Online GP systems do not stop the 8 am scramble, do not facilitate a GP call back or enable more serious patients to speak to a doctor

[H8484peful]

So we have had the new online system for some time and I’m amazed at what the government are promising with its rollout everywhere.

At our GP it opens when many are commuting and closes during the afternoon and also at any given time for the rest of the day when it’s “ overwhelmed”. It’s hugely difficult to get in the queue if you don’t have constant access to your phone during the day and hugely difficult to get appointments if you’re not in the queue early.

The receptionist now refuses to do anything as regards appointments other than talk you through the form( obviously only when it’s open which it often isn’t).

The triage system sends everybody with med queries to the pharmacy regardless of what the query is. They then decide if you can access a doctor for your query. I recently had to argue for a doctor to look at a medication suggested by the hospital for me to get from my GP that came with no details as to dosage or time frame. I was already on another medication. Said GP said I’d done the right thing to push for a GP to look at it. It took some time and a lot of calls discussing my personal details to get this with staff consistently saying computer says no, it’s not how the new system works.

Appointments are often weeks in advance for a GP and you’re triaged off to less qualified staff for most things.

You have zero say re appointments even if you put times on the form. They ignore it and you then get something unworkable and you have to submit another form if you want an alternative time.

Paperwork and referrals are often lost in the system.

You absolutely can’t ring and request a GP call back.

It’s a GP rated as Good.

The elderly, busy and vulnerable are going to put at huge risk and patients absolutely aren’t going to be getting what the government is promising. How on earth is the government not aware of this?

Oh and if you have something serious you’re told to fill a form or go to A&E. The form itself lists all the serious things you need to go elsewhere for.

Is this all based on your experience?

I have had to use the form multiple times. I have never had an issue. I was directed to a pharmacy once, who couldn’t help, and when I ended up back at the GP I ended up getting a referral that dealt with my chronic health issue.

I think people expect face to face appointments for everything when the vast majority of things don’t need a FTF.

I’ve never had this experience.
we can usually get telephone appt in next two days and f2f in a week.

Lines are open all day.

It sounds badly managed at your practice.

The form at my GP is open during their opening hours and doesn't close due to capacity.

99% of the time, I get a call back on the same day with the offer of an appointment, sometimes they text an appointment which does irritate me as I specifically mark on the form that I do not consent to text messages! The only time I have ever had to wait is if I ask for a specific GP.

We have an online system which is open all day. Seems bizarre to make a more convenient system, less convenient.

It works fantastically at our GP and that’s been my experience for 5 years now. I usually get a response to the form within about 15 minutes (once got a text from the triage nurse about 2 minutes after submission!). We get booked in quickly. Routine appointments in about 2 weeks, urgent appointments are same day or next day. Last time I did it, they rang and offered me an appointment in 45 minutes. I was literally on a hike an hour from my car and couldn’t get there in time, so had to re-schedule for a few hours later.

All the issues you raise sound like ones caused by poor management and leadership decisions. A badly run surgery will not be magically made efficient by new tech.

I opted for YANBU as this is clearly your experience at your practice and it sounds designed to keep patients away.

Just to echo others, I've had 3 same day appts from my practice's form in the last 3 weeks for different family members. All with the GP.

The system is managed well in our surgery.

And they do help the elderly with the system over the phone/in person as I have been sat in reception when they have been doing it.

Different surgeries will manage it differently though and I can see how it could be frustrating.

We have online forms and it's always worked well for me up to now. Easy to fill out and we usually get a response with a few hours.

It works really well at our surgery.

The last two times I made contact I got an appointment the same day.

This isn't my experience. Yes, if you try and fill it in later in the day, it might be closed, and if I've a non-urgent query, it would be useful to be able to send that in at 9pm.

However, when when I have filled it in, it's usually been triaged by early afternoon (and I might not have filled it in first thing.) At different times, I have had responses of:

• the prescription has been sent to your nominated pharmacy.
• here's a list of possible face-to-face appointments, please select a suitable one - which have ranged from the next working day to about a month ahead.
• here's a list of times the GP can call you, please select a suitable time - thst one resulted in a referral to gynae without the GP ever seeing me, but that was all I wanted. Apparently they couldn't just refer me without speaking to me though.

You can still call ours, and while it's usually the receptionist talking you through the questions on the phone, it means it is still accessible for those who don't have Internet access. They did recently change my flu jab time when I rang rather than fill in the form, because the automatically generated one was about the most inconvenient time they could find; it's now first thing, so I can do it before work.

I haven't asked to see a specific GP,so I don't know if that makes it more challenging.

But IME, it generally works well.

I live in a different country with an app for all medical stuff (and yes it is free at point of delivery comprehensive healthcare funded from taxation) and it's brilliant. Extremely easy to book appointments/view test results/receive prescription form/ send a message to the doctor etc. spent some time in the UK and was so frustrated with the healthcare process (phoning the office!?)

Ours is brilliant. You put in a request and I usually get a call back later in the day offering a same day or next day appointment. It looks like your surgery is badly managed.

I much much prefer using our online system to spending ages in a phone queue.

We have an online form that opens at 8am but the form closes when they're at capacity. It's a long form that asks all sorts of questions to check you're not having something classed as an emergency like a heart attack etc., and then covering information they already know, like listing what conditions I already have and medications I'm already taking. It's really difficult for working people and parents to get online at that time and fill in a long form before it closes.

You then get put on the telephone triage list but you don't get given an appointment and can be called at any time.

It's not practical to wait at home until they call you, so I have no privacy or dignity when they call as I might be at work or somewhere and I have to discuss my medical business in front of others.

The forms great and easy to use, its only weekends I can’t submit a form. I’d change GP surgeries

It's brilliant at our surgery, I expect your practice haven't got the hang of it yet.

I can always book a phone call with the duty doctor later that day or next day, my own doctor within days and they call me and switch it to face to face depending on what I write. Pharmacy are able to sort out prescriptions and medication issues directly with my GP.

Ours works brilliantly. Phone call or appointment the same day for more urgent queries, routine appointments within a week or so. The form is usually open 7:30 to around 11.

The repeat prescriptions form is available 24/7.

Our system at my GP is open 24/7. It’s fantastic. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night & remember I need to book my routine nurse appointment. I’ll just log in & complete the form. Usually have an appointment by the end of the next day.

I think you should write to your practice and tell them to open the online forms 24/7. If they won’t, write to your MP.

Well I had the same experience as you OP. The form was only open for an hour in the morning at most, reception would only divert you to the form. All of this because the underlying issue is a lack of appointments.

I really like my GP’s online triage. It’s always open, you fill in a little text box with your issue and a receptionist will call you back same day with either an appointment or the information you need to go elsewhere. I barely ever use the GP but every time I have, I’ve been called back within an hour. I think they also send a text if you’ve to go to another service; I remember filling it in over my son’s eye and getting a text with instructions to make an emergency appointment with the optician who carries out the LENS appointments in our area.

They’re basically just asking us to give all the info we would have given over the phone, they read it and decide if you need to go to another service, be given a prescription if it’s obvious what it is, or be given an appointment. Then they call you back/text you with info or appointment time. Saves them time with people rambling on the phone, and they can sort a lot of things out without having to waste time on people calling for stupid reasons, but they get back to you quickly and you get an appointment if you need one.

I don’t understand why you need to be in a queue for the form? Or why it would be closed. We just fill ours out and submit it, like an online query.

Our GP system is broken, and even when you do get an appointment it never seems to be with a GP, so we are essentially de-skilling them. It is definitely since Covid. Ten years ago the service felt pretty “normal”

Our GP online system opens at 8.00am and closes at 3.00pm. Even if you want to ask for a repeat prescription it has to be done by 3.00pm. The message on the app simply says we are at our capacity for messages try tomorrow. It can be very frustrating!

We have had this system for some time and it 's useless -

Supposed to be open from 7 to 3. Often closed by 9.30.

I was worried my blood pressure had risen substantially. Put a request in and asked for any communication to be by land line as mobile reception can be hit and miss at home. Two weeks later I hadn't heard anything so called in the surgery. They told me they had tried to call twice the day before, had no reply so I would have to start again. They had called my mobile.

They never give a time they will call you so you can spend days at home waiting for a call.

By the time you fill in all the stuff they should already know the system has closed because they have reached capacity.

Haven't been seen by an actual GP since 2019, always get a nurse who then goes off to consult the doctor.

All the surgeries in this area are managed by the same company so no chance to change.

I have no idea how the elderly manage.

It’s badly managed at my practice.

i’ve wound up at a and e twice in the last year and the a and e doctor has been very unhappy that I was redirected there.