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?

Hahaha. Lunch hour. Lunch 30 mins but more like 20 mins.

No. As who would look after the class while you took the call. And you obviously wouldn't speak about personal medical matters in front of children.

Several schools I've worked at would rip you to shreds for getting calls. One wouldn't even tell a colleague her child was ill and their school had rang.
And people wonder why teachers leave.

It would be really sensible for an option where you texted an appointment window/they put you at the end of the day etc - I would like to think most surgeries would try to accommodate this.

One thing that can make the current situation work is a smart watch. Allowed by employers everywhere and it can alert you to incoming call discretely - you just have to step out to take the call. Ultimately if your employer is sensible they can't be too against this - everyone knows it's not possible to demand a GP call at a set time, but also you can't neglect your health by not seeking assessment. The alternative would be taking a sick day to be able to take the call.

Bus driver?

Exactly. This can still only work for those in office type jobs. What about my job @SleepyRich ? Hygienist? Firstly i can't wear a watch due to cross infection and secondly I can't just down tools half way through an appointment and leave the surgery. It just cannot happen no matter how understanding my boss is.
As it stands my only way to see a doctor is to take an entire day off sick short notice. Inconveniencing an entire day's worth of my patients who have also arranged a day off work etc to come and see me. (And because I'm self employed I lose a whole days pay as well).

@Mukey well that seems obvious, if you work in a role where you absolutely can't take a phone call through the work day, and you're requesting an urgent same day call then you'll need to take a days leave.

Could you not go in in person to book it?

My doctors only do one type of request now. An online form. It's irrelevant if it's urgent or not. They will decide the urgency of when they call you back. You CANNOT book anything in advance unless you've spoken to a doctor and it's an ongoing issue. I have tried writing in the form that this is not urgent and can you please call me on a Wednesday as I'm off all day. I don't mind waiting for a few weeks. And then I'll get a text saying someone will call you on Friday. And that's it. No time. Ignored my request for a specific day.
Obviously if I had an actual urgent problem I'd likely be off sick anyway so it wouldn't be an issue. But how am i meant to ever speak to a doctor for a non urgent issue? It's ridiculous to lose an entire day's pay when I'm happy to wait as long as it takes if I can just either get a call on a day I'm off or at least a rough time for the call. If they can at least tell me it'll be between 10 and 11 I can rearrange those patients to a different time. Rather than cancelling the entire day.
A while back my doctors used to be phone at 8am on the day and someone would call you that day. So I would wait for my day off and call then. But I can't do that now. And you cannot specify a day even if it's not urgent. You cannot book on the phone. The recorded message on the phone says anyone who cannot book online themselves can call.... but the receptionist will fill out the online form for them. They will not book there and then. Absolutely every issue must go via the online form.

If it's anything like my doctors new system, if you can't book online and try to go in on person, all the receptionist will do is fill in the form for you. They absolutely will not book you an appointment no matter if urgent or routine. Everything must go via the online form only.

Surely, if its none urgent, like an annual check up, teachers can arrange this during their holidays? Teachers have more opportunity than most. And if its urgent, would your head teacher not allow you time off?
If I want a routine appointment, or non urgent, I message and ask.for a date I can attend. They might call, if I miss that, they message with the date and time. If the Dr needs to chat, they message with a time. I say yay or nay and they call. If miss it (if theyr1e running late and im working etc), they call again, generally a few hours later.
Overall, I'd rather our system than one we pay vast amounts to use.

I am a teacher too, and we are not allowed to use our phones in school! It’s a ridiculous situation. So stressful.

There is a middle ground between urgent and annual check ups.

What if a teacher wakes up one day with a nasty rash and it's 4 weeks to half term?

Teachers can t take annual leave in term time. In that sense we have LESS opportunity than most.

Anyway, I've decided.
Whenever I need a GP appointment for a non agent but not routine issue , I'll simply ring in sick. It's not exactly a lie as I have to have time off for medical reasons. If a doctor rings me at 9:30, I will just have a guilt free day on Netflix.

200 posts in and nobody has come up a better solution.

If you wake up with a rash you think requires medical attention, you take a day off to visit/call the dr. Or go to a pharmacy, the same as anyone else who isn't a teacher and.who can't take a call in work. It's annoying as a lot of people will loose a days pay. But if you're poorly, your health has to come first.

I agree.
I will take full days off work whenever I need to speak to my GP for 5 minutes from now on.

It's annoying. But you're not the only person who needs to speak to your gp, so you have to be slotted in. You could try your local urgent care if you have one after work. Or, like I said, your pharmacy. But I'd say if something needs your GPS attention that day, you probably should take a day off any way.

A drop in at some point either early or late, where if you are there within the timeframe, your seen.
Econsult available all the time, granted it wont be looked at until 9am or whenever, but still can fill one out whenever.
Dont take on so many patients, just because a new estate is built does not mean the only surgery in the village HAS to take on the entire population.

If its true that all the surgeries have tried different systems, I am amazed that they all tried the exact same systems within weeks of each other.

@Makingchocolatecake same as @Mukey the receptionist will fill in the online form for you (if the system hasn’t reached capacity) but can’t make any appointments without this hoop.

I don’t mind for me, I’ll live and DH can do some hoop jumping for DC (he wfh) But with DDs sometimes they don’t want Dad to do it, and that’s the worst bit, feeling like I’m letting them down.

I mean yeah ok but it's not a day is it.
My surgery tells me I think 2 days. So I I econsult on Monday 6am. And the reply says they will contact me anytime up to Wednesday morning.

And then when they contact me Wednesday morning (tbf it's usually inside 24 hours) they may ask to see me either within 30 minutes or Thursday. So now I'm finally back in work on Friday.

Reading that back, its ridiculous. In 2024 we shouldnt be like this.

sensible to stay at home for a rash though

I'm a teacher. I've just given my mobile number to the GP and when the phone rang have said to class, 'I'm really sorry guys, but I have to take this call,' and stepped outside into the corridor to speak to them. I've only ever been a few minutes speaking to GP and kids are fine to be left getting on with work with me just outside the door.

I teach teens, however.

@hatty that is absolutely forbidden in my secondary school

@MrsHamlet That makes life difficult! I've never had a problem doing this, but obviously not all schools are the same. Our SLT are obviously a more reasonable bunch than some.

But what if it doesn't need looking at that day? A rash you've had for 3 weeks that isn't bothering you and the pharmacist can't help and tells you to see a doctor isn't urgent. It can wait another week or two. So it should be possible to book a non urgent appointment in advance. I'd happily wait weeks.

@mukey go in your holidays then. Or after school. Or take a day off ill like everyone else.