To think my GP practice shouldn’t shut next Monday?

[Astounding]

I’m not anti-monarchist but was surprised when I got a text from my medical centre saying out of respect for HRH, they will be closed on Monday. Can’t they have a 2 min silence and then see the patients who need them? It’s just going to put strain on OOH and A&E departments.

I work for a GP surgery and we had the debate this morning about whether we should open or not. Basically patients will complain whichever we do! Some will be horrified that we are closed (because why should we be treated like the rest of the country that can close for a bank holiday) and others will be disgusted that we have no respect for the queen and are open. (We get the same thing when we observe the silence for Rememberence Day - patients bang on the counter wanting to book appointments despite the signs saying we are observing the silence - and it being quite obvious as all the staff come down to stand behind reception to do it).

When the advice came from the British Medical Council it was that it was a bank holiday and so we should close. If we choose to stay open to offer the usual bank holiday extended hours service that we usually do then it is up to the individual surgery.

Also, its rather pointless the GP practice being open when people cant get their prescriptions from the local chemist because they are closed. Patients complain when we offer them a service on a Sunday to see a GP because they then have to drive to one of the big supermarkets to get their medication.

And I find it interesting OP that your comment was aimed at the GP surgeries - what about the dentists, the pharmacies and the opticians. All of whom also offer health care but will not doubt be shut.

Or schools!!!

I’m a GP and usually work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I’m currently trying to sort extra childcare so I can work the Tuesday to see the patients originally booked for the BH Monday.
OOH will be increasing their provision, it simply wouldn’t work to open the practice with schools and nurseries shut.

Well, normally they know well in advance and can arrange childcare.

10 days notice is nothing and most paid childcare will be closed.

At least yours has made a decision, I can't find out what mine is doing and I have an appointment for a blood test before chemo for Monday, which needs to be done in a very specific timeframe. I'm happy to make the 2.5 hour round trip to the hospital if need be (presuming they are able to do it) but want to avoid it if possible as I've got a long drive the day before taking DD to university. When I spoke to staff today they had no idea when they were going to make a decision. There's nothing on the GP website or the hospital's though they must be getting lots of enquiries.

It's a bank holiday. HTH.

At the point where GPS aren’t contractually obliged to open on Bank Holidays and hospitals are I guess.

If they can't find childcare they won't turn up. The key workers I know have a network of people who can provide childcare at short notice.

Dh is a hospital Dr and he will do his nut if they cancel his outpatient clinic and his list of procedures. The issue will be wether he's got nurses. He 's planning to convert the clinic to telephone if he has to (although he much prefers face to face). The procedures can't go ahead without all the other staff so the waiting list would be even longer - and he frets enough about that as it is. He hasn't heard anything yet.

Yeah it's the schools being shut that will cause issues for healthcare staff.

I don't work on Mondays so book all my appointments for then. Four weeks ago I booked the 19th. 3 weeks after is where it has been moved to. It is an ongoing condition. Just feels so unfair, feeling sorry for myself... I know.

It’s a bank holiday, GPs aren’t open on bank holidays….this one shouldn’t be any different….staff aren’t contracted to work bank holidays in GP surgeries.

Many NHS staff specifically go into these sorts of roles/ areas so they don’t have to work bank holidays, I’m one of them. I used to work in a hospital doing shift/weekend and night work and when I had children I found it wasn’t something I could do anymore and decided to go into a more 9-5 Monday-Friday service within the NHS. Obviously there has been moves to try and increase hours in some of these areas which I understand will help manage the patient demands but it could also potentially force a lot of staff out of the NHS if it doesn’t work for them with home life balance which is a shame.

This is why I don't agree with it being called a bank holiday! It's not like everyone's off to the beach or having a BBQ!

Our Queen of 70 years has died-I don't really give a toss about the people who are anti-monarchy/don't care etc-our monarch has died and the country should grieve and if you choose not to join in then you choose not to! What you shouldn't do is expect the country to carry on as normal for such a historic occasion just because you have no patriotism.

I work in a hospital. We are having this debate at the moment - we don’t actually want to shut, but neither do we want the Daily Mail writing anti-NHS pieces because we are being “disrespectful” by opening.

I worked in hospitality when Princess DI died, and we originally planned to stay open except for a 2 min silence. We made the front page of the local paper, got a bomb threat, and the police advised us to shut.

What you shouldn't do is expect the country to carry on as normal for such a historic occasion just because you have no patriotism.

Also unfair to expect somebody’s long-awaited outpatient appointment pushed back by another six months just because you are.

Yanbu but the levels of batshittery have gone beyond even my expectations so all bets are off.

NHS services will be running on minimum staffing as people will need to be off to look after kids.

I work in a GP surgery and was actually surprised that we are closing. We’re not contracted to open on bank holidays, but this is an extra one so I’m not sure how it works contractually.

I’m glad I’ll be off as I’d actually quite like to watch the funeral, and my own children will be at home, and I expect a lot of patients would have cancelled their non emergency appointments anyway - which are a lot of the ones that can be prebooked. On the day appointments will now be pushed back and squeezed into Tuesday and the rest of the week, so we’ll actually be even busier than usual as those blood tests and GP appointments and dressings and things will have to go somewhere.

I'm a paramedic. I'm meant to be on night shifts Sunday and Monday night. Nursery is closed and I have no alternative childcare, and I can't look after a child after no sleep all night and go back to work again without sleeping. I will have to take both shifts off. I won't be the only one. The NHS is going to be overwhelmed as well with the GP surgeries being shut. But what can we do?

I work in a GP surgery and I don't work Mondays unless I'm covering someone's annual leave which I am next Monday. If I wasn't then I would have my normal day off when my job share would have yet another days holiday tacked onto her annual leave.

There are no GPs, nurses or reception staff with school aged and younger children to try to arrange care for.

Good on you, OP. We don't see many responses like this on AIBU!

I live the fact that doctors surgeries closing on a BH is also the teachers’ fault.

love

Where has anyone said that?

YABVU!

Everything is the fault of teachers. COVID, the war in the Ukraine, the cost of living crisis, even the weather. Blame those lazy teachers for everything