To hate the system for apointments at my Doctors' practice?

[DrNortherner]

They are always bloody full. You have to call at 1.15pm which is when they release emergancy appointments. At 1.15pm the phoen is always engaged and when you do get through there are no appts left. Grr.

So then of course I try to book a routine appt for tomorrow, none left.....

How does your surgery operate?

have to ring at 0830 for emergency appointments and not allowed to book routine appointments for less than a months time

Very annoying DrN, ours is like that but they have now put on a duty doctor who will take phone calls at the end of morning surgery. She assesses whether you need an appointment or not based on what you tell her and she will see emergencies (or children) same day. Why not suggest they do the same?

Ring at 8.30am for morning appointments (where need to be seen urgently).
Or ring at 1pm for afternoon appointments (again, for urgent problems).

Or

ring anytime and ask for a routine appointment, usually within about 3 or 4 days (unless you are asking for a specific doctor, in which case may be a longer wait).

The phone line is usually engaged at 8.30am/1pm. But can do ringback which is good, and if calling about the children, have never not been seen within a few hours.

My surgery now you just ring and make appointments for whenever you need them and if you want an emergency appt you have to ring before 8.30 or ring later and they will get you in for an appointment at whichever of their practices has a slot in the area (there are 4)

My last practise had the stupid 'only make appointments on the day/no appointments for less than 3 weeks time' malarky, its why i changed.

Our GPs changed their booking to meet the new targets for getting an appointment. There's some percentage of appointments that must be offered within 48 hours. Result is you can only book appointments for the next 48 hours. There is about a 5min window to get the appt at 8.30am after which you have to try the next day. I even had to do this for my 6 week postnatal check. Complete madness.

you have to ring at 8.30 am to get an appointment for that day

it is total pot luck if you can get through

Incidentally, my surgery has a lot of locums, but that doesn't worry me too much because it means that unless you are fussy about who you see, you can generally get a routine appointment quickly and an emergency/urgent appointment tout suite.

You can book appointments online, by phone or in person. If you need to be seen urgently they will always see you regardless of when you phone - I'm not sure how, but I think they have a duty doctor who only sees people who need to be seen the same day and he can always squeeze you in.

If you book online you can see exactly who has appointments free and when, I've even been known to book one in the middle of the night for the following morning when the dcs have been very unwell!

I could have written Spooka's post about mine as well - it's identical!

We can book routine appointments easily - not sure how far in advance but certainly a couple of months. If you want a quicker appointment then you just ask for first available which is sometimes same or next day - sometimes a week or two. If you need a same day appointment the triage nurse calls you straight back and does a phone assessment then either makes an appointment with the GP or herself.
The system works well for the DDs and I (since I make their appointments) Doesn't seem to work for DH, but I think when he phones up he always asks for same day appointment - because obviously men are always sicker than women

if you want to see a specific doctor you need to give 2-3 days notice.. if you don't mind who you see you can call at 8.30 for morning appointments and 1pm for afternoon appointments.. they will always fit you in.

We can book our own appointments on line and can go to any of the three surgeries. If there aren't any immediate appointments, especially for one of the ds's, they always try and accomodate when telephoned.

Ours release all the appointments for the week at 8am on a Monday morning, but hold a few back for each day so you have to phone dead on 8am to get through and get one. Routine appointments can be booked at any time but depend on availability.

If it's for DD they'll usually do their best to see her that day.

It depends on the receptionist you get sometimes though, some seem to be a bit more understanding than others. I've been refused an appointment for DD before so taken her to the pharmacy, who then phoned the surgery and insisted she be seen.

You can only book appointments on the day with ours. Phone line opens at 8.30 so you have to be there with your finger on redial at that point to make sure you get an appointment or to have any say at all in when during the day it might be.

Such a pain if it involves taking time off work, as you have to take the whole day off in case the appointment is in the afternoon.

Ring at 8.30 for an appointment that day - that's usually fine though a couple of times I've struggled to get through and they've been booked. They have a "drop in" option from 11am-11.30am though you end up waiting for hours and hours. Or you can speak to a GP on the phone and if they think you need to come in (emergencies or small children) you can later that day. All very sensible, and fantastic when it's small children who need to be seen that day with various ailments.

It's much less satisfactory if you just want an appointment, but not necessarily that day - because you can't specify a time, same day appointments aren't always ideal (plus on my work days I can't just say "doctor appt at 1pm, byeee). So for adults trying to book in advance for non-urgent stuff it gets v complicated - some GPs release some slots online but not all, and some only work some days, and you generally can't get anything for a couple of weeks...madness.

hate the call at 0830 thing. i am always slap bang in middle of child juggling then, it's a real pain to add a phone on speaker to musak to the mix.

It irks me too. But you're lucky to be able to see a doctor when you want!
Our system is called triage, and is meant to protect doctors from unecessary appointments.
To make an appointment with a doctor, you have to wait for a nurse to call you back, who then assesses whether your ailment warrants a doctor.
This got my three year old ending up in hospital once , because the nurse mis- diagnosed her sore throat and fever.
I think it's a really dreadful system.
And the receptionists are understandably on the defensive!

Once, I took my dc with a fever, and said we'd wait until the end of surgery to be squeezed in; but no- we had to go home, ring, have a nurse ring us back, come and see the nurse, and then wait to see a doctor. It didn't do my dd much good.
and i think wanting an appointment with a doctor should be just that.

The system favours pensioners who often love going to see the doctor. They can go anytime, and will be on that phone at 8.29 am to get an appointment.

The triage system is annoying, but in some ways it would weed out timewasters. My mil, who thinks a week without going to the GP is a week wasted, once came up with the need to go to the doctor to ask if she could go in a jacuzzi. She goes for a check-up before she goes on holiday, and then for one when she gets back. This sort of thing is a complete abuse of the NHS, in my opinion, and I don't understand why doctors tolerate it.

Can I nominate my doctors for the most stupid system ever devised.

Ring at 8:30 for a doctor, wait & wait while they charge you for the phone call, get through, no appointments left for that day, sorry try again tomorrow, Cue SAME RESULT.

Can't book appointments in advance, all toys taken away from waiting room due to people 'stealing' them, ridiculous tannoy system where doctor calls you & with crying toddler you can't hear the tannoy, when doc has to come & get you from the waiting room as you didn't hear, they're in a massive mood & don't like you on sight.

And this is the surgery I changed too as the only other one in the town is even worse!

NHS Direct is a bloody lifeline!

Open surgery between 8.30am-10am, although you can guarantee that if you turn up at 7.30am there will already be a queue!

Morning surgery includes a 'Rapid Access Clinic' for patients who dont need more than 5 minutes.

Trying to get an evening appointment is a nightmare. If I phoned up this afternoon, I probably wouldnt get seen until this time next week.

Our is similar to chinchi. Open surgery at 8.30am to 12.30pm. You just turn up. Actually the best time to go is about 11 when the early morning rush has finished.

You can also make appointments for the afternoon up to three weeks in advance,

For us (we have a DS with a dodgy immune system so are frequent visitors) it works quite well.

Opens at 8am. Children's drop in 11-11:30am.

Earlier in the week it can take about 10 mins of trying to get through but they never seem full up for the same day.

If you ring in the afternoon you usually get told to call the next morning unless you need to be seen that day and they let you come in at end of surgery. On a Wednesday they have evening appointments 6:30pm-8:30pm.

If you want to see a specific doctor or the gynaecologist then you can get an appointment for a couple of days ahead.

Oh you can book appointments online as well, I just haven't signed up for that yet.

we have online booking at our Gps. It is fantastic.At the end of each day fresh appointments that have been cancelled for the next day are realeased.(You can cancel your appointnment online too)
The next morning you can phone up if it is an urgent appointment you need.They guarantee to slot you in by the end of the day and will email/text or phone you to say- com now or in an hour etc.
It is revolutionary. Can also aorder repeat prescriptions online. the practice also operates a quiet policy.no tv and a separate waiting room for mums and toddlers.You are called to the doctor via LCD screen. It is a fantasticly calm place AND the receptionists are lovely and trained to speak in a quiet voice.

I miss my old surgery where they had online appointment booking and repeat prescriptions Now I also have the ring at 8am thing. But also, you can't book more than 2 weeks ahead, so you can't just book any routine stuff ahead of time and relax, you have to start ringing two weeks before you want the appointment because that's when they release the non-urgent appointment times. That makes life very difficult for my DH who needs routine check ups but has a horrendous work schedule so it would really help just to book in way ahead of time. No can do.

Even the 8am thing doesn't work that well, because if they refuse to see you that day as they don't consider it urgent enough (I have had this happen) it is often a date at least 4-5 days later or even over a week later that they offer you an appointment for. And my area is apparently very bad for people going straight to A&E rather than seeing their GP first when they get ill. I wonder why??

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