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??

@CarrotsAndCheese yes, the routine thing..

most of the replies here indicate people were telephoning before.

From about 2016 till Covid, my surgery had online appointment booking for non-urgent stuff, regular reviews etc. so you saw the diaries online about three weeks in advance and booked a slot.

That was very good for patients with chronic issues. Now we're supposed to go in the 6am online pot or phone.

But us booking our own slots would have saved them a bit of admin maybe? I didn't ask too many questions as I knew I was moving but it seemed odd, probably a procurement thing?

pp asked about peeps with no mobile. Mum gets letters.

I bet they never asked the patients what they thought before they introduced it either.

I noticed it says you're no longer required to ring at 8:30, not that you can't ring them anymore. So presumably elderly people or those without Internet can still ring or turn up.

Our surgery has had this system in place since covid. It works really well for us. I have been able to send photos of a skin issue I had and received diagnosis and treatment that morning without needing to go to the surgery and miss work.

And tomorrow I will message them to say I have shattered my child's bottle of medicine and probably within an hour I'll be told the prescription has been sent to the pharmacy for me. Much better than spending ages on the phone trying to get through while managing 2 small children and the having to explain everything to a receptionist who will then decide if we can do without the meds even though they have no medical training and I will have to try ringing back and hoping I get a different member of staff who will let me speak to a doctor so I can explain.

Personally I would love my GP to do something like this. The only way to make a GP appointment is to ring at 8:30 on the day you want the appointment. You can’t make appointments at any other times or get an appointment a few days or weeks in advance. When you ring at that time you can hardly ever get through before 9am by which time all of the appointments are gone. I’m a teacher and have a meeting every day at 8:30 and then the kids arrive at 8:45 so it’s hard to ring unless I’m off, I haven’t seen a doctor in years I have had to go to A&E when I’ve had things like cellulitis which needed antibiotics.

My surgery started this a few months back. It's an absolute nightmare.

No option to call anymore. Online or nothing.

The form is really long, like the questions they ask you if you call 111. So that takes ages.

And then the receptionist has to call you & read through all of the form over the phone, checking your answers. Eg 'So it says headache on the left side, is that correct?'

And then they either say that you can or can't have an appointment.

If it's a yes, then you have to have your phone by you all day, & the next day (appointments are either today or tomorrow)

It's absolutely ridiculous & I hate it.

To be fair, the eConsult system our place uses (alongside the phone, but I rarely try) works very well.

My surgery has changed the phone line so it’s for urgent appointments only. Everything else needs to be booked online…except that the online booking doesn’t work. If you can’t book online, you have to go to the surgery and queue up outside for reception (it’s one in one out due to COVID - yes, they have been doing that for four years!) I live seven miles away from the surgery so that would be a 14 mile round trip to book a non urgent appointment for a smear or an asthma check up, for example. Bloody ridiculous!

I had this last week. 91 year old DF. I had to drive to his surgery and argue with them. Finally got an appointment. Went to the appointment he was the only patient there. This is why people are calling ambulance’s.

My GP surgery does this, I was on my 3rd week of pneumonia when someone noticed that I was actually very sick (I kept submitting requests every few days) and I very narrowly avoided being hospitalised.
The last two times I just ended up in A&E because nobody got back to me 8 hour wait each time.

Our GP use a online service and I find it easier to get an appointment when needed.
Phoning was a nightmare.
Now instead trying to get through I send a message and the receptionist will call with appointment.

Entirely dependant on someone's literacy and ICT skills. Ludicrous.

My GP has this system and find it quite efficient. The form isn't overly lengthy and we usually get a telephone appointment the same day or day after. If they feel they need to see you in person we are seen far quicker. Means I can avoid having to leave work and travel over to gp to spend 40 minutes in the waiting room and 5 minutes answering in actual appointment.

I work in an environment I can't have my phone with me. I put on the message to either leave a text message or call after X time. Never had an issue
If it's something simple like a prescription they text, if they need to speak to me they call after X. Whereas the old call system basically meant it had to take a day off work to call.

@Seaside3 That's great if it works for you but it certainly doesn't work for us. My daughter has had all sorts of health problems but it's been virtually impossible to see a GP. We did try and register elsewhere but were told we weren't allowed to move (even though we're in their catchment area). In fairness our surgery was rated as inadequate but this problem definitely isn't unique to us. Touch wood my health is okay but I have zero confidence in my surgery if it wasn't

Our GP- you ring and they give you a telephone appt. the same day. GP decides over the phone if they can diagnose and treat or if they need to see you. It works well although I was sceptical at first.

My previous surgery used this. It used to open online at 7am, which was brilliant. They changed it to 8am, less brilliant, but still 1000% better than having to call at 8am on the dot and find you’re caller 35 in the queue. If you aren’t tech savvy you call the surgery and the receptionist fills the online form for you. My new surgery you just have to call and I do miss the online form.

My PIL don’t have the internet or mobile phones , how would this work for them? My
mother has the internet and mobile but she would be very daunted by this and finds forms online difficult because her hands shake.

Yes! That's the one ours uses. It's awful. I spent over an hour filling it in for my young child and selected the 'child under 5' option. But there was nowhere on the body picture for bladder. As you say, it went straight from stomach to genitals. I selected genitals in the end but complained about it in the feedback box at the end of the form.

We have this. Can not phone unless your 65+ or have learning difficulties. You use the website but can fire off a query anytime ( mine you it's often offline in the afternoon) if your me, occasionally you get no reply at all so I have to get dh to ask the same question again.

Ie dd has threadworm that will not shift. Spent £24 on meds for the kids so asked for it on prescription. I got ignored, dh gets the meds within the hour. Go figure! I have been in the surgery twice since 2019. Possibly contacted the gp 15 times for me and kids.

I actually think it's better in some ways as no gp needs to see us in person for worms etc. Saves a lot of time for everyone.

I use klinik all the time and I don't understand how it took you an hour to use tbh.

Ours does this and it's great. The Dr calls you and gives you an appointment if you need one. Of course they need a phone option for those who aren't online. But much better than saying no appointments left at 8:15am.

Gosh, that's awful! Shocking!

We have this too. It's a pain but it's slightly better than having to ring at 8:30. Remember when you just rung and made an appointment ?

Well, I never heard anything from them, so I don't think so :/

My old doctors did this. It doesn't work. I had an issue last year- filled out the triage it said to call 111. Called 111 and they said to contact the GP. Ad Infinitum.

Eventually just ended up going to A&E, as I imagine a lot will now do.