To be appalled by this new system at the GPS

[Comedycook]

Haven't had to go for a while but my DC needs to see a doctor. We used to call up in the morning to get a same day appointment or we could book in advance.. usually a two week wait. Called up this morning and told next available appointment is over a 4 week wait. I asked what happens if you need to someone more urgently. Was told that what happens is a paramedic will phone you and triage you over the phone. They then decide if you need to see a doctor. Wtf. I hate this stupid country.

There are so many conditions whereby you don't need urgent care but you also can't wait a month for help. Also, what about work and school. How do you know if you are going to be granted access to a doctor that day after your phone call from the paramedic? Do you keep your DC off school, do you take the day off work just in case they can see you?

As for myself I have several minor health niggles and in all honesty, it's not worth even trying to see a doctor so I just live with it. However, I obviously wouldn't do that when it comes to my DC.

To be fair, I felt sorry for the receptionist. No wonder so many people just turn up at A&E.

Same at our Drs. It's a nightmare. First time we did it, I sent child to school (5 miles from home in one direction) and went to work (10 miles in the other direction). Paramedic called at 9:30 and said child needed to be seen by Dr, offering a 10am appointment. I explained that it was not possible for me to leave work, collect child from school and return to surgery in the next 30 mins and asked if I could have an appointment later that day (or even next day or two as not really urgent). Reply was no. I'd have to do the whole thing again the next day if I couldn't accept the offered appointment.
So following day, kept child home, booked day off work and repeated the exercise. Waited until 2pm for the call back and got offered a 5pm appointment meaning we'd both stayed home for nothing. School asked for evidence of medical appointment and so we got served a warning for having unauthorised absence as the appointment fell outside of school hours.

Well same day appointments are for urgent things not convenience unfortunately. If its urgent assume you will get an appointment and plan accordingly.

Ok so the only option is same day urgent or wait a month.

Yes, you've illustrated my point exactly. It's ridiculous

Sounds a bloody good idea tbh.

My GP went phone/video call over lockdown with face to face if absolutely necessary. They ended up doing more appointments per day because they cut out a hell of a lot of the time wasting.

Not every single call to a GP surgery requires a GP.

Not getting what you think you should get isn't always an indicator of a "broken system".

We have it at our surgery but not for all calls
I've seen a couple of the paramedics working there sometimes and they've been really helpful

I often find my issue can be dealt with in the phone call. Saves lots of time

It isn't ideal but it's likely the best they can do with the massive shortage of GPs and other HCPs. We need to accept that as a society we will need to pay more for our public services or accept a shitty system like this and pay privately if you can afford to.

@FlameGrilledSquirrel

No complaints from me either, but I am from a rural town so less patients maybe? Routine wait for a face to face appointment is 2 weeks. However they have a "live chat" on their website and you can confidentially ask your GP a question about your health and get a reply. I used this on Monday for a question about my blood pressure medication and had a reply and new script sent out to the pharmacy in 10 minutes. Was shocked!

In general since lockdown my access to healthcare and referrals has improved, however once those appointments hit the procedures stage there is a long wait.

At least you can get advance appointments. At my GP there is ONLY emegency on the day appoitnments and once they are gone they are gone. You are generally triaged with a phone appointment first. For one the day/ urgent appointments I think the process is fine - it enables them to determine who genuinely needs an emergency appointment. If you don't you then have the option to book a longer term one (which we don't have, so basically if you aren't an emergency you can't see a GP which frankly is outrageous).

We've had a similar system for years, and it works extremely well. If the nurse practitioner or paramedic thinks you need to be seen urgently you will come in that day, if it needs looking at but not that day then they make you an appointment which you can alter to suit, and if its something that just needs a urine sample/ blood test or whatever then they sort that out.
Its a lot less than 4 weeks for a routine appointment though, they seem to manage their workload very well

So if I send my DC to school then the paramedic phones me, my DC isn't there to answer any questions. Then if they decide they can see a doctor, I then have to phone my dcs school and pick them up. Lucky I don't work, I'm a sahm so I could do that. God knows what you do if you work. Anyway, that's the option... only alternative is wait a month.

At ours you can send an email for non urgent issues and a Dr will phone you within a few working days. They will then offer a face to face if needed.

For things like eczema and mild ailments a photo and phone call is far easier than a face to face and means DC don’t even need to be there.

We can still phone on the day for more urgent issues and Dr will call and phone triage same day and bring you in at the end of the day if they need to see you. Far more time effective than travelling to the surgery and waiting around.

I think it’s the best of both worlds.

The NHS introduced a new funding scheme for practices in 2019 which allowed them to recruit a whole raft of additional staff in specific roles. Paramedic practitioners, pharmacists, social prescribers and a lot more. (it's called ARRS if you're interested in reading about it)

It irritates the shit out of me that there has been absolutely no public campaign to raise awareness of why this was done and to assure the public that people in these roles are very highly skilled and can deal with a lot of things that don't need a GP therefore freeing up GP time for things that really do need a GP.

The system isn't great but it is a lot better than it would be without these additional roles.

It's appalling and we should be embarrassed by it.

We've been doing phone triage since 2013. It is unfortunately the only way to deal with the increasing gap between supply and demand - GP numbers are falling, patient complexity is rising. Complain to your MP about ongoing underfunding of the NHS.

I agree OP, the system is broken. Plenty of gaslighters on here tho telling you all is tickety.

They won’t usually speak to DC they will speak to you. DC don’t have to be there for the phone call. If they then offer a face to face for DC they will usually try and do it outside of school hours.

Thank you. It should really not be this difficult to get your child in front of a doctor.

Well what do you suggest. It would be completely impractical to have more options than that and have to decide what fell into each catagory and within each time frame. This is a good compromise and they have to ensure they see urgent patients same day. If the paramedic thinks you can't wait 4 weeks you won't. Carry on your day as normal. If you have to leave work or pick child up from school then you have to and as your say their health takes priority. The NHS is their for your health needs, if you want convenience as well pay for a private GP where you are also paying for the 'customer service'

a photo and phone call is far easier than a face to face and means DC don’t even need to be there

Which is not great for safeguarding is it?

Also how on earth do they know if you're lying or if you have taken a photo off the internet. How do they know that the patient even had those symptoms if they can't actually see the person?

Seems to vary so much by area. Touch wood we are v lucky here. The system with our GP is if you need more urgent advice you request a same day call back. They then assess if you need to be seen in surgery. Family have been ill recently and they sent an ambulance out no problem.

Well now you really are stretching things.

Cannot believe you're a SAHM. I could understand the irritation if you worked and had to try to juggle work commitments to go to an appointment at short notice, although it would still be tough. But what reason do you have for not being able to grab your child from school if they offer an appointment. Or did you just want to outraged for the fun of it.

Before the pandemic my surgery would book patients in with the GP each morning, subject to availability, no questions asked. Many patients would only need a script for repeat medication because they knew the didn't have to wait 3 days if they ordered with the Receptionist but could have a signed script immediately from the GP. Others would have an appointment for the GP to write a to whom it may concern letter and some because they hadn't heard about a hospital appointment. This system used to annoy me especially as people in genuine need of an appointment e.g. uti, chest infection for example would have to wait until the end of the day to wait for ages in the "emergency" appointment session. If it wasn't for the "time wasters" they could get started on medication without suffering longer than necessary.

Telephone triage is a good idea in my opinion.

I recently needed to see a doctor, I popped in whilst I was in town and was offered an appointment two days later and I was referred for a brain scan and had that 10 days later (cancellation).

My 19 year old son confided in me with much embarrassment that he’d found a lump in his testicle. I agreed the most sensible thing was to get it checked.

He phoned Gp practice before work. No face to face appointments, a doctor will call you today but we can’t say when. (Why? Why not give a window of time?!)

DS has a public facing job in a busy workplace, very unlikely he could answer a private phone call and if he was able to, he hardly wants to discuss his testicles in front of his colleagues and customers.

It meant taking a day off to wait for a phone call.
Eventually a doctor rang back and spent approximately 30 seconds telling him to ring back in a week if no better, go to A and E if it suddenly gets worse.
Aaarrrghhhh!