To think this GP appointment booking system is insane?

[Ezlo]

My surgery is open each weekday. There are two ways to book an appointment. Online form or by standing in a queue. Both options are open from 8am.

Today is the second day I've missed out on getting an appointment as bookings have now closed due to unprecedented demand. I commute between 8am and 8.45am so cannot access the online booking system any earlier. I am so frustrated!

@Ezlo my gp you have to phone at 8am and wait till they answer. and wait and wait and wait. one day i eventually got through at 8.10am. no appointments left. I then asked exactly how many appointments they had available before they opened the phone lines. the receptionist sheepishly said ONE! one appointment for about 100 phonecalls at least per day!! absolute shite!

Can you take a day off?

Arrive at GP's at 7am and wait outside.

Mine is like this. I've never had a problem, quite the reverse. It needs an overhaul elsewhere

Our surgery uses an on line form system which is triaged and appointments allocated accordingly. I was reading yesterday about someone who filled in the form and got a response that they needed to be seen by a GP 'today' - but they couldn't have an appointment. They rang and said they'd be happy to wait to be seen the following morning. But they were told no appointments then either. Only option was to go to urgent care 20 miles away.

I'd make sure people can book by phone for a start and have appointments available for weeks in advance. I'm never going to get an appointment at this rate.

Ours has online booking which you can sometimes get a phone appointment through, but it's usually 4-6 weeks in advance and they can't tell you what time the doctor will ring. I can never get an appointment on the day.

I've got chronic health issues and the support I get from my NHS gp consists of telling me to pay for private treatment and not much else.

This is the exact same for my surgery, “8-3pm” only I’ve never seen the online form available beyond 9am as it’s all booked up.

Can you fill the form in on your way, on your phone? Or are you driving? If so, is it possible to pull over and quickly do the form and then continue?

I usually have my answers typed out already so the form takes all of 2 minutes max to complete. I dare say there should be some small opportunity to throw the request in within your commute?

That's mad. I just rang yesterday at 10am and could choose both time and doctor for the same afternoon.

If the appointments have all gone, it's because the number of appointments the NHS has funded have been filled. Doesn't really matter how you organise the way they are filled, the reality is that whichever way it happens people are going to miss out on appointments because demand is higher than supply.

Same here. They have a limited number of appointments, not sure what else they can do.
Why can’t you use your phone to book?

We did have a call at 8.30 appointments gone by 8.40 system but switched to a form and it's been brilliant. It opens at 6 am but I've had issues dealt with when filling in the form at 10am, it didn't require a face-to-face appointment though.
There has been better communication about appointments too. For example I filled in the form with my daughter having UTI symptoms. The GP requested I picked up a sample pot and brought a sample with me. Previously they wouldn't have known the reason for the appointment and we would have been sent home with the sample pot wasting an appointment as without the positive urine test they couldn't diagnose the UTI. Instead we left with a prescription for antibiotics

I think it can be a good system but as with all things the specifics of how the surgery implements it is key!

But why have they stopped people making appointments say for a few days ahead?

People should start complaining to their MPs about this because it's completely insane now post covid. Pre covid People could see their GP's but they've got used to not seeing patients directly. I suspect a lot of Drs prefer not seeing patients and just talking to them on the phone.

However, as a primary first port of call service, GPs must see patients directly. My husband was misdiagnosed over the phone which caused catastrophic health issues. This resulted in permanent reliance on the NHS which could have been avoided if the GP had seen him directly. They are causing more problems by not seeing patients directly.

I've been trying to book an apt for a migraine review before getting my tablets again. The receptionist keeps suggesting I go to A&E instead. This is why A&E is completely crippled because people go there to be seen by a Dr because they can't access their own GP.

I wouldn't mind an initial telephone consultation but it's hard to even get that!

Get the form filled out at 8am and just leave the house 10mins later

Or phone while on the commute?

The last time I needed to take DS to a GP, I called 3 days in a row at 8.10 (when phone lines open) waited in a queue for 40 min which barely moved, was late for work and on day 3 gave up and went to a walk in centre about 25 min drive away. You can only book for the same day, at 8.10.

It's not the same everywhere. A colleague has health anxiety and manages to get an appointment with her GP, most weeks, fairly easily.

Yesterday I had to call the GP for some test results. The answer phone before you get to speak to someone, (twice) tells you it's less busy after 11am. I phoned at 4pm and was 1st in the queue. It still took 10 min to speak to someone, so you can imagine how long the morning queues take.

Booking by phone usually means a 45 minute wait on hold though. That's even harder to fit into everyday life.

I like the online system our surgery runs and, even more so, the fact that you can circumvent it by turning up at the desk and talking to a real human being if necessary.

Lack of gp capacity is the real problem underlying all this.

Our demand for appts has increased 167% on last check.

A combinations of sicker patients, long hospital waiting lists, lack of self care, poorer mental health, Amazon prime mentality of must be fixed today and far too many wasted appts looking for stuff/notes/evidence for benefits.

lack of funds to Gp and it’s a drowning system.

My old gp was the same. Could never get an appointment! Moved areas and my new gp has it online via nhs app where you can filter by which doctor you want to see if need be and it shows every available appointment for the next 16 weeks so you can pick. I don’t see why all gps don’t do this

I can't be late for work.

So ring on your commute?

Get to work early??

I'm a GP receptionist, our surgery is ring at 8.30 or 2pm in the hope of an on the day appointment or 3-4 week wait for a routine appointment. Yesterday morning it took us 4 hours to get the phone calls to zero that was 5 of us answering non stop . There just aren't enough appointments at all , it's frustrating all round .

Both dh and I need to have an appointment with a doc. Neither of us is desperate but do need seeing. Me HRT review, DH results of some tests he’s had. We would happily book in weeks in advance but can’t so spend half an hour a day in the phone going through the same old rigmarole wasting the receptionists time. Why on earth they can’t allocate a few appointments a day for routine care I do now know.