraceful.

OP

@PicsInRed

This is exactly why the UK has such a high rate of sepsis vs other developed nations.

The NHS is reluctant to treat bacterial infections, and miserly with antibiotics then medics at the top cry "why oh why are our rates of sepsis so bad?!"

It's disgraceful.

OP

100%

This is one of the reasons antibiotics are becoming less effective- people take them when they don't need them.

And/or they're withheld until it's too late and sepsis is already in progress.

@Malibuismysecrethome

I HRH ink GP surgeries should be working as they were pre-Covid. They seem reluctant to see patients face to face and perform their part in the NHS.

DH, a GP has just handed back his contract and now left the NHS. GP surgeries are providing a full service and now seeing more patients than pre pandemic. The reason why you can’t get appointments is because there are more patients wanting appointments than there are available. The system will get worse as more GP’s, like my DH leave and surgeries close as there are no GP’s to replace them.

When I had tonsillitis but couldn’t get to a gp due to work schedule I drank neat vodka - it killed the infection dead, I was better 24 hours later having suffered for 5 days. The pus spots literally shrank after even just the first shot. It’s my go to cure now!

It is really shocking that the service is so different in various parts of the country. If one NHS trust can organise an efficient blood test service with a simple online system, why can't they all do it?
The difference between GP practices in my area is huge.
Is it just incompetence? Poor organisation? Maybe there are some places NHS staff just don't want to work.

It sounds as if a private GP consult online might be a good option. Amoxycillin costs around £4 for a 7 day course.
I am so sorry OP tonsillitis is so painful.

No one turns up at 10pm to see a GP for fun?

Yes they do. Needlessly anyway. Just as many people take themselves to a&e for pointless reasons, and their children.