Is your GP online triage system good? NOT bashing - mine is brilliant.

[Merryoldgoat]

I messaged today using the online portal thing.

Message sent at 8.29 with details of my issue. I had a call at 8.36 from the triage doctor.

She asked a few questions and sent a prescription to the pharmacy but told me to get back to them urgently if x/y/z and they’d want to see me.

She told me likely issue which I suspected but also the things to watch for in case it was more serious.

She also asked for a picture of an affected area to rule out something.

They still take triage calls and see you same day when needed and it seems like a brilliant system.

So many here complain about their surgery - are they still making you call at 8.00 if you need an appointment? If so
why haven’t they moved with the times?

2 weeks for non urgent/routine appointments but they’ll arrange follow ups for more pressing stuff within 2 days.

People don’t believe me when I say I’m seeing a doctor same day - feels mad.

My surgery has had the e-consult thing for years and it used to be brilliant.

The last time I used it however they wanted me to wait eight weeks for a phone appointment for something that wasn’t exactly trivial. I ended up in A&E a few weeks later, which could have been prevented if my GP had prescribed the (low risk) medication I needed. Something went a bit wrong in the triage system I think!

Mine's a bit hit and miss. Mostly good. Really trying hard.

But they are using Push Doctor again - they had paused it because of patient complaints - and unfortunately every time someone in my family has arranged an online consultation the GP has not turned up on the screen. In a real waiting room a receptionist would say, 'sorry, the GP's been called away!' and you think oh well fair enough, someone else's need is greater than mine, and our receptionist(s) would sort you something else out.

But when you are staring at a screen saying 'you're in the waiting room' for over a hour it's a bit disconcerting.

Our surgery also has an online service. It has been really good in my experience.
When I marked my message urgent I got a call within 2 hours
when I said it could wait 2/3 days, I got a call the following day
Very happy with my GP surgery service

I've not actually seen a doctor at my surgery (moved to the area 2 and a half years ago). We have the eConsult system. I've used it twice, first time I never got an appointment or a call, but did get a text telling me I had blood test forms to collect from the surgery. The second time, a GP called me a couple of days later, while I was at work and not able to take the call. I can't take calls at work, and I didn't know when they were going to call, anyway. I used a private GP on that occasion, so I could arrange a video appointment for a set time.

They're trying, but it doesn't work for me 😕

Ours is amazing. Call, econsult and if they need to see you they get you in that day. You can book in advance three weeks ahead.

We also have a pharmacy onsite so no delays.

Yes and no though, I have friends at other local surgeries who aren’t as good.

I honestly think it’s how much the GPS are forward thinking and open to innovation.

Yes ours is similar, I had suspected UTI and I did an online questionnaire through the eco insult and the GP just sent prescription straight to pharmacy, didn’t even have to talk to anyone

Mine are pretty good, but there isn't an online messaging service. I've not even heard of that before.

If we ring at 8am (and keep pressing repeat until it's possible to get through) they'll get a GP to ring, and if the GP thinks there's a need for an appointment they'll generally arrange one very quickly.

So, I'm impressed with mine and feel lucky to have them, but I do think the online messaging system would improve things to avoid the need for the manic 8am calls.

If you didn’t have to fight through the crowds of hypochondriacs/people trying to stay off work/frequent fliers with self-inflicted ailments it would be a darn sight better. Saying that, when I need a doc they’re on the money afa f2f or telephone/video.

I admit, our aging and entitled population irk me. I think they’re what’s killing the nhs. We’re keeping non-contributing-deteriorating health individuals alive longer at massive cost.

Brilliant. The form itself is a bit repetitive but you get used to it. Without fail I get a call the next or same day to make an appointment or collect a prescription if that's the solution. Most of the complaints I see about it are from people who haven't actually bothered using it in the first place

I'm assuming you're always able to take the call, even if you're at work?

You are so right. Then there are the ones who book appointments every two weeks and never attend....

We have to do an EConsult- you may or may not get a phone call from a receptionist within 48 hours.

They won't do appts over the phone.

Then, you usually get offered a phone call with a nurse/GP within a fortnight.

Not really working well for most.🙁

At mine you call at 8am or2pm for same day urgent appt. You have to be quick but I’ve had appts within an hour - usually telephone, but at least they are doing regular f2f appts now.
otherwise it’s two weeks for a routine appt. I usually book using nhs app.

It’s pretty good.

If you say you want a face-to-face appointment and why, you’ll get one without a telephone triage. If it’s urgent, they’ll try to see you that day in my experience, or certainly the following day.

Equally, it’s really cut out the stupid, unnecessary appointments they used to require you to attend for certain things. I used to have to wait for an appointment to come up and take a sample along to get antibiotics for recurrent cystitis and it was such a faff, when I knew I just needed the meds and I’d be fine. I can now just fill out the triage form and get the prescription, and drop the sample in afterwards. Same for some other meds I used to have to go through unnecessary rigmarole to get.

On the whole, I like it. You can’t save your details, though, and it doesn’t allow auto fill, so it’s a long winded form to fill out when you have to enter all your personal details every time.

Sounds like a real mixed bag.

I wonder why the surgeries that aren’t using online solutions are choosing not to.

I wouldn't know, they won't let me use the online stuff. Thankfully I rarely need to see a GP these days as the nurse does my asthma review and the pharmacist reviews my anti depressants. Haven't seen the GP in years.

It's great. You message them, they do their stuff. Sometimes where appropriate it's a brief exchange of messages, sometimes a call, and if needed the offer of face to face within 48 hours. This continued through the height of lockdown, when my H was given an urgent FTF appointment.

All of this frees up the reception phone lines for those not comfortable with the app, so it's easier for them to get through. And the reception staff are lovely.

Yes our online system is great. Sent in a consult about pregnancy sickness and got a prescription the next day without having to see anyone. DD had a non urgent stomach issue and we got a call which arranged an appointment 2 weeks later

We don't have an online triage system at my GP surgery - I wish we did.

However, since the pandemic the telephone system has been streamlined and whilst I HATE having to call up at 0830 if I want to speak to a doctor or try to get an appointment for myself or my 2 DC, it works very well.

Ours is brilliant. You fill in the online e consult and depending on your need you might be texted an appointment or called by the nurse/paramedic/doctor. Always very responsive

Ours is great, too. In the past it would take days just trying to get through on the phone without missing work. In the past month DC had seen a GP and been given a prescription for antibiotics within 90 minutes of filling in the form, and DH filled in the form with a description of a suspicious mole at around 10am, spoke to a GP and sent photos around an hour later and had an appointment to be seen in person that afternoon.

We are still looking at five to six weeks for a non-urgent appointment, which will probably be by telephone, so any time between 0830 and 2100. Otherwise, it will be the 0800 scramble, calling anything up to 130 times before you get through. At one point I let the practice manager know how many calls it was taking. He just shrugged and said "What do you expect me to do?"

We can use eConsult in surgery hours, but shouldn't expect a response within three days.

In the meantime, I get no annual blood test for my hypothyroidism, no monitoring for a heart condition and they failed to call me for my last smear. Also they will never prescribe more than 28 days medication at a time and their linked pharmacy, now the only one in the area, is only open four and a half days a week. These factors coupled with the five day lead time to actually process a prescription request, make staying consistently medicated a real challenge.

I’ve always thought my surgery was excellent, they’ve done a triage system for years that works well, but since covid they prioritise a phone call over actually seeing a dr, which is now very difficult to do unless you’re acutely ill.

For some reason recently the surgery has taken a dive. I don’t understand why, they have the same number of staff, the local population hasn’t just exploded. Prescriptions take 5-7 days now, when they were always 3 days (which is fine), but they’re then picky with people trying to order repeat prescriptions too early, but if you’re on regular meds you need to, as there’s a very real chance you’ll run out, and if you do they’re angry with you for not getting your repeat prescription in early enough. It’s a shambles.

There’s lots of conspiracy talk about the vaccine being behind excess deaths, when to me it’s obvious that quite apart from issues with ambulances, A&E etc, you cannot see a GP, so how much is being missed?

yes ours is brilliant. If you need a face to face appointment following triage, you get one, and if you just need advice or another type of referral they sort that out too. I'm really happy with the system.