to think that the GP's surgery should be able to offer more than 1.5 hours a week for my DD's pre-school jabs?

[morningpaper]

"Any time on a Thursday between 1.30 and 3pm"

Um well that's really not a good time for me... BUT NO EXCEPTIONS!

That doesn't seem very customer friendly, does it?

YABU (a bit) - surely their health is number one priority

YANBU at it being crap customer service though. Have you asked if you can have them done byb the Dr - at my surgery if you couldn't make the sessions you just booked woth the Doc and had thyem done at a more convenient time.

Not ideal but I can understand why they do it this way

yanbu
I find that being a working mum stuff like this really annoys me when its only this day or that day. I shouldn't have to take time off work when they offer appointments in time I don't work and I'm prepared to wait.

My surgery are fab and if you say you work those days when they do the jabs will give you a different appointment time.
I bet if you got through to the actual nurse or doctor they will be a it more reasonable.

There should be some flexibility for Mums who have a need- for a start they comlpain enough about MMR uptake, surely making it possible for those who DO want to have the booster to attend is a good idea?

A bit of a seld defeating system there.

Most Mums can make set times with a bit of planning, sometimes a few cannot.

Noooooooo. Phone and ask for an appointment with the nurse. They'll try and sell you the baby clinic, but stand firm - the receptionists know fark all.

There need to be 2 nurses to check the immunisations given. Perhaps logistically this is the only time they can ensure that this happens. It's the same at my surgery and whilst inconvenient at times, you are never going to have a time which will please everyone.

my surgery is just nurse. parent double checks

Hmm well they wouldn't shift

So either DH or I will have to take a half-day

'tis a bit off I think, when they are open all day - surely a clinic last thing in the afternoon would make more sense?

mine was the same, apart was wednesday 1.30 to 3pm

we also needed to see the doctor first to check dc balls were ok

i was offered 2.15 appointment with doc and 2.30 with nurse but i said if they were running late then i couldnt guarantee to be at school for 3.15 for eldest

so i booked the 1st 1.30 appojntment so should be on time - but was in 4 weeks time

YANBU, mine is the same. Thursday mornings between 10 and 11.30am. no exceptions. the practice nurse doesnt do childrens injections so thats the only time the HVs are available

I work for child health and although the surgeries are sent scheduled appointments each week they don't have to stick to them and are able to provide an unscheduled appointment at a more suitable time, they just need to fill in a different type of form which is probably why some aren't too keen on doing them.

I had this problem with my local surgery and as I was coming for an injection at a more convinient time for (different to DD) I told them they could put the 2 together and I couldn't afford to keep making the trips or take DD out of School.

YANBU Our surgery will bend over backwards to accommodate immunisations.they have got targets to hit !!

Phone your hv and say "I can't make the time and it is only boosters after all" (not saying you believe that, I certainly don't) and I bet she'll phone you back with an alternative time! One of my DC was due immunisations and I was laid up badly with morning sickness; I moaned to hv that I couldn't come in the morning slot I'd been offered as too sick then, so she came to my house to do it one afternoon!

Our surgery does this. Vax on Wed morning only, between 10 and 11.30. I work FT, DD in nursery. So they want me to leave work, pick up DD, come home to the Dr, have a jab, take her back to nursery and go back to work

I spoke directly to the nurse and she said there wasn't a problem and what time did I want? 5pm Friday wasn't a problem

They run clinic sessions to help with planning for staff and rooms, also ordering or Vaccs, but they should be flexible if you ask.

GP practices are slowly coming around to the concept of customer service, but it will be a long process for some.

Our old GPs did that - vax clinic on Wednesday afternoon, nursery had a 24 hour exclusion after vax policy. Not going to happen !

I had a bit of an arguement each time with them, and they grudgingly allowed me to take DS to have his done on a Friday afternoon when the nurse was doing a diabetic clinic

Be firm with them and tell them that you can't do that time

I have had exactly the same experience - I spoke to the receptionist, the practice manager and the nurse and they won't budge - I work PT and told them that my employer expects me to sort this out on the days I am not at work, but no joy...they asked if someone else could bring him or did I have any days owing at work ???
Not happy..... YANBU

I used to do the Imm and Vacc clinic.

Twas hell on earth.

1.5 hours a week is all I could cope with.

On a more serious note, we used to have a designated baby clinic for imms, it is far easier to order, draw up and give the vaccines in a specified clinic. However if a parent really couldn't make the imm & vacc clinic we would book them in to a normal clinic for a regular appointment. We could only give them though if there was a doc on the premises, which wasn't always the case if our clinics didn't coincide with theirs.

And fitting baby vaccs in between all the other clinics we had to do (asthma, diabetes, CHD, well woman, well man, family planning, leg ulcer, travel health etc etc) became more and more difficult!

you are not a customer

be fecking glad they do it at all....ys in school....by now neatly 5 still no top up jab...and I called them aout it, cos we moved and other mix up....was told....they willl getr to ho,m...surname starts with g..so...not that late surely....

Change GP surgery, complain to the PCT. It's rubbish for the NHS to organise its services around its own needs rather than those of the patient. It is reasonable for them to have a clinic to make planning & logistics easier, but it is totally not reasonable to have a no exceptions ever policy!

DavidSussex What do you mean?

The whole ethos of the NHS now is about patient choice, care closer to home and care at a time and place convenient to the patient? That's customer service - providing care to patients in partnership, rather than the traditional "doing it to them" approach.

Unfortunately lots of GP practices haven't experienced much competition for patients yet and haven't adapted their approach.

Unreasonable demands from patients aren't acceptable but they aren't in any other sector, I worked in customer services for a large retailer before joining the NHS and we were flexible within reason, I think thats all most people expect from the NHS.

Our GP's does jabs clinic on a day that I can't do. I make an appointment to see the nurse at another time. I have never had an issue with this, after all, they want you to take up the jabs, yes?