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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that a wait of 46 days for a routine appointment to have a call with a GP is outrageous?

144 replies

MrsKebble · 24/03/2022 16:05

I saw a consultant who has said I need to start some gastric meds. He wrote to my GP this week and the practice have now told me that the first available telephone appointment to discuss this is 46 days away - is this not bloody ridiculous? Referral was Oct, procedures were Feb, results were March and now this. Why not just start me on the bloody meds?

OP posts:
nearlyspringyay · 24/03/2022 16:07

Because covid...

Tongue in cheek, it's ridiculous.can you afford a private GP appointment? It's about £50 and they can prescribe.

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 24/03/2022 16:07

That is insane.

SmallestInTheClass · 24/03/2022 16:07

Do your GP not have an online message service. This wouldn't need an appointment at my GP, I'd leave a message online and then they would issue the prescription unless they had concerns (in which case they callback in 2-3 days).

CrystalCoco · 24/03/2022 16:12

Were you given this information over the phone? Any chance they said 4-6 days and you heard 46? 46 is a strangely precise number of days...

Original poster
MrsKebble · 24/03/2022 16:16

@CrystalCoco

Were you given this information over the phone? Any chance they said 4-6 days and you heard 46? 46 is a strangely precise number of days...
No she said nothing before 10 May.
OP posts:
Original poster
MrsKebble · 24/03/2022 16:17

The GP has been told which meds to issue by the consultant.

OP posts:
Gladioli23 · 24/03/2022 16:18

Complain. That's not acceptable. It's a shame for them to have to deal with it but you shouldn't have to put up with that.

Original poster
MrsKebble · 24/03/2022 16:19

@SmallestInTheClass

Do your GP not have an online message service. This wouldn't need an appointment at my GP, I'd leave a message online and then they would issue the prescription unless they had concerns (in which case they callback in 2-3 days).
No this does not work currently like everything else at the practice.
OP posts:
MurmuratingStarling · 24/03/2022 16:22

Did the consultant not issue the meds at the hospital? That happened for my DH when he went last year. Then he rung up the GP and asked to have them put on 'repeat.' Almost 7 weeks for a GP call back is bizarre. Never heard of this before.

If it IS right, I would email the practice manager and complain and ask for the meds. (And ask for them to be put on repeat!) If it's omeprazole or esomeprazole by the way, Home Bargains sell them! £4.59 for a week's supply. (In my local town anyway!)

Volhhg · 24/03/2022 16:23

YANBU. And it's like this all over the UK. No idea why there's no rioting on the street

gogohm · 24/03/2022 16:27

Never heard anything so ridiculous, this sort of thing is done by econsult at my practice anyway (if you have email)

LakieLady · 24/03/2022 16:28

I had a similar wait for a F2F appt with a specific GP. It was partly because he was on holiday for 2 weeks, and he only works the days I work. I could have got an earlier appointment if it hadn't been for work commitments that I couldn't change.

If it's routine, I don't think it's a big deal tbh. I'm sure they would have fitted you in sooner if it had been urgent.

AnneLovesGilbert · 24/03/2022 16:30

That’s insane. My mum is currently spending a small fortune she doesn’t have on private GP visitors because she’s got no option. It’s shit.

AnneLovesGilbert · 24/03/2022 16:31

@gogohm

Never heard anything so ridiculous, this sort of thing is done by econsult at my practice anyway (if you have email)
No econsult here. Everyone on here seems to think it’s universal but loads of practises barely have printers never mind anything as swish as econsulting. It’s been a nightmare couple of years.
Lyricallie · 24/03/2022 16:32

That's crazy, my DH got a phone appointment recently and they apologised that it would have to be the following week (he called on the Thursday and spoke to the doctor on the Tues). However his wasn't hugely urgent. So I disagree with the poster who said it's like this everywhere. Not where I live.

Sirzy · 24/03/2022 16:34

Why didn’t the consultant start the medication and then just ask the GP to continue? If the consultant gives the first month then it gives time for the practise to get it on the system. Hospital prescription Ds has had always have a “gp to continue” tick box

girlmom21 · 24/03/2022 16:36

It seems strange that the consultant didn't prescribe. Call the doctors back and tell them it's an urgent appointment.

DeathMetalMum · 24/03/2022 16:37

Yes it's a ridiculous wait but why didn't the consultant issue a prescription? Both are at fault here.

LabelMaker · 24/03/2022 16:37

That sounds awful and very unlike my GPS practice.

musicviking1 · 24/03/2022 16:38

I would complain, my child recently discovered a lump and we were given a 3 week wait for a telephone appointment - for anything else I could have swallowed the time frame but I also felt that a telephone appointment to discuss a lump was not acceptable and another date with a face to face appointment was given.

70kid · 24/03/2022 16:39

That’s shit
I can pretty much always get a telephone appointment with my doctors surgery within a few days never more than a week
If I wanted a physical appointment I am pretty sure I could get one within a week or two but definitely no longer than two weeks
I had to have my bloods done a few weeks ago and I was in within 3 days at my doctors surgery

Dreambigger · 24/03/2022 16:45

It's mad isnt it ? Why aren't people complaining more !?!?!? 🙄 our GPS aren't doing ANY routine appointments whatsoever. Only emergencies. And then you need redial the number repeatedly from 8.30 am until the slots are gone for the day (at about 8.50) try again next day if you're too slow. No call hold function ..no online bookings...its like 1982. They were really good before Covid. If your GP does something similar could you try to access an urgent appointment and when you get there say your symptoms are worse you need this medication ?

Hereward1332 · 24/03/2022 16:49

This is unacceptable, but not an isolated event. The problem isn't Covid - it was bad before the pandemic- but the structure of general practices. Surgeries are private businesses (or part of a larger Group) rather than part of the NHS. There is no incentive for them to increase costs by hiring more staff, so they seem to operate in normal circumstances with the bare minimum. When something unexpected happens, the systems fail to deliver the necessary care. If they were incentivised based on the service actually delivered rather than the services they claim to offer, they might perform better.

GandTfortea · 24/03/2022 16:53

We have e consult
It’s brilliant,I write down exactly what the problem is ,and the doctor calls me back with in 48 hours ,..I’ve never had to wait more than 24 hours for a call back..no rush on the phone either ,plenty of time to discuss things ..
Does your surgery not have e consult ?

BigWoollyJumpers · 24/03/2022 16:53

As a PP suggested if you have been prescribed Omeprazole you can get that from an on-line pharmacy as an interim measure.

It is interesting though, I also needed some a few months ago, emailed a note to my GP, and he just prescribed it, no questions. It's a pretty basic med. You can get low dose from anywhere, but only GP's can give you large boxes of the stuff, so worth doing for the money saving.