To want a GP appointment

[Lasanyaa]

I’m not blaming receptionists or doctors for this- it’s not their fault that services are so overwhelmed. I’m just so frustrated in general (not helped by a lack of sleep)

Booked a GP appointment for worsening asthma (fine today but significantly worse recently), tried to convince the receptionist that I wanted a face to face appointment for obvious reasons with asthma, but was interrupted and he told me he would speak to a doctor and just get another ventolin ordered for me. I had to insist that no, I wanted an appointment as it has changed and become worse recently and I’m using my ventolin much more frequently, and I wanted a face to face but he said it doesn’t need that and that a phone appointment would be sufficient. He had already told me there were face to face appointments available but he kept signing and said it didn’t need that.

i have no idea when the phone call will come in- could be anytime until 6.30 and I’m worried to go out whilst waiting for it in case it comes through when I’m driving because it’s near on impossible to get back through if you miss the call, and I don’t want to be discussing my medical details out in public as I have other existing conditions that are relevant but private

am I being unreasonable by being a bit frustrated at this? Not at the individual receptionist who was just doing their job, just the system in general where it’s impossible for everyone.

At my work I cannot take a phone call on a whim - there’s no service most of the time, and we are not allowed our phones on us anyway. You could speak to management and request time off to attend an appointment but not a phone call that could come in at any time and you have to drop everything you’re doing to answer. But because of high no show rates, it’s only a same day appointment service unless the doctor requests otherwise for future appointment. They also stopped the app, online and photography service and you can’t book appointments in person either, you only get buzzed in with an appointment.
I requested to move practice but all others within the allowed boundary are full.

If I hadn’t dug in, as others may not feel able to, I wouldn’t even have a phone appointment at all so I’m grateful to have something. I’m just so frustrated about it all and needed to get it off my chest. If anyone else who’s had a virtual appointment for asthma can reassure me that I’ll still be able to get the help I need I would be ever so grateful as I’m stressed and fed up now.

long term, I’m going to register with a private GP. Does anyone have any recommendations?

long term, I’m going to register with a private GP.

Another small victory for the tories. (Not having a go, and sorry to make the first reply ppolitical, but it's true.)

Your practice should have an asthma nurse and you should be offered checks with her regularly. The asthma nurse is usually more helpful than gp anyway in my experience.

We have an asthma nurse at our practice, but although they are happy to let you book for a review for 2 months time, it’s difficult to get an on the day appointment.

I wish we still had an asthma nurse but we don’t anymore. Yes- I agree it’s a shame that the tories are getting their way. It’s like they’ve backed us into a corner and giving us no other option, but we are also giving them exactly what they want. Frustrating all round.

I attempted to call the drs today. Number 19 in the queue anything over no 10 you’re pretty much not getting an appointment

Are you at work today @Lasanyaa ?

Thankfully no, I’m not today.

Shame they've not got an asthma nurse, that would be perfect!

As you're not acutely unwell a phone call from the GP may be beneficial in the first instance. They can consider whether it sounds like exacerbation from environment/smoking, infection or poorly controlled asthma. It might sound like a different medical problem is exacerbating your symptoms - like reflux for example. The majority of the assessment is always from the consultation, the physical assessment brings very little in comparison. But ultimately if your asthma is persistently worsening and you're not managing, and there isn't an obvious fix/optimise for your inhalers identified in the call that settles your symptoms then the GP will want to see you for a face to face. But they can arrange that during the call today!

At my work I cannot take a phone call on a whim - there’s no service most of the time, and we are not allowed our phones on us anyway. You could speak to management and request time off to attend an appointment but not a phone call that could come in at any time and you have to drop everything you’re doing to answer.

This is a big problem with telephone appointments with no set time I think. My mum is a teacher, she can't answer the phone in a lesson, but even when she asks the receptionists if she can be put at the back of the queue so the call comes in after school ends, they can't. There must be so many jobs this applies to (as well as school students) but there doesn't seem to be another option.

@Lasanyaa it sounds like the phonecall is booked for today so if you’re not at work then I’m not sure what the issue is. I’m sure you’ll agree that your health is the most important thing so having to wait for the call whilst not ideal, is probably the most important thing to do today.

I think the issue is the absolutely dire service from most GPs - all of my family and friends are in a similar situation.

It's absolutely bonkers that some people think the way the OP was treated is OK - we should be able to see a doctor when we need one.

Asthma nurse at our surgery is pointless. Went to her recently, she was unable to change medication without seeing the doctor, which defeats the object.

I actually knew more than she did. I was correcting her. Maybe she just wasn't very good.

OP I think another time you must insist on the face to face appointment if you feel that's what you need. Don't let the receptionist bully you into defeat.

Just keep repeating that you need a face to face appointment, you need your chest listened to with a stethoscope. Be really firm and keep repeating yourself.

I'm a teacher too and if I was waiting for a phone call, I'd have my phone either on my desk on vibrate, or in my pocket.
Thankfully I have classroom support so I can go out of class to answer it and I would even if I was halfway through an input.
I wouldn't care about the no phones policy, my health comes first and I'd tell SLT that I was expecting a call.
Not sure what people do when they're on their own though, or if it's an embarrassing issue.

I haven’t had a face to face asthma review with the nurse since 2019. Then there was a phone call, next an online form and bother phone call last time. I think a medical professional needs to see someone with worsening asthma symptoms. You can’t tell from a phone call whether breathing is very laboured and having more of the medication that doesn’t work is pointless.

Years ago, mine was bad and I was eventually prescribed something more effective. The reason I hadn’t been given this particular medication before was, the GP said, because it’s more expensive.

Sounds the nurse just isn't very good or experienced. The specialist nurse I have seen at our practice knows far more than the GP does.

I'm a practice nurse that does asthma reviews. I can't prescribe so can't amend prescriptions but we basically just tell the GP what we want and they issue. Difficult cases we would seek their opinion.
Routine reviews are usually fine over the phone. There's no need to drag most people in to fire questions at them. And peak flows have been contraindicated in surgery due to Covid. These can be done at home and sent in.
Anyone presenting as the OP though would be added to our triage nurse list and dealt with on the same day. It's a excellent system although the workload for her is horrendous. Think up to fifty plus phone calls a day in addition to people to bring in, see and examine face to face.
Asthmatics with worsening control should be taken seriously. Simply giving you more of your reliever is atrocious, it's a red flag, regular symptoms need prompt assessment. People die of asthma.
I don't know what the answer is. We have two nurses retiring next month with no replacements. Another colleague is sixty and going any time and I'm out in four years.

Why don't you request to see the practice nurse instead of the GP? Usually it's the practice nurse that manages asthma and long term conditions not the GP. They can also refer to a chest physician too if necessary.

i understand that due to work, you need a specified time but GP surgeries cannot accomodate this. In fact my GP surgery was doing telephone triage for the last 10 years well before covid and I was never given a specified time.

It all depends what comes in on the day. They may have more urgent problems to deal with such as needing to prescribe urgent end of life medication, speak to another health professional about concerns for a patient, care homes may ring for advice on an elderly person acutely unwell

The whole situation is appalling and depressing. Our GP surgery was excellent pre-covid and now it is dreadful. I can't believe that phone appointments are still considered acceptable - there are multiple reasons why they are not:

• It discriminates against people with ADHD and ASD, as they often find speaking on the phone difficult and overwhelming - they may not bother seeing their GP for this reason (speak from experience on this one).

• The above applies to people with anxiety and depression, so people struggling with these conditions may not seek help.

• It is impractical for an enormous number of people to wait for a phone call for all sorts of reasons (many stated above).

• It is unacceptable for people to have to discuss their private medical concerns/conditions out in public if the doctor calls when they are out and about.

• The doctor can't use visual cues to assess the patient - how the patient looks can be really important (eg - a usually very smart person looking dishevelled).

• No body language!

• A real danger of missing something important, which has been in the press on a few occasions.

• It is far more akin to a tick list exercise for the doctor - much harder for them to properly connect with the patient over the phone - the phone appointments I have had were rushed and horrible.

Overall it is just awful - telephones have been around for decades, but it was not considered acceptable to have a GP appointment over the phone pre-pandemic. I too will be registering with a private GP - I have had enough.

Sorry for the big gaps!

Completely agree. Face to face appointments might be running late but they were more or less at a set time. I'm all for telephone appointments in addition to face to face but people need to be able to have face to face when they want it (not at the whim of a receptionist) and telephone appointments should also be scheduled for a time, not just sometime that day when the GP has a free 10 minutes.

Why oh why don't they get that the current approach (anytime that day, will call on a withheld number and if you miss the call tough luck) just doesn't work for people.

If I felt I really needed to see a GP face to face then I would have made sure I saw one.

I would put in a written complaint to the practice manager.

I am shocked at the comment above about Peak Flow tests now being mandated to be done at home - at least in some surgeries (not mine TG). Peak Flow tests are an important asthma management tool but are notoriously difficult to do correctly - especially for children. What's the point in collecting readings from a test that may not have been done right?

Yeah, I always get asked what my peak flow is, I never get asked to do one at the surgery.

Does anyone else think the GO's are enjoying telephone only appointments rather than going back to face to face? It's like they have gotten used to how things were in lockdown and refuse to go back.

Luckily, my surgery is back to doing face to face apppintments. But there is a different surgery next to mine (in the same waiting area), and I was there on Monday waiting to see the GP, and the receptionist for the next door surgery took a call from a patient as was saying sorry we aren't doing face to face appointments.

Crazy that my surgery is doing them, and the surgery about 5 metres away isn't.