FUCKING GP SURGERY

[Screamscreamscream]

Sorry for the swearing. I could actually scream, or cry, or both. My GP practice is great if you can get an appointment, but an absolute nightmare to do that. There’s no email or online system, no apps, no econsult, nothing. You can’t go in and book an appointment anymore after covid- it’s phone call only. It takes hundreds of calls to actually get through, then when you do, all the appointments are gone. There’s no advance booking- it’s only appointments on the day. The receptionists are lovely but have to interrogate you and decide if you can get an appointment or not (not blaming them at all, I understand why they have to do it). I was once serviced by a receptionist to take Imodium and call tomorrow when I explained I was having stools with old blood in it.

there's another practice in the same down that has the apps and online system and has great reviews. My friends are registered there and can send a message on the app and have a reply within a few hours. It saves the phoning up hundreds of times every morning not being able to get through. I work during the week and cannot go on my phone at work so the way my current practice is set up isn’t working for me whereas the other would be better.

I tried to change surgery but apparently that’s not allowed within the same area, and the health board won’t allow it under any circumstances. I explained I literally can’t contact my current surgery because of work and even when I can it’s a nightmare but they were really apologetic and said it’s just not allowed.

has anyone had any experience of this? I’m so disappointed and frustrated. I understand it’s neither surgerys fault but I can’t believe I’m now locked into the shitty GP practice.

I developed a side effect (constant dehydration - no matter how much I drank I was still thirsty) from my medication and asked for a GP appointment. Leaflet says it's an emergency. Receptionist told me it's nothing to do with my medication, not an emergency and to stop Googling.

I only got an appointment after going home and coming back a few hours later to ask again.

GP decided after clear urine and blood tests it was the medication.

Now elsewhere and they're better... so far. (Only been there a few weeks)

@amiold I too am old enough to remember before the Tory government, and even the one before the last Labour government. Under Thatcher etc the NHS was decimated to the point where the only way Labour could find the money to replace the crumbling hospitals was the disaster that turned into PFI. However, they did turn around waiting times and waiting lists, bought in private units for hip and knee replacements and cataracts to reduce all the waiting lists. I could get an appointment for myself and my children without any problems. Over the last 12 years all of that has gone. No investment in buildings or staff. Everything stripped to the bone. No. They aren't both the same.

They aren't the same but as bad as each other in different ways then

You'll never get an appointment now that staff are wfh. Worlds gone mad

This sounds 1000 times better.

Yep. Be careful though. When this point was made on a recent thread people said it was "entitled" to refuse to be diagnosed by someone who has no medical qualifications and no professional obligation to confidentiality.

It was appalling under Labour too. As a vulnerable teenager living alone a GP gabe me a very high dose of a drug mever licenced to give to minors (and now fully withdrawn) due to it increasing suicide risks and sent me home on my own...

Call 111 for a GP appointment if you need one in the interim and explain that your surgery can't give you one.

My GP was like this and I also can't phone from work. I had to call 111 instead every time I needed an appointment and sometimes the appointment they got me was back at the surgery. Luckily for me I only needed like 1 appointment a year but it was still ridiculous. God knows what you do if you need to go more regularly.

We moved house last year to a different area - and finally we have a new GP. I really feel your pain!

Tilllly I didn't know that you could but I was in so much pain at 4 am thus morning I was googling home remedies and the Boots website came up. I had to upload a pic of myself (very scary sight at 4 am) and a pic of driving licence or utility bill. I was then asked a series of questions. If you have a temperature or vomiting then they wouldn't have issued them. I've got 3 days worth. They sent me a text message when they were ready to collect.

Did you read the part where she says it costs her €120 per month?

Re paying or not in pp we pay for insurance and still NHS was faster for GP than private. We got same day appointments recently and private was 48 hours or even 72

When we have to pay for it - like dentists-we will realise it was the Govt and not GPs that caused this mess.
Stop believing the "lazy GPs " rhetoric - it's b0ll0x

The receptionists are a pain in the ass. They all seem to despise their jobs .

Oddly I don't mind my GP, not good advise and forgets to read my notes, but seems a nice person.

About 100 quid - I’d gladly pay that for the benefits listed!

My drs is amazing and I even wrote them a letter at Xmas telling them so. Was recently unwell and got seen on the same day twice in the same week. Unfortunately seems like a postcode lottery but I have been with mine since a baby and see the same dr every time I need to. Must be awful to put up with some of the shit other pp have. In general our nhs is fucked just too much demand and not enough funding and people who also abuse the system. Sad times for many

For all these people who have appointments refused, are you able to put something in writing to the clinic basically saying something along the lines of “I confirm that I requested an appointment for X symptoms on x date and this was refused. I believe that these symptoms require medical intervention. Should these symptoms worsen and become more serious, I will use this email as evidence that I requested medical assistance, and I will refer to it should the need for litigation related to clinical negligence arise”

Thanks for that.

The figures are staggering: 29 million appointments in September alone means is like nearly half the UK population seeing the GP once, in just one month. No wonder GP practices are struggling to meet demand.

All 4 GP practices here merged into one a few years ago, so you no longer have a choice. Several GPs have retired in recent years and they've struggled to replace them. They now use an agency service to deal with most telephone appointments and have done for a while. The last time I had an appointment, they phoned me at 8.30 in the evening, they have to work that late to deal with the demand.

Once you've been triaged via the telephone appointment, if you need to see them F2F, they fit you in pretty quickly.

I think things have got better since the merger, they seem to have more flexibility now that the practice is so much bigger.

We have an urgent treatment centre and it's fantastic. It's in what used to be a "cottage hospital" and is now mostly used for patients who can't be discharged because they're waiting for social care assessments.

They can get x-rays and ultrasounds done on the premises, will plaster fractures that don't need to be manipulated, and they have a nurse practitioner who can prescribe. They must save no end of A&E visits, and were rushed off their feet dealing with injuries from falls when it was snowy the other week. If someone presents there but needs to go to A&E, they organise an ambulance transfer.

What they can't do (afaik) is refer to consultants or order other tests/investigations. You still have to get a GP appointment for that.

This is the point I'm making... we're paying (as in us who pay into the system) staff who should provide healthcare but the system allows them to wfh.

I don't have a problem with them wfh if it's something that can be dealt with over the phone. It makes no difference where they're physically located if they have access to all the records etc. I wfh unless it's a matter where I have to actually see the client, I see no reason why they shouldn't. They're still providing healthcare.

I actually prefer telephone appointments if it's not a problem that needs to be looked at. I can get on with stuff at home in the time I would have spent getting there and waiting to be seen, there's no panic about being late if the traffic is bad, no hassle finding somewhere to park, or panic about getting a ticket if they're running late. If I need a prescription, they email it to my local pharmacy, rather than me having to take it in, then go back to collect it.

I can see it's a problem if you have a job where you can't take phone calls though.

I worked as a GP’s receptionist in the 80s for around 6 months. Wasn’t rude patients it was the Drs. Awful. Didn’t last long in that job and the salary and hours were shite.