It shouldn’t be this hard to get antibiotics!

[JemimaTiggywinkles]

I have tonsillitis. I’ve had it before loads of times, so know what it is. I also know that with antibiotics I’ll be better within a couple of days and back in work on Monday. The last time I delayed getting antibiotics (because I couldn’t face a 4hr+ wait standing in the walk-in when sick) I ended up with complications requiring a hospital stay and an operation.

This morning I tried getting an urgent appointment at the GP and they told me to fill in a form, which then said they’ll get back to me by the end of Monday! It did say there was a triage though so I gave it about 4 hours before giving up on getting a quick response from them.

So an hour ago I tried 111 - they said a clinician will call me back but they can’t say when because they’re really busy. Having been through this process before I know I’ll be waiting (probably) a few hours for a call back only to be told that I need to be seen face to face to get a prescription. If I’m lucky I’ll get seen and a prescription at some point tonight via a walk-in centre (which on a Friday night means waiting for hours with drunk people).

I get that I’m not a life and death case. I get that the NHS is underfunded and the staff are overworked. But there really must be a more efficient way of accessing fairly basic medical care.

I had this last week for a uti. I tried to order the antibiotics from the boots online pharmacy but they wouldn't give them to me as this was the second uti in six months. There was no chance of getting a doctors appointment and I tried 111 but by the time of waiting for a call back I had pain in my back and side so it was classed as that I needed to seek urgent medical attention anyway so I ended up at the walk in centre at 7am Saturday morning. Such a long winded and un necessary process. I feel your pain.

If you are getting tonsilitis on a regular basis, why have you not requested their removal?

I'm all in favour of the NHS - sister is a GP, etc etc. But this is the sort of case where if you have £40-£50 spare to throw at the problem you can sort it quickly by booking a private telephone GP or physician associate appointment with one of those companies.

I had the same trouble last year - felt terrible, sent my sister a photo and described my symptoms and she said yeah you need antibiotics don't just ignore it, I'd assumed it would be viral and nothing could be done. So I paid £40, got an appointment via my phone an hour later, showed the person video of my throat and described my symptoms, got a prescription through by email ten mins later.

Maybe OP has

I’m sorry for anyone else having the same problem.

I’ve finally had the 111 call back and have an appointment at the walk-in centre. Hopefully cos I have an appointment it won’t take too long!

I’ve never thought about using a private GP before - I don’t have health insurance and didn’t know you could just pay for one appointment. Will definitely do that next time.

I have, of course, requested having my tonsils out. They said I can if I’m hospitalised a second time. Otherwise, the frequency (approx every 18 months) isn’t enough to justify it.

The way waiting lists are you'd be waiting a while for surgery even if you were referred. Glad you're sorted out OP. I agree that if you have the money a private GP appointment would sort this out. It's frustrating that we get the worst of both worlds in this regard though - we've already paid for the NHS contracted GP, and we also have to pay full price for any private GP with no subsidy. It does mean you get what you need though.

Some pharmacists can prescribe as well and although they are all busy you do have more of a chance of getting to see one.

It's a piss poor state of affairs overall.

is your tonsillitis viral or bacterial? Bacterial is usually when yellow spots on them and us you do need antibiotics to cover this. Viral you don't and they should clear up.

If you live in the far east you would be able to get OTC antibiotics. It's only the controlling UK NHS that are paranoid about it.

Yanbu.

I’m currently here with a kidney infection that I’ve had for a month before I was prescribed antibiotics.

it was picked up by a medic at a work wellness check, who advised me to see my GP. GP appointment took 3 weeks, lab results took a couple of days, getting a gp appointment to discuss a prescription (the GP had seen the results and written ‘book appt to discuss results but then the receptionist couldn’t get me a bloody appointment!) then took another few days 🫤 Couldn’t get OTC because it was a recurring upper uti.

Yes, how dare they be responsible and try to avoid antibiotic resistance and people using them inappropriately?!

OP should be able to more easily access an appointment with someone who can prescribe them if needed, but making them available OTC is not the answer.

Some pharmacists can now prescribe antibs.

Tonsillitis can be viral. I had it loads as a child and was given antibiotics each time and still was ill for about a week, as long as I was as an adult when I didn't bother getting the antibiotics. As so much bacteria is becoming immune to antibiotics it is right that they are limiting its use.

Goy my tonsils removed in late 20s. So much better.

@Rudolphthefrog

Yes. Lets not adult human beings be responsible for the management of their health.
Lets treat them all like three year olds.
8 billion people in the world and how many are under the jurisdiction of the system?
It's bullshit and everyone knows it.
I wonder how much time is spent by the patient and the Dr to eventually get round to prescribing something that both parties know what is required.
It's a system that is flawed.

Ridiculous comment. Most people do not have the capacity to self diagnose whether they need antibiotics or not, and for sure this would lead to antibiotics being taken unnecessarily.

You should absolutely be able to be quickly assessed by a HCP able to prescribe antibiotics if indicted. They cannot and should not be prescribed without that assessment

New antibiotics have not been discovered for decades now and resistance to the ones we have is an increasing problem. Do you want to go back to a time where bacterial disease cannot be effectively treated? I don't, and it's a very real risk.

I know exactly how you feel. I get tonsillitis at least once a year. Nothing but antibiotics will clear it. Absolutely not viral. Similarly ended up in hospital before with it. Why can't they look back over your history and see you have had this before? Tonsillectomy very difficult to get according to my GP. Need to have tonsillitis at least 3 times a year. Such an unnecessary process just to get antibiotics...Hope you feel better soon.

YABU. Antibiotics should be last resort. You wil benefit from letting your body fight the infection itself. There a massive risk of antibiotic resistance in the world. And they’re awful for your digestive system and gut bacteria

The vast majority of adults do not have the education to be responsible for the management of their health in the way you are talking about without appropriate guidance from an actual qualified professional. Both parties do not “know what is required” because only one party is a doctor (or other appropriately qualified prescriber). I’m a fairly well educated person who can Google with the best of them, I’m not going to pretend I can self diagnose my illness, differentiate between different types of infection, understand which antibiotic would be more appropriate for which ailment, or indeed whether or not a particular medication interferes with the other medications I might be taking. Plus if it’s not prescribed or on people’s records, who flags up when the patient’s already had half a dozen rounds of antibiotics for something and maybe some further investigation is warranted?

And on top of protecting individuals from themselves there’s also a societal issue because people unnecessarily taking antibiotics has an impact on antibiotic resistance and thus, indirectly, other people’s health.

I'm afraid I agree with Rudolphthefrog and think YAB a bit U.
Most tonsillitis is viral and will get better with or without antibiotics. They should not be prescribed for everyone. There is no foolproof way to know without a swab. Pus/yellow spots/white spots on the tonsils is not an indication of bacterial infection, just of infection whether that is viral or bacterial.
Antibiotics can have impact on the individual, predisposing to opportunistic infection such as clostridium difficile, and on the wider community, contributing to antibiotic resistance which will affect everyone.

It shouldn't be this difficult to get seen by a medical professional so I sympathise there. It SHOULD be difficult to get antibiotics. I know GPs who give them out like sweeties, with a complete disregard to the medical evidence that antibiotic resistance is becoming a real problem. Antibiotics should be for PROVEN infections (which tonsilitis rarely is) that are not being fought off naturally (which generally healthy, not immuno-compromised people can usually do). As someone who has had both premature babies and cancer in my family, I've seen the REAL need for antibiotics - the difference between life and death. These are the people who will die due to the over use of antibiotics. They are not so someone can get back to work quicker.

You have my sympathies as tonsillitis is horrible but I think YABU.

It is absolutely right that you can't just get antibiotics without a proper assessment. Antibiotic resistance is a major public health menace, and antibiotic stewardship is absolutely essential with the potential to save many future lives and enable things like routine surgery to continue safely.

The thing is that both viral and bacterial tonsillitis will tend to get better in a couple of days with antibiotics. It's just that the viral (and potentially a decent proportion of the bacterial) would have also gotten better without them. As antibiotics are so routinely over prescribed even by qualified doctors, your previous experience is not good evidence by itself that you've had multiple previous bacterial tonsillitis episodes, or that this episode is bacterial. Only positive throat swabs could do that.

You've certainly been unlucky with that one severe complicated episode and what a horrible thing to happen. But it may never happen again. You shouldn't be able to access OTC antibiotics for this reason, noone should... and the practice of allowing this in other countries is a bad practice.

Waiting a few hours on a Friday night to be seen by an OOH GP is inconvenient and unpleasant and ideally the system would work better than this. But it isn't going to endanger your health, and it's worth it for the benefits (to everyone) of good antibiotic stewardship. Bring a folding chair.

relative is a biomedical scientist says we are walking into antibiotic resistance without realising that literally millions will die in the future if this is not tackled in a more effective manner. GP’s should be doing swaps/dips etc instead of issuing antibiotics needlessly or just saying a blanket no to everyone.

I recently got mastitis and my gp surgery told me my only option was to call every day at 8am to try and get a same day appointment. I gave up on day 3 of playing pot luck after the gp surgery couldn’t suggest an alternative way for me to get antibiotics prescribed. Later that day I got to the walk in well before opening time and by the time they opened the doors there were 17 people behind me, and I was third in the queue. A couple of weeks later my friend was hospitalised with sepsis from untreated mastitis after failing to get an gp appointment. The nhs is on its knees and politicians don’t care, likely because they can afford private healthcare.

Tonsillitis is almost always viral. If it is recurring for you then it is unlikely to be bacterial. Seems like you just have a weakness to it. Tonsillitis almost always improves from day 3 onwards, antibiotics or not. It sounds like you were just unlucky last time. I say this as someone who has had it more times than I can count.

...and this is why, worldwide, we are seeing more antibiotic resistant infections.

Antibiotics are restricted for good reason and the UK is being responsible