To think that (GP related)

[AmIHumanOrAmIAYeti]

if there are 5 surgeries in the area (fairly remote with patchy phone signal) and my appointment can be at any of them (closest 5 mins drive, furthest 30) and all appointments are during working hours, the least they can do is have WiFi so that I can work during the inevitable delay in being seen?

You should be able to log on to NHS guest WiFi in the surgeries.

You use leave like the rest of the people who can't WFH have to do.

Companies should allow you time off for emergencies. Probably unpaid. That's how it is for everyone.

I’m self employed. It wasn’t an emergency appt.

There is no guest WiFi.

Book a half day or full day annual leave.

Surely you just hotspot from your phone?

I hotspot it’s not up-to the NHS to facilitate you working in their premises.

You take a hour or 2 off work. Or use your phone hotspot.

How often are these appointments? If it's regular, you'll have to plan your work around them.

I'm SE too. It's really irritating to have to cancel clients/stop working for this type of thing but it's just life, surely!

Not much help to you I know (sorry) but my GP surgery definitely has NHS wifi. I used it just yesterday.

To be quite honest, I think you are incredibly lucky to:
a) have the choice of 5 surgeries
b) be able to get a face to face appointment in the first place!

Wow ! You are going to see your GP, not a day trip !!

I’m self employed.

You don’t get a choice of surgery - they tell you where to go. I had to wait 7 weeks for the appointment (after a 4 week wait for a phone appointment where the GP realised it should have been a face to face appointment).

So, don't you have some data included in your Internet plan? To use in these circumstances where you can't access wi-fi?

“Fairly remote with patchy phone signal”.

There’s no signal at all in the surgery and 1 bar of 3G if you stand in a particular spot in the car park.

(it obviously wouldn’t have been an issue if there had been mobile data. <sigh>)

First time since pre-Covid. They wanted to see me in person before giving me a private referral letter which is the only reason I needed a GP appt.

I had the first appointment of the day and they were still over an hour late seeing me. I’m not convinced everyone would be grateful in these particular circumstances. Not even so much as a magazine to browse, just health awareness videos about strokes and diabetes rattling out of the screens ad infinitum.

Well yeah, it's the NHS which every news outlet and your government will tell you is on it's knees.

If you can't spend an hour or two without WiFi, your business probably is on it's knees too.

Why don't you try a private GP?

They do evening & weekend appointments and virtual appointments.

If your business & time is valuable then it's worth spending money on.

@AmIHumanOrAmIAYeti I agree with you. I find it interesting that there is zero tolerance if a patient is two minutes late but we are supposed to suck up delays of up to an hour. If we had to pay them directly, it wouldn't happen.

It's as much about attitude as busyness.

I agree. At my old GP we had screens which told us how delayed the appointment was. I went in, signed in, and it said that the doctor was running 40 minutes late. So I went to the pharmacy part of the practice (inside the same building) to collect DS's prescription. Came back 20 minutes later and was then told I couldn't go into the waiting room without signing in - I said I had signed in and then that my appointment was at 10am. The receptionist said it's 10.20 now and I said that they were running 40 minutes late. She refused to let me in and said that I can't be late just because they are... so I "missed" my appointment by turning up on time and trying to enter the waiting room 20 minutes before my appointment.

I needed a physical check (internal).

My health insurance includes a GP service but they can’t issue referrals and they are virtual appts so couldn’t have done the required check anyway.

Hotspot from your phone like an adult would do

This. Don't be so ridiculous and entitled.

The being on time thing is because there are so many useless people who will be late or not turn up at all. The few who ruin it for the many. If you ran any sort of business you'd understand as you'd experience it firsthand

Maybe try reading the OP's posts before insulting her? She can't hotspot because there's no signal.

With that said, I don't think GP surgeries should be mandated to provide WiFi for this reason. If you're using an NHS GP in 2025, you should be well aware that you'll likely be waiting (and this is almost always the fault of other patients, not the practice) and take a magazine, book, whatever to occupy yourself.

If OP is self employed and her work is so critical that she can't sacrifice an hour, she'll have to find a private practice that does in-person appointments and eat it as a business cost. Presumably better in the long run than getting sick and not being able to work.

Great, then you have the freedom to pursue your GP appt