To expect the Doctors to be taking calls at lunchtime

[OwwwMuuuum]

It’s my lunch break. I called the doctor for blood test results.

First, a message stating “due to staff sickness” they are not staffing the phones over lunch break (unless it’s an emergency). Variations of this excuse have been peddled since the start of the winter.

Second, a long message about respecting phone appointments and the decisions of advanced nurse practitioners etc etc.

The phone to reception then just rang out, there is no other way of retrieving my blood results and I can’t call back when I’m working.

YABU - busy doctors Surgeries shouldn’t have to plan their staff rotas to cover lunch breaks, when most patients are trying to contact them.
YANBU - patients should be able to reach their doctors surgery over lunch times.

Only if your gp and/or hospitals have signed up to use the system.
Mine hasn't so we can't see anything like that.

Mine has always been closed 1-2. In fact drs used to be closed from about 11.30 until 4pm back in the days of home visits (2 surgeries a day morning and evening)

Lunchtimes are already busy for them, that’s when one of the peaks of demand in the day

Maybe that’s why they close the phone calls, so it can be all hands on deck during the busy time.

I find it frustrating that most things aren’t open to ring once I finish work and I’m not able to ring during the day.
But it’s just one of those things.

Quick call the papers OP the NHS is understaffed and overworked and it's affecting patient care, this is surely breaking news.....

The sickness won't be an excuse.
We've not had a full complement of any type of staff since way before COVID. Illness, self isolations, staff retiring early, staff leaving and not able to be replaced etc etc.

Our surgery has always closed between 1 and 2. I've never thought anything of it.

Give how busy they are, I imagine that staggered lunchtimes would be more trouble than they're worth, as for a couple of hours or more they'd be only half staffed. Better to just not be available at all for an hour, but to have all hands to the pump when you're open.

I didn’t know about being able to see test results on the NHS app and will check that out, although surely they would have mentioned it already if I should have got my results on there.

I know that obviously that the NHS is in a steaming mess, this is not news to me, however as ambulance and nurse strikes, A&E closures etc don’t directly affect how a surgery staffs its reception I didn’t equate the two.

High sickness absence rates, a large number of unfilled roles and a hugely overstretched workforce are issues that apply across the NHS. It’s not as if the strikes have come out of the blue within a system that is working perfectly except for some isolated areas, is it?

Can't you just find a way around it? My GP surgery is open until 6.30pm every day, surely you can just ring later? I don't really think complaining on here about it is helping anyone, the NHS is chronically and dangerously understaffed and yes, sometimes that mean you have to do something that's a little bit inconvenient for you, like take a later break so you can call or something.

It's really not a massive big deal is it. I work in a school, calling the doctors/answering the phone is difficult but I just find a way around it if I need to.

Some surgery's shut completely at lunch mine does. Blood results can be got online if you have access. The doctors look at the blood results and only contact you if something is flagged up. If they don't contact you, you can assume they're ok. I thought most surgery's were open 8-6/630 so quite a lot of time out of normal 9-5 working hours.

My GP surgery closes for an hour at lunchtime. It’s the only hour of the day that the staff get the chance to talk about things together and check stuff.

which they do whilst having their lunch (if they have time):

Really? Retail, factory, nursery? None of them can just stop and make a phone call during working hours.

How inconsiderate of doctors practices to:have their lunch break the same as yours. Maybe take an earlier or later lunch break.

Dont be daft, many people in my role work 8am till 6 pm with an hour for lunch. No 8 hour shifts and no second breaks.

I'm sure my job isn't the only one like that.

And you can't have your phone on you for safeguarding reasons, it stays locked in a box in the managers office, so no slipping off to the toilet to make a call.

Ours is closed from 1-2 everyday.

I agree. I think any service like this that isn't accessible on the weekend needs to be accessible all day during the week so that people who work can actually get hold of them.

I know that obviously that the NHS is in a steaming mess, this is not news to me, however as ambulance and nurse strikes, A&E closures etc don’t directly affect how a surgery staffs its reception I didn’t equate the two

Really?! You think everything else is fine and only the strikes are the problem?
That poor state of NHS funding/management has no impact on GP practices?

You can't get through to our doctors' surgery anymore full stop. Not at lunch time, not first thing, not ever. They should answer the phone sometimes. They don't.

So they're all sat there doing nothing? Someone must be getting through right?? You get that it's not just you on the planet yes?

Doctors rarely answer outside telephone calls - receptionists and admin staff do. In the surgery I used to in, the phone rang constantly, all day, even with a high number of people answering. Doctors, nurses, admin staff were on the go from the moment they start work, until they leave. Many worked through lunch breaks as well. Some did stop for lunch, but many went back to work early.

You definitely AnBU
GP surgeries should operate to suit their customers. They should make things much easier for people who have a job to stay healthy as currently it's all set up to cater for anyone who has 8 hours a day to devote to hanging on the phone to speak to a GP.

Where are you going to find the staff from - there are huge numbers of vacancies in GP surgeries? Some are only operating three days a week.

Staggering lunch breaks and is of course possible if there are more than one receptionist there. Shops don’t shut at lunchtime in this country-hospitals/schools/most offices etc don’t either. Why are drs any different?

Not customers. Fixed payment from a monopoly employer with a fixed annual payment per payment for open ended access and demand. Not customers.

Our Dr contacts us if there's anything wrong with test results.
So even it you call, be on hold for ever, get through to a receptionist to be told a Dr will call if there's any concerns.