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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To tell you I can get a same day doctors appointment

68 replies

caulicheesey · 01/08/2022 21:03

Reading threads on here and in the media where people mention three week wait for doctors appointments.

I call my doctors at 8am on the dot, usually around 37th in the queue, on hold for 20 mins then I get an appointment same day (I prefer telephone appts but have also been offered face-face).

Is it regional? I'm just outside London (inside M25).

Where are you and what's your wait?

OP posts:

Sidisawetlettuce · 01/08/2022 22:10

In Birmingham. If you ring at 8am, you'll eventually get through and should be offered a telephone consultation that day. When my husband was suffering pain following an appendectomy, he had a phone consultation and then she asked him to go straight up to be examined.

gogohmm · 01/08/2022 22:12

I got a same day appointment last week, called at 8.40, answered straight away. Was very impressed

OzziePopPop · 01/08/2022 22:16

Were just south west of Bristol and can get a same day appointment if we call at 8am, same as you. No problems here fortunately but I’m sorry for those having issues 🌺

anyoldname76 · 01/08/2022 22:18

I've been impressed by my doctor's surgery this week. Phoned 9am Monday morning to book a non urgent appointment, the receptionist did ask a few questions about my symptoms and then offered me a same day appointment. I couldn't make the time due to work so they booked me a Saturday appointment for 230. Hsd a phone call Saturday morning to see if I wanted a morning appointment due to cancellations which I accepted. Saw the doctor on my appointment time. Thorough check and booked in for s blood test today. Can't fault the service this week at all

RuthW · 01/08/2022 22:20

Same day appointment for me today with a doctor. Got through on first attempt.

I also work at a surgery and we have free apps well into the afternoon most days

Midlands.

StopSkrikin · 01/08/2022 22:24

North West.

Mine don't offer face to face as an option any more since Covid. It's an email or telephone call and they decide if you get to go in or not.

My worry with this is that if you're struggling mentally and pluck up the courage to try and get an appointment (which can be a really, really big thing) and you get an email saying "Thanks for your message, get some rest and take care of yourself and if you don't feel better in a few days, contact us again" it's a lost chance 😕

I've felt like that myself. I'm not 'in the system' for mental health problems, but I reached out and got fobbed off.

tootiredtoocare · 01/08/2022 22:32

Some surgeries handle things better than others. The one I used to work at was a small practice and had a pretty good system, the one across the road was bigger and quite poor. (Before covid, I left GP land about 6 years ago, and don't want to go back.) My parents were registered across the road since before I was born, but things got so bad there after covid I made them register elsewhere.

OutbackQueen · 01/08/2022 22:33

I have severe health anxiety and my GP surgery is fantastic. They’ll always offer me a consultation same or next day if I phone early enough and today I was given the choice of either telephone today or face to face tomorrow. I’m just north of London.

bluesky45 · 01/08/2022 22:34

My Ds needs a routine appointment. There are none available. The receptionists don't know ( or aren't allowed to say) when new appointments will be released. So I phone back the next day, redial around 20 times, no matter what time of day I phone. And then I'm 10 in the queue and I wait on hold for around 30-40 mins. And get told "there are no routine appointments available, no we don't know when more will be released, try again tomorrow." It's a joke. However, if I've ever needed an urgent appointment, I can usually get one and those are same day.

Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious · 01/08/2022 22:37

London borough here and I always get a same day appointment. My doctors are great. The only annoying thing is there's no waiting in a queue on the line, it's hang up and try again.

ILikeHotWaterBottles · 01/08/2022 22:37

I can get a same day appointment if the doctor thinks it's necessary. My friend can't in the same council area not far away. My parents can't in their council area, actually they can't get one for weeks.

JustLyra · 01/08/2022 22:41

Ours is phone at 8am. Get the engaged tone multiple times (best time has been 12 attempts, longest without giving up had been 67 - only know because my mobile tallies it).

They then, if the receptionist doesn’t feel you need to go to the pharmacy/a&e/treatment room add you to a list for the doctor or nurse to call.

At some point between your call and 2pm the doctor or nurse calls you. If they deem you need an appointment you get one between 2.15pm and 6pm. Unless you have a valid reason (which are very few) then you get offered one appointment time. I’ve had to argue with one of them at one point when the appointment offered was in 15 minutes and I live 15 mins from the surgery and I’d need to get my DD (and her chair) into the car, drive down, park and get in.

if you don’t get through in time to get a slot on the call back list then you get told to try tomorrow.

mrsbyers · 01/08/2022 22:46

Same day here but I’m flagged as a priority patient and have a separate number to call

LemonadeSunshine · 01/08/2022 22:47

I may have to move the family to your garden! In our part of Wales it's a looooong wait to have any sniff of a GP appointment. Finger poised ready to dial, dial, dial at the exact millisecond the system is switched on in the morning. Last time a few weeks ago I was 27th in the queue, after waiting 48 minutes to be answered I was 'too late' for either a f2f or phone call and had to try again the next day. I couldn't call the next day (actual work meetings!) so the day after managed to get a phone consultation spot. The call eventually came at 6.45pm, prescription for infection issued but too late to collect the same day as the surgery closes at 5pm. Grrrrr!

Shrimpling · 01/08/2022 23:07

194 calls to GP from 8am to actually get in queue. Held for 2 hours 15 mins only to be told to ring back next day.
All this whilst driving to work and working with phone on desk waiting for answer.

The frustration felt is unfathomable and highly stressful.
Ended up presenting to ED at local hospital & waiting over 7.5 hours on a Saturday for something that could have been dealt with by GP. East Anglia.

WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps · 01/08/2022 23:08

limitededitionbarbie · 01/08/2022 21:56

I can't even get an appointment half the time.

I had to get my blood pressure checked, managed to get an appointment and the next day they called me to say they had changed it to a telephone appointment.

I asked how that would work? How would the Dr do my blood pressure over the phone.

They said it's a phone appointment or nothing. Wouldn't let me re book so I had to then call at 8am
For about a week to get a face to face.

That reminds me you talking about blood pressure. After the first lockdown (June/July 2020,) when things were sort of going relatively back to the new normal,) I went for a blood test and I had a blood pressure check. The nurse said 'it's about 5 to 10% higher than it should be so you need to really have it checked every three or four weeks. But we don't really like to see people face to face here because COVID...'

Then she told me to go and get a 'blood pressure checking unit' from Boots or the local pharmacy. Like hell was I going to spend money on the blood pressure unit and do it myself. What's more I've heard nothing but bad things about them, and people getting readings like like 500 / 3 ... People could not do it properly.

This last six months my GP's been fine, but they only went back to do face to face appointments in February this year. For the whole of 2020 and 2021 they were shocking - they wouldn't do any face to face appointments, and were VERY reluctant to do blood tests, and they did NO home visits. Just phone calls. Makes me wonder what the F they were doing half the time TBH. They got so many complaints about them on our local market town Facebook page - literally running into four figures - that they had to pull their finger out.

JeanMarie · 01/08/2022 23:24

I'm in Belfast and I've heard some horror stories of endless calling and no appointments left ....also some truly awful A&E waits. I've had a totally shit year healthwise but my experience of the NHS has been really good. I've had more appointments and tests in the past year than I've had in the past 40 years. Injured my back June 2020...had ftf with GP who sent me to A&E. There I was triaged and seen within an hour by a doctor...told to come in the next morning at 8am for an MRI. Got physio appt 4 days later. I had six months of attending physio at the hospital plus also had physio coming out to the house. The back injury threw up other issues and I also had a cystoscopy appt, a kidney ultrasound and a gynae appt. Then to cap it all I spent 12 days in hospital with a gallbladder infection . My GP actually rang an ambulance for me in that instance. I've since had another few days in hospital for the same thing.
I am heartily sick of being sick and am so fed up with having so many appointments but I'm also eternally grateful that they were made available for me.

Merryoldgoat · 01/08/2022 23:27

Same day whenever needed.

You call, go on triage list, Dr calls back and decides whether you need to be seen and how urgently.

This has been the way for over 7 years and it’s fantastic.

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