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?

Have a similar problem. I’m commuting when it opens and we are absolutely not allowed phones in class rooms during the school day. Life in schools is manic. The best time for me to fill out a form is 3.30 by which time it’s switched off and continues to be so for any appointment even with this new proclamation of online forms being open until 6.30 for everybody and everybody getting same day call backs. Even if you are one of the lucky ones who can fill in a form before it shuts down you’re highly unlikely to get anything same week let alone same day.

This needs to be recognised and admitted to instead of government bull shit headlines. And no I don’t expect to see a GP for everything or the same day. I do however expect to see a GP in a timely fashion when I need to ie not in 2,3 or often more weeks. I do expect appointments to pay some heed to the realities of working schedules, flexibility in the system as a whole and I do expect GPs to be involved in meds aside from repeat prescriptions and as the mother of autistic children I do expect face to face appointments for people who need them .

The way it has been rolled out in many practices is not progress by any means .

It's just a Labour gimmick. Something that they can point at and say 'Look what we achieved'.

It doesn't improve anything. The first 20 people who log in after they release a batch of appointments will still get those appointments.

The fact remains there are more patients wanting appointments than there are GPs available, and there is no process to handle urgency or severity of illness.

It just moves the queue from the phone to the keyboard. Or A&E. It's pointless.

I share your frustration! I have dupuytrens contracture in my hands and potential carpal tunnel in my wrists and I can't get help with the next steps for actually managing it.

My doctors pretty much cannot be reached on the phone anymore, back in early June I had to see the doctor because my hands were getting more painful. The phones are impossible to get through on, the triage form opens at 7.30am.ys no good on my office days because I have to leave for work at that time and probably is shut by 8.30 tops. Alas I used it one day and eventually got a text giving me a face to face appointment for 9am which took me by surprise as it's usually over 3 weeks wait and thank god I was working from home because I would have got to work 15 miles away and paid for parking only to have to find i had drive back home again!

I was referred for steroid jabs under guided needle at the hospital which is kind of kicking the can down the road but hey ho, 4 months on and I've still not heard back for the appointment.

I saw an occupational health person via work recently who says the NHS needs to be doing more, they said I need to see a specialist and get retested for carpal tunnel. I've emailed the surgery to ask for the extra referrals, I got a reply saying they'd forwarded the request to the GP, the following week I chased it and got a text directing me to the triage form! I don't even need an appointment! The phone lines don't allow queries anymore, just appointments and prescriptions if you can actually get through.

They've made things so much harder than it needs to be.

I used our practice econsult form this morning and had a call with an appointment time for this morning within 10 minutes of pressing submit! It's been similarly quick the other few times I've used it. I'd much rather do it online than ring and have to explain over the phone.

It seems obvious that there are some really rubbish systems in some surgeries and some that work well. This thread could be forwarded to Wes Streeting perhaps?

I’m with you op. Our doctors are a complete waste of time too. Cannot book online appointments or access info through their app you have to ring. Half the time they don’t answer the phone. When they do answer they have no appointments available. They tell you to ring back in two weeks time to make an appointment when the appointments are open on the system. If you say it’s urgent they tell you to ring 111. Recently they sent my husband an invitation for a heart check at a local health centre so he attended. They said his bp was high and needed to contact the doctors surgery. He did and it rang out for half an hour so he gave up. He tried the next day and they said you need to see the gp so ring in tomorrow morning at 8am, he said I can’t I work nights and need to sleep can you just book me a routine appointment. No! There’s none available. However he can ring at 8am and grab an emergency appointment? Doesn't make sense. If he was prepared to wait for a routine appointment that he could work around his shifts surely that’s best for everyone. He’s left it, it’s not worth the hassle. We thought about changing doctors but all the other surgeries in the area have worse ratings?

I recall 1998 post Blair. There was a promise that if we rang on the day there would be an appointment. You had to ring at 8am. If you couldn't, no appointment. They also took away the possibility of booking in advance which was hopeless for anyone with an underlying condition. If you got through at 8 and they offered you an appointment at 8.20, mid school run and you said you couldn't make it, they said we've fulfilled our obligations and made you an appointment.

Nothing much has changed in 25 years and it wasn't so great 25/30 years ago.

Our GP system works really well and I actually prefer it to the old system of sitting in a phone queue. But equally I recognise that there is no one consistent system across all GPs and I don’t understand why that is. Why doesn’t the government just find the best system/process and ensure that’s implemented consistently across the NHS?

I never had this trouble. Could book on day or later in week. Or whenever.

Exactly this! It should be one stem with everybody doing the same.

Ditto with things like shared care. Our practice won’t do some shared care even when it’s shared with the NHS and other practices do.I’ve now had 2 consultants say our practice is known for not being great in that area.

I don’t get this oh just leave the practice thing either. It really isn’t that simple or easy and it’s tax payers money funding all GP surgeries. Why should the only answer to shit service be to walk at big inconvenience to the patient? Surely they should all be taken under far more control
and scrutiny in the same way education is. You can’t help feeling that part of the reason GP surgeries can vary so much is down to a lack of cohesion,how they don’t seem to be under any central control and seem to be able to choose how they run and what they offer. As a model it clearly isn’t working and is very outdated .

I cant fault mine.

Personally.... Filled in the form (econsult)
Receptionist rang me 30 minutes later
Booked in for afew days later

Attended appointment
Dr advised 2ww cancer referal said i will hear from hospital within 2 weeks
Got a hospital appointment sent to me on 'mychart' (online app) within an hour

This is from a very busy over stretched doctors surgery
And a major trauma super busy hospital

I prefer it and it works reasonably well at our practice. My DH filled in the form at 8.30 yesterday and got a phone call back in 10 minutes and a f2f appointment at 10 am same day. He wanted some information on a second issue so had to fill in form again as they wont allow you to put more than one issue down on the form. Phone call back in about an hour and a telephone appointment made for that in a week’s time. So we were impressed with the way it works so far.

Now at mine they stop the appointments part but you can still send an admin message.

I had an appointment yesterday for a blood test and diabetic foot check. I then received a text saying flu vaccines were available so I sent an admin message to say could I have the flu jab at the same time.

I get a text back saying that was fine.

@YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan similar here though we haven't progressed to the form yet it's still the phone race at 8.30am.

I try to rimg on a day off but if I need an appointment on a workday sometimes I have to stop the car on the commute to call.

The ring backs as you say are randomly timed and bc my workplace doesn't alloq calls and there's limited phone signal anyway being at work doesn't work really.

Gps appointments, phone or otherwise for working people are really difficult.

Well I wouldn't. And that would save an appointment for you.

Whilst this is your experience, not all GPs surgeries are the same.

Someone I know was told to queue up and if they had appointments for that day they would be given them

Only the first 2 got an appointment, the rest were told to come back tomorrow. Instead of moving into the 21st century we seem to be moving backwards

There is also no consideration that people have jobs to get to or that for some of us we are not allowed our phones during working hours. I was told to phone or email in using my work phone or computer. It seemed alien to them that I don’t use or have access to a computer or phone during the day.

Where I used to live the GPs surgery was owned by a large group that had taken over all the GPs surgeries in the area so leaving and going elsewhere would mean trying to find a surgery that wasn’t run by these people.

Some of these doctors only did 1/2 day per week working in the surgery. You never saw the same GP twice and if you requested any particular dr they were always on annual leave

You day the GP receptionist refuses, but you understand they are just doing what they are told by their boss/management? You understand they actually have no power right? They are just doing what they are told by their boss??

Its a shame that yours is like that ive found it so much easier so our rapid health form is open 8-18.00hrs Mon-Fri even sometimes in afternoons ive got on the day appointments which never happened in my surgery before depending on what the app is for, it now gives us appointments in future and i can do it all on my break or lunch break at work where as before i was already at work at 8 when needed to call or it was too late when i finished as they only offered on the day for gp so i for one am Really happy with it, its a shame its not the same everywhere also at my surgery the reception team can only book the same way they have to fill the form but for any one struggling they will go through it with you at the same time on the phone or if completely unable they do the form for you but ask all the questions that are on the form to you so you can answer them