No GP appointment

[DyingForACuppa]

I have a non-urgent-but-totally-fucking-my-life-and-making-me-suffer medical problem.

I have been phoning the GP whenever I can (between work/looking after small children) for days. Most days I don't even get through.

Today I got through at 2pm and was told there's no appointments (not even phone appointments in a month kind of thing). 'You're too early, the next appointment slots haven't been released yet, try in an hour'. I point out I have been trying for days and am picking up my kids in an hour, but apparently nothing can be done. Pick up children then call back, wait on hold for an hour, then an told, 'sorry, all slots gone now, try again tomorrow'.

I am just totally filled with despair. I'm pretty sure that with the right medication I could be fine again, but I have no way of accessing it.

Thanks for your input......thankfully and unlike OP I don’t need to seek advice from my GP. In fact I very rarely do. We need to hear our GPs shout as loud as patients are please, to try and force change. Bang that drum as loud as GPs did when they were demanding pay condition changes. Patients and the public need to see this to truly believe your not hiding.

I expect you have but have you asked? I am often surprised that even if my symptoms have been going on a month they sometimes class it as urgent partly becuase its been going on a month.

Failing that is there absolutely no way you can call while you are picking the kids up? I'm guessing not or you would have done it.

I would email the practice manager and explain the situation and also that there are probably many others in the school pick up situation.

Consider switching surgeries to one with an econsult option.

Ring at 8am and say it’s urgent. That’s what everyone else is doing!!!
Id make a complaint to the practice manager aswell, this is shocking. Can they not employ a second receptionist so they can answer some more of the calls! It’s piss poor. I deffo wouldn’t go to one of these private consultations - these will enable the increased failings of the NHS and undermine the GP system we have (had) and that’s disaster imo. Good luck x

We ring ours dead on 8.30 am when they open, you give receptionist brief details and then GP rings back during the morning and decides whether they need to see us. My adult son uses the Livi app, you submit details and then you get a GP appointment by phone from your GP practice, it’s good if you don’t have the time to sit and wait on the phone.

My dd has a wisdom tooth digging into her cheek making a sore patch which I think is infected now. She is is so much pain she hasn't eaten for days all through finishing her 3000 essay for uni.
We rang dentist to be told no appointments for over a week and even then private (we were NHS but it's now gone private) so I told her to call gp instead and she was on call.pretty much the entire day yesterday and still didn't get an answer..
Its all getting very worrying with the NHS.
I had a gynae referral.just before lockdown and I still haven't been see as the appointments are repeatedly cancelled.. next one is October.

I think you probably qualify for an 8am urgent slot. At my gp it would do. It’s for anything new whichnis causing an issue. So not to discuss a change in meds for an ongoing condition or to say that you want to discuss IVF or that you’ve had a problem for five years which you now want to talk about.

The trouble for GPs is that though they tell us they're working every possible hour the general public find this hard to believe because they can't get through in phones, can't get appointments, emails remOn unanswered. I actgave up and went to surgery last week. Waiting room empty and no appointments available for 2 weeks. A medication revso it can wait but its been cancelled twice.

I believe GPS are working, I know a number and they're exhausted but when the perception of the majority of the public is that they're not there's a problem on both sides.

Sorry terrible typing cat knocking phone about in my hand

So what exactly do you expect GPs to do to manage? Does it occur to people when they talk like this that they're not just electively refusing to work there just simply isn't enough of them. How hard do you expect them to work to fix the problem? A couple of extra hours a night? Maybe all night? Until they've literally dropped dead? They teach a lot in med school but one thing nobody can teach is how to divide yourself in 2. The public need to accept that the fundamental problem isn't telephone appointments or gatekeeper receptionists or bad telephone lines it's that the resources just aren't there. You won't gain those resources slagging off the only people who are desperately trying to keep the system going. It needs addressing from the top.

OP you didn't mention if you have e-consult. Both my mother and DH have got appointments (face to face for my mum and telephone for DH) this way and got what they needed.

If not, I'd definitely turn to email as other pp's have said. A doctor may then call you.

Even though you don't think it's urgent it's important to you to get it sorted. If you are asked if it's urgent you say yes.

I'm a Receptionist at the other end of the phone and I have to ask if it's urgent when I book people in for telephone consultations with the GP.
I've even had to tell a patient who was dithering whether it was urgent or not " when I ask you the next question you are going to say yes".
I'm not qualified to triage patients but I am competent to take messages to pass into GPs.
Not everyone who needs a Doctor needs antibiotics.

Complain in writing to the practice manager. If via email, copy in your local MP and explain why you've been forced to do this.

Last time I did this, appointments magically appeared at a time that suited me!

Don't have this t my surgery. I asked if they would implement it and they said no. The situation is getting ridiculous.

Sometimes I've had more luck getting an appointment if I go into the practice and ask. At least you're not hanging on hold.

Many practices won’t let you in the building to make an appointment now.

Me and D H were having a discussion this morning about this. DH very rarely gets ill but over the last 6 months has needed a gp appointment for 3 separate issues. Each time we have not even been able to get through to speak to someone as we end up waiting in a queue for 40 odd minutes and then get cut off. Day after day we tried each time only for the same thing to happen. DH has ended up paying for private gp appointments instead. The no of patients at the surgery hasn’t changed and the same drs as before covid are listed on the website, so why is it so difficult to get through to speak to someone. I am in the process of compiling a complaint writing to the practice manager and will be copying in our MP.

Our GP is pretty efficient now they have e-consult. We very rarely need them but I’ve found it really straightforward when we have. I can’t believe any surgery doesn’t offer it - it must make it easier for them?!

I had a phone appt re the mental health of my 15 year old who has disordered eating and suicidal ideation. I'd waited 3 weeks for this phone call and it never came. I called the next working day to be told the GP's calls had run over and they'd not managed to make it to the end of the list and I was offered an appointment in a further 3 weeks. Camhs are too busy for her and she could well be dead before we get a phone call.

There's no help and no support

What would you suggest if the OPs surgery - like ours - does not use e consult? I have a similar issue and am failing to get an appointment via the ring at 815 method as its not urgent. I've done the pharmacy and they say go to the GP...

Econsult is not a fix all. Once the econsult slots are full the system doesn't accept anymore. This happens at my surgery sometime before 8am but I'm not sure when it opens... a work colleague found it open at 7am one morning but I've never been so lucky.

Do your GP have LIVI? its an online GP service.

Phone at 8 and tell tell them it is urgent.

I would advise keeping a careful and factual account of what attempts you've made to contact the surgery. Don't exaggarate or lie because the surgery will know and it will make the complaint much more difficult to deal with. I would start by complaining to the practice manager as pp have suggested and if the problem is persistent I'd take it higher. I wouldn't be doing any of the above to get the surgery in trouble but to highlight the huge issue people are having accross the board with getting appointments. In the meantime I'd be calling 111 or going to ED IF the problem is likely to cause immediate harm.

I understand that There are fewer GP numbers then there were a few years ago but many don't work a full week. My local GP has joined a consortium of 7 others.
Pre covid you could book an online appointment and go to any of the 7 - great. Worked well.
Post covid they are refusing to re open online booking - why? Make you call a call centre but only allowed 50 callers in the queue - sometimes you have to ring all day just to get in the queue and then it's a good hour or more on hold to speak someone. Once through yes can invariably get an appointment but lots of people don't have all day to spend on the phone.
It's the managers / owners of these surgeries that are at fault. GP services should be available 8-8 and 7 days per week to fit in with modern living.
They should also reduce the number of years training required - honestly whenever I've needed to see one they Google the symptoms or look in a book or search on the NHS website - don't need 10 years training to do that

You ring at 8 and get a same day appt.