To think there should be another service for when GP surgery is full?

[CreatingHavoc]

Every time I need to see my gp for an urgent appointment and they can't fit me in, they always tell me to call 111 who always send me to A&E. I've spent 7 hours in A&E today when I probably didn't really need to be there because there's no intermediate assessment service, like a walk in centre, or similar. Is this the same for all areas or am I just unlucky in where I live?

Our gp is now a call center. I'm sure they must see some people in person but they've now allowed me or my DC to see them since covid started. We use the walk in when we have something that needs to be seen now.

We have a good GP practice and extra evening and weekend routine appointments that you can book in advance. We also have a WIC/Minor Injuries but have never had the need to use it.

Pharmacists are the answer. Many are training (some already are) to be independent prescribers at the moment. Covering any acute infection (except dental problems), and some dry skin problems. Any one starting training as a pharmacist currently will also be a prescriber on completion of their degree. Come 5/6 years time then you will be popping to your local pharmacy for a number of things that require an urgent appointment.

Do you have the option to go private? I think I've mentioned this on here before but my sister sees a private GP in Hertfordshire, she originally intended to go as a one off but now goes whenever she needs to. It's less than £50 I think.

Mhmhmh

Here you have to phone 111, they take details and call you back about four times, and then once you get through that level of bureaucracy and into the local NHS phone system you get given an appointment either at a central GP “overspill” clinic or at the out of hours GP which is actually located next to A&E.

Or I’ve been given an appointment at a pharmacy, who couldn’t solve the problem but seem to have access to some sort of online portal because when I then phoned 111 again they had the pharmacy info and were able to use it to prescribe over the phone.

111 are a bit of a marathon to get through, but the actual local NHS services have been quite good. It’s just getting through the 111 gatekeepers that is tedious - there is no “walk in” here, everything goes through 111.

@TooFondOfBooks yes it was and according to the image I did the right thing by calling 111. My gp receptionist advised me to as there's no other option round here. I've been around 3 time in the last year. One time 111 even sent an ambulance that I definitely did not need. I wonder if I drove out of my county to the nearest city, if I could go to walk in centre there. It's 40/45 mins away but infinitly better than A&E.

Ideally all the services would be much better and be able to see everyone who needs it. However unfortunately expecting a champagne service on what is quickly becoming a tap water budget just isn’t feasible.

Our surgery has a nurse practitioner taking emergency appointments so you can usually see someone same day. Local hospital runs a GP access clinic out of hours attached to A & E, and we have several MIU's as well as a health access centre that anyone can attend if they're not registered with a GP practice. Also, 5 local rural surgeries joined up and have a duty GP covering emergency care so you may have to go to another surgery but you'll be seen.

Rural Gloucestershire, it's an amazing system.

Sugarsun all the money in the world wouldn't make me stay I'm afraid. It probably wouldn't have for my colleagues either. It's soul destroying and relentless. 34 years will have been more than enough.

@Rudolphtherednoseddog have you found that 111 has directed you to an out of hours that's not listed on the NHS site?

I'm curious because I've heard of this happening to a couple of people, so if I have a problem it might not be right just to go to what's officially my nearest out of hours. I tend to imagine that kind of health issue would mean I couldn't get on public transport so it would be handy to know if something really was closer.

Throwing huge amounts of money at the NHS hasn't solved anything. Many staff have left for more complex reasons.

@EmmaEmerald also true of course. I’m a GP so fully aware of the challenges.. and would love to leave. But finances are a huge challenge currently.. we are nowhere near meeting patient demand and starting to seriously think about staff redundancies to keep the business viable, meaning even less appointments!

I was a student in Liverpool. It is so well served by walk-ins! It was a shock to move and find that is not the case everywhere. It really should be! I went 5 times. Once, they sent me to a and e as my burns were more serious than they were able to deal with. The other times, I got treated and was sent on my way. They were all not the kind of thing you can wait days for the gp about, but too trifling for a and e. Bar the burns, but by that point I was so used to the walk in rocking it, a and e did not occur!

We have a walk in, although you are now encouraged to call 111 first and have them refer you.

Our GP is excellent, and quite forward thinking. They have had prescribing nurses for a number of years which takes some of the load and opens up appointments. More recently I have seen a community paramedic and a prescribing pharmacist for relatively minor infections. I saw both at my GP surgery. The paramedic then asked the GP to prescribe what was needed. Again, a great way to take the pressure off in a supported environment.

Out of hours GP here isn’t listed or advertised - you can’t just go there. It has always been in the same location when I’ve been sent to it, but it’s an anonymous building, you’d never know what it was if you weren’t sent there with specific directions and you can only get in through an intercom and with an appointment from 111. Or occasionally I think people get redirected there from A&E.

The only walk in thing is a minor injury unit an hour away, but it’s only open mornings, deals with an extremely limited range of things and is much further than all the other options, so we don’t use it. Everything else is accessed through either your own GP or 111. Even A&E they prefer you to call 111 first, though obviously they’ll take walk ins too.

@Rudolphtherednoseddog

thank you. I have a feeling we have that here but it’s hush hush.

Not many know this, but you can change to another GP practice if there are any in your area that aren't oversubscribed - we moved to one which is a 15 minute drive away, but which is vastly preferable to never actually being able to get an appointment at all.

Just go here, click "Find a GP" and ring around the ones in your area until you find one that's taking registrations.

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/gps/how-to-register-with-a-gp-surgery/

We have an urgent care centre.
They need to bring back to bursaries for student nurses

We don't have a minor injuries unit, they've all been closed. Nearest walk in centre is 40 minutes away - further than the hospital.
GPs surgery is maxed out yet they're still building new houses locally...
I had to go to A&E due to heavy bleeding in the summer and I wasn't prioritised at all. I was faint and dizzy in my chair, bleeding through my clothes, and a lady next to me who had a sore finger asked the nurse if I could be seen before her. DH ended up kicking off and calling 999 from the hospital, then they saw me. People shouldn't be in A&E with sore fingers but there is nowhere else for them.
Before anyone asks, I was told to go to A&E.
Our services here are totally pants.

@CreatingHavoc
That’s obviously stressful & highly undesirable - but at least (if it’s any comfort?) you’re not in HIU territory.

As I said, it’s all algorithm-based & unfortunately you’re triggering the ambulance/go to A&E response with the answers you give the call handler (I don’t mean that’s your fault btw!).

Have you tried telling the call-handler you’re ringing because you’d like to speak to a GP about thing X because your own GP had no appointments available?

If you know you don’t need an ambulance but 111 has dispatched one you can ring 999 yourself & request that they not attend. I thought you could decline to have an ambulance sent out to you too: I certainly have previously, but perhaps that’s no longer the case 😕

Thats good news.

My DS had an infected finger nail last week, the pharmacist took one look and said he needs antibiotics. GP had no appointments, so the walk in centre was our only option.

Four hours of waiting later, we finally see the GP and leave with our prescription, which I then had to take back to the same pharmacist who sent us.

If the pharmacist could have just prescribed the drugs she knew we needed (and had right behind her) it would have saved us a lot of hassle, and been one less patient clogging up the urgent care centre for a minor ailment.

I think it is area-dependent
I'm always able to get a same day appointment.

Walk in centres. I used to think there weren’t any near me but then my mum needed to go to one for an x ray and turns out there’s one a 20 minute drive away in a random town near me.

My mum said it was really quick and efficient service and not too busy. So you may be surprised that there is one near you and you just haven’t heard of it.

Should add we’ve lived in the area all my life, and my mums lived here over 30 years so it’s not like we don’t know the area.

I sat on the phone line dead on the time they opened to get told when I got through that all appointments were taken. They did offer me an appointment to speak to a pharmacist as the pharmacist can prescribe antibiotics, the dr just needs to sign off for it. This is a new system at my GP, which is good if you can’t get an appointment but I think they’re being lazy and people are not getting the help they deserve.