Dr's phone calls when you work

[Hateam]

To get an appointment with my GP I have to log onto a website at 8am and hope to get a phone call sometime that day.

What do people who have jobs where they are not allowed to take personal phone calls do?

I'm a teacher, my neighbour is a bus driver.

AIBU to suggest this system doesn't work for many working people?

We have this system. You message fir an appointment, they message back with a time the Dr will call. Generally it's about that time. If it's not convenient, you letbreception know via message and ask them for a more suitable time. I've had phone calls after 5.30pm. Lots if surgeries offer extended hours too, mine offers Thursday evenings and Saturdays. Have you asked if you can rearrange the phone call or have it at a suitable hour? No Dr is expecting you to have a private conversation in front of a classroom full of kids.

Things like smear tests and vaccines I've always booked in advance as they are with the nurse

My surgery doesn't offer doctor's appointments later than 4.50 ever. I can see the nurse until 8pm for my regular injections but if - for whatever reason - they need to speak to a doctor, that has to wait until the following day.

I wouldn't mind a phone call at a specific time, or even "between 10 and 10:30". I could make myself available for that long. But we get no indication except "before 1pm", they may or may not call at all, if they do call and you can't answer they immediately call again and leave a terse message saying they have been unable to contact you and if you still need an appointment you should call again tomorrow. This can all be achieved within one minute. If you call the next day, it has been recorded as a DNA!

I literally haven't seen a GP since before the pandemic, and I think I've spoken to one once, on my son's behalf. Lucky we are healthy, because we really have no access to primary care.

Yanbu it’s ridiculous
I wfh and it can generally work out but not being given a specific time is a nightmare - I am in and out of meetings all day I just need a time or a relatively narrow slot (eg one hour)
allowances should def be made for those who can’t have their phones as they work

that hasn’t been my experience.

The receptionist takes your details and then just says you could be phoned by the doctor at any time and to keep your phone on you & be ready to take the call. It could be in five minutes time or hours & hours later and any time in between. And that’s after you’ve gotten through to speak to a receptionist- I’ve phoned over 200 times in the past trying to get through. Sometimes when you finally do get answered all the appointments are gone and you’re advised to “try again tomorrow” 🤦‍♀️

It doesn’t really work for anyone, unless they have literally nothing else to do. Almost everyone has things they need to get on with during the day.

I think maybe you will get more posts from working people because they can be between a rock and a hard place if their employer doesn’t allow them to take calls at work. But the whole system is ludicrously unworkable.

Yep. I went though a stage in winter where I kept getting chest infections. The problem is I have asthma so they last a good 6-8 weeks. My first chest infection was in October and I'd basically recover and then 2 weeks later get another. I managed to get a doctor's appointment in July where I got my first lot of antibiotics. The doctor then told me off for not having had an asthma review in 10 years. The problem being, I commute 1 hour each way to work and the asthma clinic only runs on a Tuesday 12-2. Ridiculous hours for working people, and also for children at school.

I’d waited in all day for gp to call me about my anti depressants, finally gave up and was at till in Tesco said can u give me a minute as at till and was told you aren’t the only patient I have and no you’ll need to make another appointment! . Didn’t bother as it was just too much for me. Attitude was appalling

It enrages me that GPs surgeries are like this. Just give me a time for the appointment! I get that you might run late. I've had consultant led phone appointments and other health professional phone appointments at a specific time. Why is it so hard for a GP?

In our surgery, you used to be able to book online. Nope, not any more. You used to be able to book an appointment weeks in advance. Nope, not any more. You used to get an approximate timeslot. Nope, not any more. The surgery might get back to you any time in the next 48 hours.

Yes, it's a complete mystery why the private GP in our town is doing so well. I have just had a look and I can book a private appointment in 30 mins.

I also teach. It's a nightmare since we have to be at school well before the phone lines even open at our surgery.

My surgery is useless for booking appointments online, they just say they cannot do it, even though there is supposed to be a patches system which I was never able to get activated. So even though I work from home and the surgery is two minutes down the road, its rarer than hens teeth to get an appointment the same day if I need one. I can ring to get one booked in advance any time though. I can order prescriptions through the NHS App which is a godsend as they never seem to reply to their emails. My rheumatology department nurse had to send another letter to them to put a medication on repeat prescription because they had missed the previous one they had sent months ago.

Getting a repeat prescription is another nightmare. I use the app but it doesn't seem to work half the time.

I asked a colleague to look after my class, similar system, I was in agony, possibly costochondritis (sp?), also shit signal inside the building.

Our surgery insists on this for everyone - including deaf patients.
A neighbour had gone into the surgery to book an appointment and was told it was phone triage only, then an actual appointment either in person or by phone if deemed necessary. She pointed out she was deaf, so wouldn’t hear on the phone if they called. Receptionist said in that case she should get her daughter to answer and discuss her symptoms!!
After much argument they relented and said that as she is deaf she can go into the surgery in person and wait for a triage appointment later that day if any are available. At that point the triage nurse will decide if she needs to see a GP and reception would book either an in-person appointment or a phone consultation. 🤦‍♀️

I remember being at school in the morning and bleeding in my first pregnancy. Obviously no point ringing a doctor but didn’t know what to do then and trying to get through. I remember the stress of the phones not opening until 8:30 and the kids come in at 8:45. Managed to make an appointment just in time - having to explain on the phone what was happening when adults and breakfast club kids always popping in and out of the classroom!
Then missing the call as they could only call at a random time and I was with my class. I miscarried that night anyway so all pointless in the end and the doctor couldn’t have done anything but I remember being SO stressed at not just being able to book a time slot easily.

That must count as discrimination on the grounds of disability?

@ResisterOfTwaddleRex I’ve been a GP for over 25 years, and trust me, there is no complacency and presumption of superiority in the NHS. It is basically a service that has struggled (for as long as I can remember) to meet demand on a limited budget.

As a GP I have lost count of the number of appointment regimes we have tried, in an attempt to meet demand. We’ve had all pre-bookable appts, all “on day” appts, mixture of appts, telephone triage, mix of phone and face-to-face appts, early morning appts, late evening appts, weekend appts, mix of routine/urgent appts, duty doctor emergency appts and so on. Literally every possible permutation and combination has been tried. And you know what - in nearly 3 decades we still haven’t managed to keep everyone happy. We’ve built an extension and employed more doctors but it’s still not enough. We offer more appts now than we ever did, and still people are having to wait longer than they want. Meanwhile, housing estates are popping in our area, new care homes opening - the population is rising and we simply can’t keep up.

It’s nothing to do with flexibility or lack of it. It’s basic maths. Supply and demand. Try pouring 2 pints of water into a 1 pint jug. That’s what the NHS is up against.

Our form can be completed from 6am
We can put times where we aren't available and we get a message which allows us to pick a time for an appointment or given a time for a phone call. They have always been accommodating of times I have said I couldn't do. It's much better than the old system of calling at 8 with our previous surgery I phoned at 8.00.45 and already all the spots in the phone queue by the time there was spots in the engaged queue there were no appointments. I have filled in our form at 10am with my daughter and had an appointment that afternoon.
My old GP surgery operated a stay and wait system where you only got an appointment if you spent the morning or afternoon sat for 2+h in the GP surgery. It was a campus surgery but didn't have a separate process for students and people that were in employment. It was so infuriating!

YANBU

I work with the public and in the past my line manager has offered to cover me at say '10.30am' when the call is due.

However, the call is often over an hour late and sometimes she's in a meeting by then.

I also sat next to a woman on a crowded train, who kept telling the doctor she couldn't answer personal questions!

Mine used to be call at half 8 and you'd have to keep trying until you connected- it was impossible when trying to do school runs at the same time- luckily they've now changed to an online booking system and it's great- you can request a face to face appointmetn or if it's something simple a doctor comes back on the app- I managed to arrange blood tests I needed in 10 minutes.
It leaves the phone lines free for people who arent' able to book online.

Teacher here too OP. My doctor is ace but never is on time- often 90m behind so I have to ask for after school.

I teach too. Phone lines open at 8am (no online booking system) so I can usually speak to a receptionist before 8.30. If I can’t I email the cover team and ask to be covered P1 - it’s basically got to the point where we staff say we need cover P1 or we take the whole day off. My surgery does note I’m a teacher and I am then given a phone consult for after school. I realised I’m lucky. I have colleagues who end up going to out of hours clinics on their weekends as they can never get an appointment.