Accessing Healthcare on a Zero Hours Contract

[JockTamsonsBairns]

I'm a full-time care worker, doing domiciliary care on a Zero hours contract.

For what it's worth, I've been doing this for nearly 30 years, and I adore my job.

However, I need to try and get a GP appointment for myself - and I don't know how I can do it?

My surgery asks that we ring up at 8am for an appointment. I can't do that? I'm with my elderly client at that time.

I've tried popping in at around 2pm on my break, but I'm not allowed to make an appointment at that time.
I'm told I need to phone at 8am.

The only way I can phone at 8am, is to make myself unavailable for work?
So, I would lose my entire day from 7am until 10pm.
Even then, I couldn't guarantee an appointment.

Is there a solution to this that I'm not seeing?
I can't risk losing an entire 15hr shift, on the off chance that I might get a 10 minute appointment (or not).

Am I being unreasonable to think this doesn't work for ordinary folk?

Does your GP have an online form you fill in for an appointment? Mine has one that opens at 8am you fill it in and they call you back. On the form you can state times that you are unavailable for contact. They often call back in the afternoon and offer late afternoon appointments.

i have to book my gp on a monday as that is my day off,
bad luck for me if its a bank holiday!

Most domiciliary care workers don't get paid for the travel time between clients or maybe the 10 minutes that they're between clients if they finish call A at 10.30 have a 20 minute drive to call B but call B is 11am. So that's 30 minutes unpaid between the calls because they only actually get paid for the time they're with clients (they would probably get a mileage allowance for the travel).
That will happen multiple times in a 15 hour shift, so although they're 'at work' for 15 hours they're not considered to be 'working' unless physically logged as being with a client.

OP is with a client at 8am, and cannot call as of course that would mean not doing what she's supposed to. It sounds like the agency runs a system where you're either available for the full 15 hours, and if you're not available for part of it (between 8 & 9 so OP can ring the dr's) they treat it like you're not available for any of it. So OP has one day where she can try calling at 8 am out of 7, and if she doesn't get through or get an appointment then it'll be next week. Or lose a days wage.

If OP does that and gets an appointment then all good, she's lost a day's wage but she's sorted. If she doesn't then she'll have to keep repeating the process until she gets one and lose a days wage each time.
And if someone else calls for her at 8am, the appointment could be within an hour or at the end of the day, regardless if OP has already committed to that shift she can't just rearrange everything and arrange cover for the appointment.
If OP could ring at any time and book an advance appointment on her day off, or just with enough notice to get cover, it wouldn't be a problem, unfortunately that option isn't available.

I don't think people really understand how these types of jobs work tbh @JockTamsonsBairns I've done it and I get the predicament you're in. Never found a solution unfortunately though!

Time for another job then. My brother works in care and does 12 hour shifts sometimes overnight caring for clients in their homes. He gets paid for every hour he’s working. He recently left one client and is working with a new one. The jobs aren’t difficult to come by.

I thought that was ruled to be illegal some years ago?

Not the question you asked, OP, but with nearly 30 years experience you should be more picky about your job. I worked as a domiciliary care worker 3 years ago, national company which paid for time driving (think it's legally required now?) and mileage, £15/hour. I had no experience.

A quick mental calculation suggests you're on over 33k a year currently, but you could be on the same with less hours somewhere else. Would give you more time for life admin.

Honestly I don’t understand this either. Who chooses to work in a job like this when they have that many years experience in the sector and there are plenty of other jobs out there in care. I find it really odd. This isn’t some cutesy little part time thing either that just suits the OP, it sounds like a complete and utter grind. It sounds miserable.

So phone at 8am on your day off?

Thanks everyone.

I was a little fragile and tired when I started this thread, and possibly not seeing the wood for the trees.

I'm not sure what I wanted from the thread? I just don't quite understand why GP appointments can't be booked online. Not at my practice anyway.

Yes, I can (and have) rung the surgery at 8am on my midweek day off - and I acknowledge that this is a luxury not afforded to most.
I have an ongoing, and worsening, health condition, but it would not be deemed 'urgent' or an 'emergency' in any way. Therefore I don't qualify for a same-day appointment?

If I could book online, I could see the available appointments over the next two weeks, and fit it around my schedule.
When I speak to the receptionist on the phone, I don't have the choice of appointment times - I'm given one.
That then necessitates me taking a shift off work - hence my frustration.

To all of you who asked about my ridiculously low rate of pay - yes it is, I agree.
A pp upthread was spot on. I work in a very rural area, and don't get paid for my time in between my calls, nor any gaps.
So, although I am at work for 15hrs, I can be paid for as little as 6 or 7 of those. Occasionally less, if there has been hospital admissions etc.

Thanks again for everyone's posts.

Swap to a GP surgery with an eConsult service.

I literally just fill in a form. GP calls or texts within 48 hours. If I need to be seen face to face depending on my answers, I can book an appointment.

I think you will just have to ring on your day off. My surgery does the same and I have never not got an appointment. They also do something called Patches and you can send them a message online for them to reply. That might work if you are unlucky enough to not get an appointment

When you ring on your day off OP, assuming that like ours, your surgery asks the reason you want to see the GP, just tell them that it's private, and if you have to tell them that it is an emergency, do it, as after all, if you can never get to see someone about it, it will become one eventually.

Don't get me wrong people, I'm not an advocate of lying to get what you want, but in circumstances like these, where the system doesn't seem to cater for people with jobs like the OP's, I think a little white lie is acceptable.

Ah! OP, your update renders my previous post (about the luxury of a midweek day off, and why not just use that day for life admin such as GP appts) moot. At my GP, there's an 8am scramble for appointments, but everyone who gets an appointment gets it for later that same day. I hadn't realised that you might call on your day off and then be given an appointment 2 days later when you need to be at work. I apologise.

OP, this isn't what you asked about, so feel free to ignore, but I was under the impression that employment tribunal judgments have made waiting time payable for carers in most circumstances. Harris v Kaamil Education Limited being the case that most places seem to quote. You could try calling ACAS, or your union if you're in one, to see if you have a case for back pay and recognition (and pay!) of those hours going forward. Sounds like it could make a huge difference to the money you take home if it applies to your situation.

@JockTamsonsBairns

have you been able to sort anything out yet?

Does your surgery offer 'queue call back' ours does, then you might be finished peg feeding your client or be able to speak to them on speaker phone?? Let's face it, it'll be a short conversation.

i was a bit confused about what you said about going to the surgery in person. I'd be in their doorstep at 8am on my next day off.

everything is difficult at our surgery. I just to wait a MONTH for blood tests my GP requested & their BP machine was playing up, so couldn't get a reading & not 1 of the approx 25 medical staff on site could pissibky do it, so I had to book an appointment 🙄🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

@JockTamsonsBairns

definitely look into this! It's bad enough when people work like this in the suburbs, but rurally it's beyond unreasonable!!