GP Telephone Appointments

[Aquarius1234]

To find these awkward as hell at times.
Also they seem to generally last as quickly as possible unless you try and keep prolonging the conversation and asking questions.
4 minutes seems long to them!!
And why do you wait all morning then finally use the bathroom at 2 minutes to 1pm then the phone rings!
I didn't pick up till I had washed my hands!
Am I supposed to say " I'm just unlocking the bathroom door and going into another room before I speak to you" ?

I must be one of the only ones whose practice rings within 15 minutes - normally 5 minutes of the appointment time.

I've been to the surgery in person as my DD has had to have vaccinations. Last time there was a GP in the room though the nurse gave the vaccination. Only know because my DD asked.

I talk to my GP about domestic abuse. She allows me to book face to face appointments due to privacy.

When it's for some normal issue, I like the phone calls. The receptionist tells me roughly when the call will be. It's nice not to have to leave the house.

and I swear when you have waited hours, you end up past caring and missing stuff you may have mentioned otherwise.
Why not give the option, of I have a spare 3 minutes, is there anything else you would like to ask or talk about??
then if its too long it can be spoke n about in person next month?

@Aquarius1234 Write everything down in bullet points.
That way you won't miss anything, tick them off as you ask them/get an answer...although an appointment is generally only for one "thing/illness", so asking about reflux, a pulled muscle and a boil on your bum or similar at the same time might be frowned upon by my previous GP practice at least

My NdN was fobbed off by the GP over the phone since beginning of lock down as she had breast pain. GP refused a face-to-face as “it wasn’t safe”. She was finally diagnosed in April this year with aggressive breast cancer which had spread to both breasts. She was let down MASSIVELY by our GP surgery.

I prefer them. Saves having to go and see them which is difficult when working. Mine do in person visits if necessary.

More people want GP advice than before the pandemic and there are fewer doctors so systems have had to change.Where I work, we are fairly lucky to be reasonably well covered staff wise and offer prebookable telephone and face to face appointments as well as E consults and telephone triage for those who feel they need a fairly urgent appointment.If someone needs to be seen after telephone triage they are called in later that day , seen by video or squeezed in where appropriate. We spend so much time trying to optimise the system but demand means that it is frustrating for patients who eg have something that needs an appointment within the next week but can't wait for three weeks for a routine appointment. Telephone appointments are for 10 minutes, the same as face to face ones , they don't tend to be quicker.We don't give specific times for triage as it is an emergency/ urgent service and we are squeezing in the calls between other tasks but we try to give an idea of rough time of day and always try twice.Photographs of rashes and skin lesions can often be really well seen on a photo and coming up to the surgery is often not needed. Without increased manpower we cannot offer a completely flexible system but we are trying our best.

@Jaybird43 that's awful. What a negligent surgery.

My last phone appointment was a farce. I kept my phone by me all day; when it finally rang dr let it ring twice then rang off. I then got text saying they were unable to contact me. I called the surgery to complain and got told to ring at 8am next day! I got a bit cross. Later that day I got a call from a different dr. I suspect I wasn’t the only patient the original dr had treated like that.

If only all surgeries were like yours

Mine gives a specific time slot, I had a follow up telephone appointment yesterday scheduled for 10.15, but I was at work where the reception is awful, I stood out in the rain waiting for them to call so I could catch the signal. Eventually I after calling the surgery twice, and they called me just as my 11.30 meeting was happening to tell me about my provisional blood tests and that they will call back next week. I've been going back and forth for about a month. 😡

Are you allowed to ask GP's which days they work?
Would make it easier sometimes when you occasionally need a face to face.

I love them.

No more sitting in the crowded waiting room 27 mins past my appointment time wondering when I’ll be seen. The times I have needed to be seen face to face they have given me a time and I’ve been seen promptly after waiting just a couple of minutes in a nicely distanced waiting room.
There have been a couple of occasions they have phoned me at work -despite me saying I can’t talk until after X time- but I have managed to talk, although it would have been nice not to discuss my HRT within colleagues earshot but not the end of the world.
I work with HCP and they always say ‘can you talk/are you free to talk’ when making telephone calls and, if the person they are phoning says no, they will always phone them back later. Our GP’s at work do have a mix of F2F and telephone consults though but will bring patients in after a call the same day if they need to see them.
It works well and they are dealing with more patients daily because of working this way.

They are an absolute joke. The people who are yet to be diagnosed with something are completely screwed now, they have basically no chance

The only thing I beg is a timeslot.
I asked them specifically not to call between 1-2pm when I was on a videocall with my boss. Any other time was fine.
They called at 1.13pm. About contraception.
FFFSSS

Yes OP I agree they are awkward - our GPs don’t specify a time, and yes I agree everyone has a mobile phone. But for anyone who works this is totally impractical. You may not be able to answer the phone immediately or want to discuss personal health issues in an open plan office, a classroom full of children or a ward full of patients for example.

@blebbleb ours is truly shocking. One of my friends had a huge health scare a while ago - he was full of Pulmonary Embolisms and was coughing up blood. He was told upon discharge from hospital that he needed a follow-up with the GP within the week to make sure all was ok. My friend called the surgery every day for a week but there were no appointments. He then went to the door and you have to buzz to be let in. He said he needed an appointment and what had happened to him and they still said he had to wait for an appointment “like everyone else”. Eventually, after a month he got an appointment - over the phone - and the GP was furious that the receptionists hadn’t flagged his severity to them, and he was brought in the same day to see a GP.

When I was pregnant with DD, a few years ago, I had some bleeding so I called the GP as my midwifery unit phone line was busy, and the GP receptionist told me “oh yeah sounds like you’re having a miscarriage. I wouldn’t bother talking to the GP”.

I think all the telephone appointments are terrible. Especially for the elderly issues like weight loss and blood pressure are things I have seen being undetected.

I've had a few telephone appointments and now choose face to face. The telephone ones were fine, one for a rash and the GP got me to send a photo then immediately rang me back. My practice uses System Online which is great. I can scroll through all the available appointments for the next 2 months and choose f2f or telephone according to my needs. At midnight the next days appts are listed so can even get a f2f for the next day.

Missed 2 calls yesterday to do with my son as I'm at work then had to call back now I'm waiting for another call but SHOCK I'll still be at work and probably miss it. Wish they would give a rough idea of the time. YANBU.

Yes basically if it's really minor a phonecall is OK. But waiting around hours is not.
IME all calls have been very awkward weird and rushed.

This happened to a close family friend. Prostate cancer with the usual symptoms. He was told to go to A&E if it was serious but he didn’t as didn’t want to be a burden. By the time it was diagnosed it had spread. I’m still furious.

That being said, I think there are benefits to telephone appointments providing there is a bit of common sense used. At my own surgery the default is a telephone appointment but the receptionist are allowed to use their own judgement. When I rang up regarding a breast lump I was immediately given a f2f appointment because she said that the gp would want to see me so why waste a telephone appointment. Issues arise when there is a ‘computer says no’ attitude which wastes everyone’s time and resources.

Love them now I'm work from home. Hated them pre covid when in busy open plan office.

I take the phone to the loo with me, answer quickly and say "oh, just one moment please". I wouldn't expecting them to hold while I washed my hands though - I'd be as very quick as possible.

I've had a few appointments where I presumed I would need to go in (UTI / ear infection) but they were happy to prescribe a short course of antibiotics and I only needed to return if they didn't help.

Well I'm thinking of changing my GP just because I don't like how they are on the phone.

Bumping..
Anyone had any awkward GP telephone apps this week?