Long wait for dr’s appointment

[Overthehillmum63]

Phoned my GP Friday with a simple query about my repeat prescription. Very basic request regarding lowering my dose of medication. Can’t believe I have to wait four weeks before a doctor is available to talk to me. Granted it’s not urgent but our old dr (pre covid) would have had a quick look at my notes and dealt with it the following day. Frustrating and disappointing.

What is the medication?

Call back and ask to speak to receptionist. I would explain why you need to speak to a dr more urgently.

alternatively could you speak to a receptionist?

Thing is- if there are 300 queries a day which require just a quick look, there just isn’t the time to get to all of them so the urgent ones will not get seen until it’s too late- hence the triage system for urgent vs routine and screening requests to see which need urgent same day appts (which are restricted by staffing).

Potentially could be managed if one clinician was just looking at all medication queries or consult type questions but even these build up and there are only so many you can do in a day.

the demand to see a gp is so huge right now- I don’t think all the appointments I see necessarily needed to see a doctor but the task of triage and sorting through it all is actually quite big and needs to be done better.

It’s an anti depressant that needs to be reduced slowly in three monthly stages. Have made several successful reductions so far (which my dr is aware of) so I had hoped I wouldn’t need to discuss it again and he could just clear it with a text message.
I suppose I’ve noticed that our GP surgeries have lost the personal touch that I recall growing up with.

We have a meds review e consult to deal specifically with this sort of thing.

unusually do a consult and I’ve had it sorted within hours. It would probably be quicker if I wasn’t having to do it inbetween teaching!

They have lost the personal touch as they are drowning in requests, messages, results, letters...

GP surgeries are just trying every day to more or less keep people safe, anything on top of that is a bonus.

In a similar situation I wrote a letter with my query and it got addressed within a couple of days.

Did you think about asking for the practice pharmacist or pharmacy technician? Or Nurse Practioner? Why did it have to be a Doctor?

In a similar situation I spoke to the pharmacist who advised me regarding reducing the dose gradually.

Seems standard these days. I got told to book an appointment for an issue that means I can’t open one of my eyes properly. Listed pharmacists comments, various meds tried, back and forth to pharmacy to look at it.

Im 3 weeks into a 5 week wait. Shitshow.

Had a family member visit from Scotland this week and they were gobsmacked. Their wait for laser eye surgery free on the Scottish NHS was 9 weeks.

I can’t say I’m surprised though, my relative died a couple years ago after 8 months waiting for a scan for something that they apparently could have lived 5-8 years with if treated. No chance in this shithole country.

Because I was specifically told it had to be referred to a doctor.

@Overthehillmum63frustrating as it is they may have just urgent appointments on the day available or routine ones that are a month or so away , it doesn’t matter if it’s something quick it’s still logged as an appointment/ consultation , of which there will be a limited amount available.

Yes, a pharmacist advised me as well but it had to be signed off by a doctor before any action could be taken.

This. A letter will be scanned into your medical file and directed to your named gp to answer. (Ex receptionist.)

Does your dr have a triage system yet? We have to fill in an online form so we effectively start the consultation at that point. Then a gp triages appropriately. In your case they’d offer a telephone chat that day or week or even a text. It’s not urgent but pressing and several weeks waiting would be unacceptable.

Some gps aren’t at that point yet so a more detailed explanation via a letter or discussion with receptionist may help

we have an email system for non urgent requests. I put mine in on 3 April. I received a same day response and my appointment is only thing week. 27 May so almost 8 weeks of a wait. I too need a medication review.

If they have that system I’d say it’s not working and I’d emphasise your concern about waiting in another attempt

Cross post that was for the Op.

My surgery does something similar. When requesting an appt, you say what it's for.

I've had prescriptions issued without leaving my living room, which is very convenient, and when my request was for something that could have been serious, I submitted the request around 4pm, and saw the doctor the next day.

For something else, they referred me for physio without even seeing me.

Pre Covid we would have 35 to 50 patients on the Triage list per day now we have 300 to 350. We simply can’t keep up with the demand. It feels like a simple request to you but the clinician needs to look in your notes, check your request is safe, may even involve a telephone call with you to check you are having no adverse effects on the new dose and that it is safe for you to keep reducing. So times that by 350 per day and that’s a lot of man hours.