if GP was going to ring 1pm-2pm and I've sat up and waited until 4.30pm is it safe to go to sleep now?

[sixtyandsomething]

No idea what they wanted, just texted me to expect a phone call. I've sat up and waited all afternoon, but I am exhausted and really need sleep. They are not going to ring now, are they. I can go to sleep now without worrying about missing them, can't I.

Of course! Maybe don't put your phone on silent just in case though? So annoying.

Is your phone ringing likely to wake you up? If so, have a nap and let the call wake you. They probably will ring, depending how much they've had going on they might of just pushed your call further down the line

Not at our surgery it wouldn't, op. They run with vaguely morning and vaguely afternoon telephone appointments.

Have you been on.night shift or generally unwell? Just wondering re the tiredness in middle of afternoon in case that's why they're calling?

Call the surgery and ask for an update?

I would chase them!!

Just phone them & ask.

My surgery has rang me at 7pm before so I would keep the phone on noisy just in case!

I will have my phone on, but there is no guarantee It will wake me. It might.

I would call to ask when they expect to call you.

I'm off work with covid

Whilst you may have be allocated a slot for the Dr to call at a specific time on the system it's common for them to call at a more convenient time for their clinic. It may be that the Dr will call you at the end of their surgery, i.e 1700-1800 after they've done all their face to face appointments.

I'd leave your phone on loud.
If you've had any recent blood tests it's common for his kind of appointment to be made to discuss any results which may be slightly abnormal - could be something as simple as asking you to buy/take some vit d supplements for 3 months then another test.

Oh Ifeel for you - I had this on Friday. Text said 10.50 so I rushed about getting the dog out so I could be at home before so I had signal. It got to 12:30 and I ended up calling the surgery. Receptionist "went into the system to have a look" somehow knew he was "reading the file right then" and would call me very soon. 2 mins later the phone went. They forget, you need to chase. Good luck.

When you open a patients records it tells you as a popup if anyone else is also in them.

Any clinician working will have a certain number of appointment slots availiable for booking through the day whether its in person or over the phone. When they add your callback it's input into one of the available slots, the system then automatically sends you the text message which tells you the time of the slot.

Some clinicians will tend to work through all the appointments in order, some might do all the phone calls early, others at the end of the session. What often happens is that you end up running a bit late, so you skip the phone call and prioritise the patient Sat in the waiting room. Admittedly it would be more sensible to just tell patients expecting a call to be just told am/pm, but perhaps also a note in the job if there was a particular time to avoid etc "doing the school run 1500-1545".

But essentially a Dr wouldn't forget to call because it's on the system and needs to be updated to mark as complete.

Admittedly it would be more sensible to just tell patients expecting a call to be just told am/pm Oh, no, my surgery does this, I absolutely hate it!

Actually, they try not to tell you anything, but if you ask, am/pm (pm from 13:00) is all you'll get. I can understand appointments slipping, but I really wish they'd give an indicative time slot, like saying it's likely to be after 15:00, or it's likely to be 13-15. A time slot of 4-5 hours is a long timeslot to try to ensure you're by the phone and able to talk.

How are you supposed to be able to receive a confidential medical call any time in the am or the pm? What kind of lives do people have that this is remotely possible to do?

Exactly this. I've got a call back from the 5th different doctor in 2 months who no doubt will be reading my file just before the call to ask again about all of the symptoms that as of yet are still untreated bar beta blockers and ask why my 2nd CT was cancelled (because they haven't medicated my hyperthryroid which is why I keep calling) and my heart is still racing, huge anxiety and fatigue. All the while I am also going up for the last B12 injection at 9:45, squeezing in a dog walk before a 4hr car drive (during which I do not want to have to split my already shot focus on explaining my file again). When I get back I will be so exhausted I will need to go straight to bed for at least an hour.

I hate these phone call appointments. I don't know what they expect you to do. Having say up forcing myself to stay awake for hours yesterday, they never rang, and I never got an answer ringing the surgery. Eventually rang today, well over 24 hours late.

In the past I've arranged time off work to take a call, but they have rung early and I've been teaching a bunch of 15 year olds when the gp wants to discuss my ovaries with me. I have also been given devastating medical results unexpectedly on the bus. Another time I had to wait hours for a call, and every time a lesson ended I had to arrange for the next lesson to be covered, and also book another classroom and move into it and sit by my phone. They were over 3 hours late on that occasion too

Unsurprisingly they never called me either. I got a text late in the day saying the Dr will now call me next Friday! I mean, I don't even know who he is or why he wanted to chat, but if it is about giving me medication I've waited a month for, can he not just OK it on the app? Surely if it was urgent enough to call me about a whole week is a bit long? I'm so confused. Most people I speak to tell me hypertension, hyperthyroidism and deficiencies are pretty important, particularly if I've had an embolism 3 months ago...

Sorry, I have to stop myself from ranting but it is so frustrating!

It is very frustrating, isn't it. At least when I am ill in bed it isn't disrupting a working day, but even so, I am still really annoyed.