To ask how long it takes to get a GP appt?

[HunkMarvin]

I’ve been ringing all week at 8 am and by the time I get to them they have no more appointments. This is even for routine ones in 2/3 weeks time as they release them in small batches each day apparently? No appointments you can book online.

I called bang on 8am and I’m number 24 in the queue 😭😭

I did an e consult on Monday at 7am and my dd aged 8 got seen 11am on the same day. I got an appointment for myself for today (Friday) 10.15am. I wanted to rearrange it as dd2 has a nursery settling in session but was told no appointments for 2 weeks. I'm likely to need a referral so kept my appointment.

Mine is same day or - within the week.

7-8 weeks for round here. 😐

We have online booking system. Pretty good same day triage. Urgent appointments same day. Less urgent things sometimes you just get an email with advice but usually an appointment within a week. They do tend to triage stuff to pharmacists, though, who can be more like 2 weeks. Honestly, my surgery has got so much better.

The exception is women's health nurse who only works Fridays and it can be 6 to 8 weeks. But she is great.

My GP doesn't do blood tests. Everyone goes to the hospital for those and the wait can be 3 to 4 weeks for non urgent.

Ring 111 and say you can't get an appt.

Usually the day after, sometimes the same day. And I never ring that early in the morning. My GP surgery is great.

I’ve started paying to see a private one when it’s important, can’t really afford it but a combo of struggling to get an appt, with the ring at 8 and we can only give you appts for that day and not possibly tomorrow and all the slots have gone situation and receptionists diagnosing a problem as not dr worthy when it was

We have access to a private medical service (GP on an app with video calls) via DP’s work medical insurance. They can prescribe.

I had Covid in February which then went into a sinus infection, and the private GP prescribed penicillin but also said I needed to be seen in person as I had had a cough for over three weeks. I knew the cough was post nasal drip, not coming from my chest, but duly rang for an appointment. The earliest one was over six weeks away by which time I was obviously all better, so I cancelled it.

They do (apparently) release limited appointments for the next 48h at 8am but I don’t know anyone who has ever got one - no E-Consult/email/app.

Generally can resolve using Ask My GP pretty quickly but hospital said to book appointment with the practice nurse on a certain date to get surgical dressing removed and earliest they could do it is a week later so fortunately have a nurse friend coming later to do it.

Very grateful she is doing it but cross she needs to.

I can phone at any time and never had to wait more than a week for an appointment. Rural area and a great GP practice.

My surgery doesn't let you book any appointments in advance for anything. They also don't let you come in to book. You're strongly encouraged not to call them either.

They release some appointments online at 8am. If you miss out, then the other option is to go fuck yourself.

Needless to say, I'm not thrilled with this.

Our is all online, you log on from 8am and request an appointment. Triage is from 9am and if you need to be seen that day you are. If not you are offered an appointment normally within 7 days. It's a fantastic service and by far the best surgery I've ever been registered at.

I am so lucky, my Drs are amazing. So many people want to join that they have now enforced a catchment area to qualify, therefore not overloading the system. I believe the surgeries qualify for funding per patient on their books, my old surgery took anyone from anywhere, it was horrendous. I can call anytime of day for an emergency phone call and they will fit me in.

I’ve been really struggling with UTIs recently and was referred to urology, after my appointment whilst still in hospital the G.P sent me a text to ask for feedback of the appointment and to contact the admin team so they could update him, I was stunned, I know they’re good but that was something else🤩

If I go online just after midnight new appointments are released each day, and I can make advanced appointments. They are also very proactive for referrals if they believe it’s necessary, I struggled with my last surgery, they were very reluctant.

Ours has got very good since having the new e-consult system, just had a call now from a GP about a non urgent issue after doing the form this morning. It used to be weeks for an appt. I prefer this system.

I always get a same day appointment, my surgery is very good. It will usually be a phone call then if they need to see you they’ll book in, again usually the same day.

It took a month for DD to get blood test results as the GP wanted to speak to her. A month!

They were told the call would be between 10-12 yesterday. They are on the wait list for formal diagnosis of autism but everyone involved agrees she has it. So timings are important.

No call came. So we waited until 1pm and phoned.

Vile secretary immediately blamed DD and said the GP had tried to call and would not call again. She was almost smug and said to call back at 8am and there would be another wait.

Until I took the phone off DD and said the phone had not rung, I had been sitting next to it, so it's ot a case of ignorant 17 year old it was a case of the GP lying. Got told of for saying this and asked what she would call it then.
She admitted it was probably that she went to call and got distracted but marked as a failed attempt. So how was that DD at fault then?

It took for me to email the practice manager and the GP phoned. She had no idea who DD was or what the call was for, then fobbed her off that they needed to repeat the blood test - why couldn't they have said that a month ago? Wouldn't make the appointment on the phone, you guessed it another 8am phone and hope. No joy today. Last blood test took 3 weeks of 8am calls.

It's beyond a joke. DD had two meltdowns yesterday down to it all. They also hate blood tests so to hear this one is either lost or they did the wrong one is a disgrace.

I called at 8am on Tuesday and had one for 9:40 that same morning. So just over 90 mins it took me.

I genuinely think this boils down the size of your surgery. I had to get an appointment a couple of weeks back, called at 8am, appointment given for 8.40, first dose of antibiotics given by 9.30. This was for a minor with a contagious illness, I'm not sure if that would make a difference or not.

I find the whole system at our surgery very frustrating. It takes an age to get through (I have redialled over 300 times in the space of two hours ) and you can't just make an appointment. You have to wait for a call back from the doctor, which could be any time of the day. If you miss the call because you're working or looking after your children or, ya know, generally living your life, you have to start again the next day. And when you do get to speak to a doctor, they do pretty much anything to avoid seeing you - diagnosing over the phone or from a bunch of photos.

My nephew ended up in a life threatening situation and had to have emergency surgery because his GP diagnosed him by phone and missed symptoms which, according to the surgeon, could have been picked up by simple observation. A few months later, it was on the news that a young man died of the same condition in almost identical circumstances. So my nephew was 'lucky'.

Last week, we phoned the out of hours doctor due to some very concerning symptoms my son had while on antibiotics for peri orbital cellulitis. We were directed to take him straight to A&E, where I received a subtle (but clear to me) lecture about what constitutes an accident or an emergency. The triage nurse said 'I know it's hard to get a GP appointment etc ....' I did point out that we were sent there and hadn't just turned up, but to be honest I didn't say much more because I realise that they are probably fed up with A&E being used as a GP surgery, even though that wasn't the case with us. DS was fine, just suffering very strong side effects from the antibiotics. But we couldn't diagnose him obviously. And out of hours didn't even bring him in and take a look.

We're very lucky, we can use e-consult and they respond so quickly. I've never even needed a GP phone call or appointment, everything just sorted via e-consult.

I always find this “out of hours GP” thing fascinating.. it seems great. We don’t have one in this area that we can call direct. We have to call 111, it’s usually about 24 hours before you’ve got through it all to get an appointment with the out of hours GP at the hospital. At Christmas DS had scarlet fever and after ringing 111 at 8am we were finally given an appt at 2am. We had to get up and go in the middle of the night it was bonkers.

our nearest walk in centre is over 90 minutes away - you can’t just walk in for minors at our hospital

I just phone up whenever. Can get a phone appt in a couple of days, but they will squeeze you in if urgent.

If there is something the gp needs to see urgently in the phone appt they get you down to surgery that day or the following.

To book a face to face is about a week.

But my go was in the local paper as being one of the best in the city for getting appointments.

You have to ring at 8am here and by the time you get through there won’t be any appointments. If you go into the surgery they tell you to go home and phone.
If you do eventually get someone to answer the phone they put you down for a phone consultation, of no use whatsoever if you have something that needs seeing eg a lump. When you get a phone call, 5-7 working days later, more often than not you’ll be told to phone and make an appointment…. Repeat process.
If you eventually get offered an appointment it’s 4-6 weeks for GP, 12-18 weeks for bloods, 6-10 weeks to see a nurse.
So, if GP wants bloods then see you again it’s not unusual to be 6 months down the line before getting anywhere useful 🤬
Utterly ridiculous, no wonder people just go to A&E, no minor injuries other than 10-12 at a hospital 18 miles away, who then send you to A&E!

It takes about three months down here.

I rang at 10.21 this morning. Was number 3 in the queue which was answered in a couple of minutes. I got a bookable appointment for next Tuesday for an ongoing issue. I have a very good surgery. The practice two villages over is in special measures. One woman painted a whole room while trying to get through to them.

it’s a bloody lottery. I’m so grateful for my dr