Will GP surgery allow DH to ring to put me on doctor's call list?

[yapalot]

I need to get a GP appointment on Monday. My surgery is still only doing phone consultations and you have to ring at 8.30am on the day that you want to speak to the doctor. There is no online system to request an appointment.

I have started a new job this month and I start work at 8am. I'm not able to ring at 8.30am for the 150+ times necessary to get into the phone queue and then wait 20 minutes on hold for the receptionist to answer so I can ask for a call back from the doctor. I could however nip out of the office for 5 mins whenever the doctor calls me back for the consultation later in the day.

DH doesn't start work as early as I do and could ring on my behalf at 8.30am to speak to receptionist, give my details and brief reason for me needing to speak to a doctor. Would the surgery accept this or would they say I need to ring in order for me to be put on the list? Obviously I understand I need to be the one to speak to the GP whenever they phone me back.

Yes that should be fine. I have done this previously. Good luck.

Definitely. I’ve done this multiple times. (Family member has long term illness so many doctors appts!)

Typically what I do for DD is ring and ask for an appointment in my name, then ring again to switch it to her name

When was the last time you were in the GP surgery?
Ours has an app ( or they’ve signed up to using the Surgery App ) which lets you tell them what’s up, adding any extra info like please call back between 1 and 2 only.

Only found out about the app when I happened to attend for something after a couple of years of not needing to go in.

Yes he just needs to ring and ask to make an appt for you.

Nothing to stop him claiming to be you. Nowadays you can’t assume a male voice is not eg Sharon Smith

Does the line have a call back option?

OP posted in March. Hopefully she's got an appointment by now

What we do now is for my DH to go into the GP surgery as soon as they open to request a call for me. They then send a link for me to send a photo (if appropriate) and then I get a call to let me know I will get a call from a doctor. It takes him 5 minutes to drive to the surgery, 2 minutes to request a call if he is at the front of the queue, and 5 minutes to get home again, instead of ringing on the dot of 8.30 and still being no. 87 in the queue.