Apparently you can no longer call the GP to book a GP appointment.

[AngeloMysterioso]

You now HAVE to book online, and it HAS to be through the website and NOT the app.

I found that out the hard way today when I tried to book an appointment for my son, the app said none available so I rang up and waited half an hour on the phone to get through to reception, who told me I had to book it online.

You make a request and they’ll get back you within 48 hours.

AIBU to think that’s bloody ridiculous?!

There needs to be some combination of both, for many people it’s just not practicable to take a phone call when you have zero idea of when it may be, it works fine for less urgent stuff where they can probably reply by text but not so good for urgent appointments

Feel your pain on that one. As somebody with VERY complicated health needs, I always get the bit about the e-consult can't decide and I need to talk to someone.

I wonder how my father and 3 of his brothers would have coped, if they were alive they would range from 84 (dad) to 69 so not exactly old...but all were illiterate...So yeh they really could have booked online!

We have to fill in an online triage form which should be responded to within 72 hours
If you ring they just fill the form in online for you or tell you to ring 111
DD filled in online triage form on a Monday - had no response by Thursday so tried again apparently triage form shut down as no clinical capacity
tried again on the Friday and same response so was told to ring 111
rang 111 who said they would email GP who would have to offer appointment
a few hours later after numerous phone calls - GP agreed to offer a telephone appointment 3 days later
on the day of the telephone appointment they eventually rang (8 hours late) and advised DD to go in person the following day where she was advised to have ‘urgent’ blood tests (in 2 weeks)
The system is broken

Hugely discriminatory against some elderly people, people with disabilities, people on low incomes with little or no access to computers. I'd be OK but without me my tech challenged DH would be screwed. Fortunately, although we have the triaging, and the phone appointments (which work quite well because reception staff are good) we haven't gone the whole e-consult route yet, perhaps because our health centre is firmly in an area of social deprivation. I foresee huge future scandals. But presumably people will have to die first. Hideously exclusionary.

Mine did this and it didn’t work so they went back to everybody ring at 8am and hope for the best (but listen to a 45 second long pre recorded message each time before you fail to get through)

Hideously exclusionary.

I agree - my mother is only 74 but she would be totally reliant on someone else to make appointments for her (low vision and easily baffled by technology). Thank goodness she lives in Dublin and can just call up and speak to a human (although appointments are not as easy to get as they used to be).

What an offensive ageist remark to make.

I worked with computers from the 1970s so I know how they work and can cope but what about people whose knowledge of computers is not so good - those disabled, poor sighted, not all of them young. Your attitude is to say well b***er them - should have had top of the range computer/iphone and learned it all.

Furthermore many of us do not have a 'smart' phone because they are too expensive and we prefer a simple text phone or using a computer on a desk as I am doing.

Your intolerance is showing. Be a little more understanding of other's problems.

Frankly since Covid we have been provided with a very second class service. How do 80 year olds organise their appointments when they cant use a smartphone or computer or take a photo of their shingles rash on their back? We used to have a great NHS I nursed for over 30 years my husband was a Dr for forty five year and we are both horrified.

We lived abroad in the EU and France, Italy, Germany and Spain are providing a much better service to patients and actually seeing them and carrying out examinations rather than texting and looking at photos. Ive had grandchildren young grandchildren who have been turned away from their GP surgery without being seen despite them being emergencies, that isnt even legal!

Apart from for elderly people who do not and cannot use the Internet. My Dad, who died last Christmas, was one such. My neighbours next door and across the road similarly.

We are still on the 8:15 phone lines open. By 8:20 all appointments are gone. Pot luck. Figured if I don’t listen to the lengthy message before pressing 1 for appointments then I get through quicker.

next issue is when see you the gp they don’t give you your prescription. It’s emailed to the preferred chemist. Then you wait for a call to get it. Unless it’s antibiotics - we needed them and did get a print out to take to the nearest pit of hours that actually had the meds in - lots of phoning around to find one!! My recent appointment for my prescription sent through Friday and was only ready to collect today. Non urgent but I used my day off for my appointment and had to rush through traffic on my work day to collect today before chemist closed.

Repeat prescriptions are another pain. You have to phone the separate number at a certain time of the day to request. Or do it online. You have to give them 48 hours min to respond and send it to the chemist and then the chemist wants another 48 hours min to get it up and ready. Forward planning is a must. Gone are the days when I worked a Saturday on a chemist and people came in with their script, went off to do their shopping, came back and it was ready. Or even quicker!!

We have to do an Econsult before they'll consider an appointment, ridiculous!

Not just the elderly, i dont like using medical APPS, its nonsense, recently moved doctors surgery as id been trying to get in for 4 months!

@ruby1957 I wouldn't get too upset by the remark you've commented on. I rather suspect that the poster was aiming for precisely that, to be offensive.

There's always someone who enjoys posting stupid remarks that they hope will offend; not really worth the headspace tbh.

It's terrible applied through website had to wait 2/3 wks for telephone appointment which they cancelled this morning when my appointment should have been
Don't ever recall having appointments cancelled !

Here ppl are having appointments cancelled AFTER they have arrived at the surgery having got a bloody taxi to said appointment.

Still don't provide blood test results easily on an App or email though which is the main change I would welcome.

I don’t understand it. DD1 is under a hospital - through her online portal, I can access all test results, letters, clinic summaries, messages (to me) and appointments past and future. It makes it so much easier, that I can email them; or when you go to see a doctor in different specialty at another hospital to be able to call all this up, for their information - seeing as NHS IT systems don’t seem to be joined up? (Rather than having to carry paper files about)

I had this today. The website was easy to navigate, OP is exaggerating the amount of questions - it literally takes 2 minutes. Worked really well. Appointment texted to me within half an hour. Job done. No sitting and holding the line for half hour anymore 🙌

At my last surgery you could phone up for a doctor's appointment or use consult. The receptionist decided whether you needed to see a doctor or nurse or have a phone call. You were unable to make an appointment on line. You were allowed to before covid. We have now moved out of the area. New doctors have stopped econsult because the doctors couldn't cope with the demand, it was deemed unsafe. No booking online. You either have to phone up or go down to tje surgery. Receptionist again decides. The pharmacist seems to do reviews of prescriptions including statins!

With ours until very recently you had to fill in an online form that was only available in the morning between set hours. Miss the deadline and you have to wait until tomorrow. I got through 1000 questions once at it said I need to call 111 to speak to someone. Called 111, went through two or three levels of call back to be told child should see the gp within four hours. Called gp and was told I needed to be triaged (again) by gp despite having already got past that... Gp finally called and agreed he needed to be seen, finally seen (about 9 hours after I started the whole thing).

I feel your pain. My doctor “releases” appointments at 8am and 2pm each day. Ring at 7.59 - “surgery is closed “. Ring at 8am “ You are no14 in the queue “. Finally get through- “we only have emergency appointments left. Is it an emergency?”. Well ….I haven’t been able to hear out of my right ear for a week but is that an emergency? And this is of course after listening to the options first that try to get you to give up. “You can also make appointments on-line “. No you bloody can’t. These are also permanently “unavailable”.
I’m going to try again tomorrow but I’m not optimistic. It’s exhausting.

NHS IT systems don’t seem to be joined up?

No, not at all, not even different departments in the same hospital.

Ours is like booking gig tkts, first on the phone at 8am gets the appointment ....

If you are unhappy with your surgery tell the CQC why and it will flag up a problem they will ask about at the practices next assessment. You can also ask for an appointment with the practice manager.