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?!

I appreciate that it works brilliantly for you but there are still a couple of million households in this country with no form of internet access (neither home broadband nor a smart phone) and the older people are, the less likely they are to have ever used the internet at all.

I love doing everything online, personally! But when it comes to essential public services like healthcare, there really has to be an alternative for people who can’t manage to do stuff online.

Very occasionally I'm thankful for having a medical issue
I ring up with a UTI and they start on about symptoms and samples and seeing the pharmacist
Me "I'm immunocompromised and at risk of neutropenic sepsis" gets you seen in an hour

In Ireland... I can either go to the doctor's in the morning, speak to a human and get a same day appointment, or phone them (can be difficult to get through), again for a same day appointment. They don't book in advance UNLESS the doctor says, see me again in a week/2 weeks, then the receptionist books it in before you leave. UK, gone to the dogs.

I was surprised the other day on how easy it was to book same day on an app

Free appointments in a couple of hours, hardly any waiting

Ours still has a phone line, which opens at 8am and typically takes about half an hour of redialing to get through, When you do get through, they heavily suggest you book through the app instad, making it sound easier.

But the appointments on the app are also released at 8am and they all go within seconds, literally.

There's a section where you have to write what's wrong, but if you take time to write anything, you've missed your chance, all the appointments are gone. I just write one word now e.g. 'chest'.

It's a stupid system.

The Tories are actively trying to run the NHS down so we'll accept privatisation. Same old trick.

Agree wholeheartedly with this. I feel for those who will be disadvantaged. Fair enough if there is provision being made for those, for example, without internet access but this needs to be communicated properly without people having to find out about the new system in the way OP did, and as I did recently at my local surgery.
No issue for me, and the new way is very efficient but it is not very inclusive and that is just wrong.

The whole system is broken. As I previously said, our e-consult system is abysmal but it's far preferable to having to phone and plead your case to a half wit with a superiority complex!

Providing when you have an emergency you don’t expect an NHS ambulance to turn up at your door when you need it. Because private emergency provision is crap.

This may not work for those working full time or people without online access.
Maybe the point of this is to reduce phone calls to the surgery and effectively exclude half of the patient list from being able to make appointments.🙄

Ours does still have the usual phone line

The app is fast / easy so I use that but people can talk to a person

This doesn’t sound brilliant to me- they’ve diagnosed and given you medication based on a photo?? That’s a shit level of care.
YANBU op. Xx

The trouble with this is when they contact you 'within 48 hours' but you can't pick the phone up (eg working) and miss out and have to start again.

My surgery keep trying until they get hold of you. There are loads of jobs where people can't just answer their phone when it rings, and I think it's important that GPs recognise this.

My DM would never have been able to get her head round using the internet. She couldn't even suss out the timer on her cooker or a digital alarm clock, she had to use old-school ones - and that was before she got dementia! Pa would have been ok, until he got dementia. And I wouldn't have been able to help, they lived 160 miles away.

I've also had clients who refuse to use the internet because their MH issues make them paranoid about it.

This insistence on doing stuff online potentially excludes some of the most vulenrable from accessing services.

Seriously I'd stop wasting my time on this thread.

Having endured the previous multiples threads on the same topic.

You aren't gonna change anyones mind.

It's too far gone. The service is being privatised by stealth.

We can still ring at ours, it's impossible to see a GP though, I managed to see a nurse to look at my suspected skin cancers, she showed a photo to one of the doctors who fortunately referred me to the clinic. Outpatients appointments come by letter though which seems quite time consuming and iirc many missed hospital appointments in the Royal Mail strikes.

You also need to be able to afford to run a computer and pay for WiFi etc Since cost of living crisis our local library is always packed out with people using the computers. I doubt it’s very efficient for someone to go to the library to do an e-consult, especially if what they have is contagious and they are in a building full of other vulnerable people.

My surgery has moved to the Evergreen app. You have to use the request 'Ask my GP' section then give the reason you need an appointment, list your symptoms then wait for a response, and hopefully an appointment within 1-4 days.
If you don't get on there first thing in the morning, the appointments have all been allocated so you try again the following day.

There is a way round it I found. I had a very large and sore infected cyst and knew I needed antibiotics. All appointments had gone so I chose the request medication section, requested antibiotics - used the additional information box to explain why and got a face to face appointment the same day.

I really don't know how elderly people who aren't internet savvy or don't own smartphones manage.

Yep, there's going to be loads of people in that situation.

Seems. nobody cares.

At my GP there is a large notice at the front desk saying that you can't make appointments there either. So there isn't even the option for such people to go to the surgery to book an appointment.

Some jobs you are not allowed phones, I worked in food manufacturing and the people in the warehouse and manufacturing areas had to lock their phones away, no flexible start either so you couldn't ring the surgery, work started at eight and that was that.

We have AskMyGp which is open 8am to 8.05am most mornings. I have cognitive issues that affect my perception of time, it can take me weeks to even get logged on in the correct 5 minute window to make my request, then the stress of doing that means I can't explain very well what my problem is, or I've collected a few more issues in the meantime so can't focus on the original problem.
Then the GP washes their hands of me and transfers the chat to the receptionist who always seems to think any issue I have requires a Subject Access Request form.
I haven't actually managed to see a GP since 2019.
I have chronic conditions that need monitoring which are deteriorating but I cannot access help with the system set up the way it is now.
If I could go online at any time and book an appointment with a GP for a few weeks' time I could manage that, nothing is ever that urgent.
What's the point of AskMyGP in a 5 minute window? What do they do the rest of the day?

You've called every week day for a whole year?

I know four gps in our area doing concierge GP work. Our senior partner never really came back after covid, he does one afternoon a week, I've no idea how much private work he is doing, nor the other three.

I presume that they're not allowed to advertise, whereas consultants you can read their bios on the Spire it's all above board.

Yep.

We have just got this and it is a billion times more efficient than everyone ringing up at 8am. They usually get back to you within an hour or two

This is the same process now at my surgery. I’m grateful I don’t have to plead my case with a “care navigator” now. However there will be plenty of people digitally excluded.

I’ve always thought the process to access GP appointments should be standardised to avoid confusion. You’re sort of just expected to know how it all works, but every surgery is a bit different.