How do you get a doctors appointment if you are not available between 8.30 and 8.35am

[shaniahoo]

I had to slightly change my work hours today and work from home just so that I could fill out an e-consult form to get a doctor's appointment because in my experience the form closes by 8.35. I was refreshing the page every 5 seconds from 8.29 onwards and on one refresh it changed from "you can submit a new request from 8.30 today" to "you can submit a new request from 8.30 on Monday". I don't know whether it filled up in 5 seconds or whether they just didn't open it today for some reason. I rang instead and am number 23 in the queue. Isn't this ridiculous?? I know from previous times that they WILL NOT give you a routine appointment for in a few days time, say. They will give you an appointment today if you ask at 8.30 exactly otherwise you have to call tomorrow. But I thought that was the point in the e-consult form, so you can submit a request whenever and they can work through them? What the hell is the point in it if the online form also has a strict 8.30-8.35(or earlier) time window? And what do people do to get doctors appointments if they are working at 8.30am in the kind of job where you can't fanny about with your phone, or on the school run or something routinely at that time?

We use patch’s messaging. State problem get asked some questions and get prescription or appointment. Not too bad if you have the app and know how it works.

@DaisyHaites

If the two systems worked better together then I think a lot of people for £20 a month might be happy to sign up for an online GP and free up the NHS GPs.

It wouldn't. The GPs would just do even less NHS shifts and more private shifts. They'd be the only winners as they'd get paid more!

Our surgery is good in that you could get a same day appointment most of the time and always for children, however the GP's there are just utterly useless.
We have private care and never had a problem getting medication etc via nhs.

I'm a GP. We have an online triage system where a patient submits a request, it is triaged by a GP and we try to direct to the most appropriate service/ book an appointment or answer a query. Yesterday we had 1200 requests. We had about 180 available appointments. So there's a huge gap between supply and demand. It's shit. GP land is brutal at the minute for both staff and patients.

You do realise that in a lot of places there is NO alternative practice.

In our rural area, there is one GP surgery that covers the small town and surrounding villages.

The two nearby big towns each one one "big" surgery group which has bought out all the smaller private ones, and centralised all the admin, so all calls go to a call centre in one of the practices and you're randomly given appointments in random practices with random GPs. You can't choose the practice nearest to you and can't choose a GP.

None of these three practices take on patients outside there own area, so there is absolutely no choice at all. And none are American consortium type of group practices, all three are owned/managed by local GPs who never actually see patients and have just bought out/merged with other town practices over the last 20/25 years or so.

Wow I feel so so fortunate.. I can call my surgery even at 10 or 11am and generally have a same day and choose either phone or face to face that day.. or book a routine appointment online for in around a week (and plenty of options available)

Thanking my stars reading this!

I had to physically turn up at the surgery for 8am to get an appointment for my child (not even for that day). If you try to call, you get stuck in a queue that eventually disconnects you whenever you get close to being no 1.

An absolute waste of everyone's time.

Yesterday we had 1200 requests. We had about 180 available appointments.

This is insane. Out of curiosity, how many of those requests are people who really don't need a gp? I work in a public service and we often have older / otherwise vulnerable people who book an appointment for something but what they really want is to sit down and talk to a sympathetic person for half hour. I often wonder if they are also booking a lot of medical appointments for the same reason.

My GP surgery doesn't even accept online requests for repeat prescriptions outside of their opening times 🙃 Or any other messages/e-consults etc.

My GP surgery has no online services and you have to call at 8.30 bang on. They also don’t have a phone system so you call and it’s engaged and you have to keep calling until you get through.
I once followed it through to its conclusion to see how long it would take.
I called 177 times. On the last time, I finally got through and was on hold for 20 minutes and was then laughed at and told there were no appointments for that day. The whole thing took about 45 minutes.

I then rang 111 who managed to get me an appointment with my GP at that surgery on that day?!

Mine's not too bad, if I call at 8 ( obviously not helpful if you can't) I can usually get a same day appointment even if it is of the we'll call you sometime this afternoon variety. Ok for me as I work from home but not great if you have to do the school run etc.
They also do advance appointments, though these are usually 3 weeks away.

No issues with my GP

I can ring at 8am or 9am, or I can ring at 6pm for an evening appointment with a random GP who could be from another surgery

Blood clinics on the other hand are beyond a joke, you get there at 8am and people are queuing since 6.30 so it's full before it opened

Our GP surgery is still an independent practice. If you call at 8am you can usually get a same day appointment. No e-consult option.

I know it's not that simple, especially in the NHS. But it would make sense to think 'What services are not urgent, and not going to be used by very old people who might not be web savvy?' and make those online.

I wouldn't mind waiting a few months for HRT discussion if I have to, my issues are relatively mild, but making people having to hang on the phone doesn't seem to make sense for anyone.

Can you get the NHS app and input your NHS number and set a password?
I find it incomprehensible that a National Health Service is so fragmented and disorganised.
I jumped through many hoops to get access to my GP record a few years ago. (Via EMIS patient access) Now I never look at it because I subsequently got the NHS app to book covid vaccinations during the pandemic. I can see all my records, order rpt prescriptions and do online consults through the app.
I can also do an online consult/book an appointment through the practice website.
These systems should be available to everyone and if they are not, there needs to be a mass writing to MPs to find out why.

I am so sorry to hear your DH is so unwell. I think with those symptoms, 111 would be able to get you an appointment.

I’d have a look locally and see if a different surgery is doing a better system . E consult at our GP is open from 8-4:30 and they generally get back to you the same day or next day depending on what your complaint is . It is a great system .

I got a call within 15 minutes of submitting a form last month. Offered a face to face appointment the same morning. I was so impressed.

GP booked me for blood tests and an ultrasound, 'hopefully it's not cancer but to be on the safe side'.

Blood test at surgery was within 3 weeks. Ultrasound at hospital will be within 5 weeks. A week after blood test surgery calls to say GP wants to discuss results, phone appointment made for 4 weeks' time, so 8 weeks after I saw GP.

Not sure how worried I should be tbh.

The same way you organise your life to go to doctors appointments I guess

The only way I've found to get an appointment (at my surgery anyway) is to ring at a different time, not usual booking time. The receptionist then puts you on the duty doctors list for a call that day. The duty doctor can then book you an appointment if it's needed.

I did it this way yesterday and have an in person appointment for this afternoon. I never would have got that, trying to just go through reception. It'll actually be the first time I've seen a GP in person for years!

I’ve discovered that if I turn up at my GP’s, just before 8.30 when they open the door, you can normally get an appointment. As it’s only 10 minutes walk away, it beats hanging on the phone in some dreadful queue when it tells you noxone’s available and cuts you off.

We use the local walk in centre generally it’s quicker and better than A&E

The people who need the GP the most are probably the least able to pay because people with many co-morbid health concerns and long-term debilitating conditions that need ongoing management are often out of work or in low-paid work or pensioners.
If people with complex need can't see a primary care provider in a timely fashion their needs will spiral until they are taking much more resources as in patients in hospital.

Weve given up on the GP surgery, DH went private but needed NHS referral, that was sent to GP, symptoms got worse, couldnt book appt, couldnt get prescription repeated without seeing GP, this went on and on, until yesterday when we called 999 and now hes in hospital.

ive been very lucky then , recently filled in e form at 8.30am. text from reception 8.50am i will be put on doctor list for a phone call today, doctor phoned me at 9.45 am i have an ongoing problem very impressed antiobiotics sent to my chemist,

Ive been very polite but incredibly forceful saying I could not be available at that time, couldn't be the only one and they needed to assist me. Once they essentially told me to fuck off and the other time said they understand and got me a call back.

I think the official answer is 111?