GP didn’t call me because their “workday has ended”

[angelinlothian]

I had a telephone call booked in at 15:40.

It rolls around and no call. 17:30 comes and goes which is when the surgery closes.

I get a text to say it’s not been completed as they got to the end of their workday and couldn’t make the call, which means at least 8 people were in the same position as me, they didn’t have their calls made.

So I now have to compete again tomorrow for an on the day call, and even having one booked in doesn’t guarantee it!

AIBU to think this is exactly why so many people end up in A&E? We’re told to go to our GP, but our GP won’t see us!

I'm surprised the GP put their coat on and left before finishing their list, or at least passing it to another doctor in the surgery.

Yes, nothing to do with us having an ageing population creating more need for GP services than when the elderly were a smaller percentage of patients.

I think that’s fine, but I bet in the majority of those jobs if they don’t finish something, they, or somebody else has to deal with it the next day. Not just throw their hands up and say, oh well, never mind.

What an absolute load of BS.

You and nobody else on this thread has ANY idea why OPs phone appt did not happen. You’re just making unfounded assumptions. E.g. There could have been a really unwell patient - heart attack, sepsis, mental health crisis etc (that can take hours to manage).

A doctor is a human being, not a machine, and entitled to a personal life outside of work. They aren’t there to work unpaid constantly because the public want them to.
Not working for free, does not make a doctor (or anyone else) lazy or not a role model.

you are what’s wrong with current society - just want, want, want, want and don’t care about anyone else but yourself.

It's really unfortunate and frustrating for you but it's healthcare right now. Theres a huge amount of pressure on the service. Emergencies turn up, things happen outside of their control. If they stayed until everyone had been seen it sounds like that could be multiple hours late every evening, which isn't realistic when they have to pick up a child from after school club or whatever like everyone else. Most (all I've ever come across) GPs already work a huge amount of time outside of their working hours without ever expecting to get paid for it but everyone has a limit.

(bangs head against wall) but that is irrelevant because 3.40 (the time OP's appt was for) is highly unlikely to be the end of their working day!

And even if (very unlikely) this particular GP's set working hours are 9am to 3.40pm and there is no expectation they should ever have to work a second past that, then in that case the surgery shouldn't be booking appointments for them for 3.40pm - their last appointment should be 3.10 or even earlier to allow for appts overrunning, paperwork, etc.

Otherwise what happens if someone goes in at 3.38 and starts stripping off for a vaginal exam - according to you it's fine for the GP to just jump up and walk out the door, leaving them on the table legs akimbo?

Lots of things aren't an 'emergency service' but realistically you would still expect them to carry on until the job had been completed.

I doubt you'd be happy if you were at the theatre, it started a few minutes late so the actors just all stopped half way through the climactic final scene/song and walked out. Or were at a restaurant waiting for 3 hours for a meal, because the old chef had finished their shift and the new one phoned in sick, with nobody bothering to tell you? Or if you were 2 mins late to pick up your child but when you arrived they were nowhere to be seen because the school/nursery had kicked the kids out and locked the building the second the school day ended? Or your plumber/electrician left you without a working boiler/flushing toilet/any lights because they needed to get home to their kids and couldn't take 5 minutes more to fix your issue?

They just don’t give a fuck any more 🤷🏼‍♀️

Genuine question, not trying to provoke. If there had been an emergency at a GP Surgery taking hours to manage, surely they would have called Emergency Services ? GPs aren’t there to deal with emergencies.

Mine does. We have something called enhanced access
basically you can ring at 6pm and they’ll fit you in between 6pm-8pm. They also do Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings

I am not a GP. But I know damn well that the ambulance service deprioritises patients who are already in a GP surgery "because they're already in a safe place" and "they'll have a defibrillator". GPs have to wait way longer than the public for a 999 response.

Yes the will ring 999. But fun fact - emergency services will nearly always put them lower priority than a call of the same nature from the public. As the person in the GP surgery is in a “safe place” and has a doctor with them.
that GP might not have equipment or the drugs to give fluids or antibiotics for example though. So yes a Doctor is there, but often there’s not much they can do to help the patient but the patient often waits longer.

also the doctor might be trying to refer the patient and this can take a long time e.g. to specialists in the hospital or trying to get community mental health services to get involved with a patient.

GPs are left to deal with a lot of stuff that they shouldn’t have to deal with sometimes.

Take two paracetamol sweetheart. You’ll be fine in the morning

This is what happens when there’s too many people competing for a service.

Tony Blair fucked up GPs for the end user (not for the GPs though!) when he gave them autonomy to pay their own wages, work whatever hours suited them and made them bosses of their own practice.
Oh, the heady days of the 70s and 80s when GPs worked for the NHS and if you phoned the out of hours service on a Saturday night you got a visit from a doctor in your own practice. No waiting weeks for appointments either.
The millions of extra people really hasn’t helped the situation either - but clearly I’m a right wing Nazi for daring to say that.

It wouldn’t be one thing though, there will be a baby slotted in at the last minute, several appointments all running over by a couple of minutes each and then you only need one “emergency” of 20-30 minutes and you’re nearly up to 2 hours of a delay.

Me too. When my GP didn't call me back on the same day, he texted me to say he'd call after the weekend (it was a Friday) and called me back on the Monday morning. It wasn't so urgent it couldn't wait until after the weekend but I didn't have to fill in the e-consult again.

That is straight-forward customer service. Complain OP.

People should call 111 if they really can’t wait.

This is so true! I’m a teacher and can you imagine if I walked out of the door at 3pm because ‘my working day is done’ 😂😂. These are the same GP’s that were refusing to see people in Covid whilst I was running round houses delivering free packed lunches because of Marcus Rashford 😂

If it is agonising, book an appt with a private GP first thing. Pay £100 ish and get it sorted. Dicking around with 111 and A&E is pointless. Payup and get rapid service. Stop worrying about how things should work and focus on a solution.

Think of it this way - if you had a leak in your roof at home you wouldn’t stand there waiting for it to be fixed for free would you? You’d pay a premium for rapid service. Well, that’s how things work in the U.K. now. Pay up and get it sorted. Stop trying to rail against the system. It’s exhausting and pointless, fix yourself first.

Plus you also have to manage the emergency to a point as well. If someone is having a heart attack or an acute episode of psychosis you can't just stick them in the waiting room you have to manage the situation until the emergency services arrive. There'll also be emergency situations from care homes or other staff they need to support with as well as urgent contacts from hospital/laboratory etc. It's just complex and not an exact science. Plus appointments just often run a long way over, often for very good reasons. Other days might go more smoothly.

I mean who would stop you?
Other than open days, specific meetings, or if they’ve arranged to do bus duties I know several teachers that leave when the children leave. Marking or planning doesn’t need to be done at your desk. I’ve never come across a head to dictate that.

No, it isn't ok. Can you at least leave reviews to warn other patients, and put in a complaint? You seem to be very competent and literate. There are several people in my family who find it very hard to access care, for various competency/literacy reasons, and this sort of thing would possibly stop them getting any help. One would actually think this means the doctor didn't need to see her (and yes, I help her out, but not everyone has anyone to help, so it is important that these things are stopped).
Lots of people in the NHS say the reason so many people literally die is because we're all (rightly) grateful for the good staff and we don't want to complain. You would complain if any other service you are forced to pay for was inadequate.

An absolute farce - at the very least you should be automatically booked in for the next day.

100% this! ^

100% this. ^

So what if the GP had an emergency- they were taken ill, or had to pick up a sick child, or their parent was dying?
Yes it was rubbish how they have handled it- but the GP may have had to leave for an important reason- I have had to leave to pick up sick kids from nursery or deal withy husbands seizures. Unfortunately my patients just get cancelled.... I have also gone home throwing up due to a migraine.....