Can't even phone to book an doctor's appointment anymore, what is happening?

[GPbloodyWha]

Recieved this text from GP.

Can no longer phone them to book an appointment.

So what happens? You send them a message and have to wait and hours and hours for them to decide if you're allowed to see them or not?

Is a GP sitting there reading hundreds of messages to see if they should allow a patient an appointment an improvement on their use of time??

Would be much better for me personally. I counted I redialed 160 times over half an hour last time I tried to call the surgery at 8:30. And then they just put you down for a call back from the doctor.

Lots of people aren't online though - I'm sure they're aware and will implement something for those people.

I can't believe that people still want to phone 100 times and complain about the receptionist to get an appointment.

My local GP has been an online booking system for years. I just go to the website and pick what I want from the calendar and they confirm (presumably to triage/reassign to GP/nurse if someone picks the wrong thing). So much easier. If people want to keep checking back for cancellations they can, but there's no 8:30am rubbish.

Our Gps have 25 appointments available a day. Miss those and your stuffed. And they close 1/2 day every wednesday for staff training and no saturday or sunday appointments...its hopeless for patients.

Surgeries will have to have options in place for those for whom the online form isn't suitable. For example, calling and going through the form with the receptionist. Usually people with these types if needs will have a note on their file to flag to the staff.
The online system should hopefully make it easier for those people who gave no choice but to phone to get through.

My GP moved to this a while ago.

In my experience it has worked rather well. I have always received a prompt reply and either appointment, prescription or a referral letter the same day.

For those unable to fill out the online form, you can phone and the receptionist will fill it out for you.

I have found the online form fine to use for appointments at our GP.

This is worrying for many groups of our population plus its how things get missed.
Interestingly today I did the ONS covid study questionnaire and they've added a new section asking if I've contacted the gp and if I had lots of follow on questions about if I got through, got a timely appointment etc.. this makes me think changes are in the pipeline (hopefully).

Our surgery has had this system for the last few years and I've found it to work well. I can't be the only person who has friends and neighbours who are at the doctor's most weeks for minor ailments and they are always the ones poised at 8.30am to phone for appointments that others might need more urgently. If they have to fill in an on-line form instead then the doctor can take everything into account and decide whether to respond urgently or to put them to the back of the queue. You can still phone and be triaged by the receptionist or turn up in person and ask for an appointment but for most people the online system works fine.

My surgery has this but you can still call in. In fact you need to for a nurse appointment. If you don't have access to the internet you can phone up and they will fill in the form for you, which I find a bit mad, just why not let them make an appointment.
We have found the system here does work really well. We usually get a text back, either with a suggestion of what to do based on what you have told them on the form, or to make an appointment to see them or even a phone call from the GP.

Our surgery does this, and has done something similar for 3 or so years..
On the occasions that I have needed to
use the service, I got a call back within 20 mins or so, and an appt for later that day. I was offered appts for 6pm-ish if I wanted them on both occasions, which I guess covers school children and other waking wounded who are not a home in the day. I have found it a very good system. My 80-something dm, who has all sorts of health issues uses it often!! I appreciate that other people's IT confidence/ability may not be as good, but I'd give the system a chance.

We have this and it works brilliantly, you just fill in the online form and they get back to you. So much better than sitting for hours on the phone. I've used it several times and someone has always come back to me, almost immediately if urgent.

But @101Nutella the current system favours people out of work with no kids so is more discriminatory. I'd think most people can access online and certainly more than have hours free at 8.30am on the dot every morning. As long as calls can still be taken. Most retired people do use the Internet! My dad is 77 and been using the Internet since it started. Anyone who has been at work in the last 25 years can use an Internet form. Plus they are thr same as paper forms online but easier, as you can't miss a box, and you can zoom in etc which again is more accessible for more disabilities. Its much more accessible for autistic people who have to psych themselves up to make a phone call and cope with gp receptionists who come across as very rude gatekeepers, same for any mh issue. It also avoids receptionists triaging which means cancer symptoms and other red flags are leas likely to be missed.

We have this and it’s brilliant for online tech happy me who needs to contact the surgery twice a year to renew HRT

it’s shocking for my elderly neighbour in her 90s trying to support her terminally ill husband who is in almost daily contact with the surgery & can’t manage the online system at all & so has to hang on the phone

My surgery uses AskMyGP, and I really like it.

OP Mine did this last year, also starting at 8.30

It's not gone well from many perspectives. You do literally wait for a call back.

I wasn't able to answer my phone once and got ticked off for missing an appointment I didn't know I had! Then got ticked off for not booking a medication review. I did try but it fell off their list.

Many people complained and they added the extra step of a text to say "you will receive a call on x date" with an AM or PM type slot.

I used to have access to an appointments diary where I could book the meds review slot and know I wasn't taking up any urgent same day appointments. But my GP said they all prefer it this way.

I will say that I messaged the day after having a nervous breakdown and they were on the phone within an hour (long history of depression and anxiety) so they are on the ball.

They have had to change the timing for online submission and it now starts at 6am and continues till they fill up, which is often by 8. The entire surgery was only available for emergencies in Nov and Dec. I couldn't get my routine review and called the last working day before Xmas as a matter of strategy, it worked.

Also, at one point, the online system also went mad and sent out messages saying prescriptions were refused when they'd been issued. Poor receptionists had a tough time with that.

I have moved and joined a new surgery and tbh I don't know how it works. I do have Benenden though so if the new surgery is crap that will help.

I think it massively infantilises the elderly to assume they can't or won't be able to learn to use the Internet. My Gran is in her 80s and does everything online. She learnt. There's no reason why most elderly people still of sound mind and physically able can't learn - it really helps with independence.

We have had something like this for the last couple of years and it's beyond appalling. Almost impossible to see a Quack - I haven't seen one for over a decade and I'm in my sixties. I honestly believe it will kill the elderly as they simply won't be able to make an appointment which they need. God knows how much money I've paid for the NHS over the years - it's outrageous.

Ours is same but you can go into the surgery when it opens to ask for an appt , I use the online service regularly and it’s brilliant - always get a response quickly once triaged and saves having to wait in a queue for something like booking bloods or requesting prescriptions

It actually works really well at our doctors. We have had to use this system two or three times recently and we're completely sorted by the end of the morning. Triaged, doctor spoken to, meds issued.

I know what you mean, but statistically most of us are dead by then. So an 80+ with no impediments to using online services is very lucky.

Mum is 85 and could have done it prior to having a stroke, but no longer.

Age is not the only barrier by any stretch. There must always be an offline alternative.

But there is an offline alternative, surgeries all still have a phone line for those unable to use the online form.

I was just saying, I think it infantilises "the elderly" to assume they can't use the Internet or can't be taught to use it.

They implemented this system a few months ago at my GP surgery and it has made a huge difference. I much prefer it. For those who cannot use the online form, they phone up and the receptionist records it on an online form for them.

Anecdotally, I work with a number of GP surgeries as part of my job and I’ve heard a lot more positive feedback with this new system.

My Gp had this system and it worked well and had quick responses. They stopped it post covid and I miss it.
I was able to put problems that needed a quick prescription and I got that without an appointment within 48hours, rather than waiting weeks and having to see someone.

there should still be options to phone if you are not computer literate. It I found it actually better to have the triage online like this. Seems fairer to not have to scramble for a phone call. Ours didn’t time out though, you could send it in anytime and still phone if needed.

Our surgery used to have this system and it worked brilliantly. Never had to wait more than an hour or two and issues dealt with really quickly. Sometimes just a message to say a prescription had been issued if it were something really straightforward.
They’ve reverted to a phone system only now though which is awful, impossible to get through for the first hour then no appointments left.

My Doctors' surgery had this and it worked brilliantly. They then decided in their wisdom to change their website and the online booking system wouldn't work any more. They have now returned to the 8am telephone appointment lottery and even then it's only a triage call and you have to wait for someone to phone you back. Why not give people the option of online or phoning.