to think my doctors surgery is extorting money out of its patients

[Abubu]

OK, maybe extorting is a bit extreme but I'm really annoyed.

My doctors surgery have a procedure where you must call up at 8.30 in the morning to book an appointment for the day. If you dont call up pretty much in the first hour you can forget getting an appointment that day. You can book in advance but considering that most of the time you don't know you're going to be ill in advance, most people book their appointments on the day.

They have recently changed their phone number to an 0844 number. I've been on the phone for half an hour waiting in a queue before giving up.

Hubby drove down there for me (it is his last day of paternity leave and we were hoping to do something nice today after I've been to the doctor)

He booked me an apointment for lunchtime which was the earliest he could get as it was 9am when he got there.
However he said that reception had 3 people sitting there and they were making cups of tea and chatting while the phone just rang and rang.

I'm not saying the staff are not entitled to a cup of tea but why make it in the busiest half hour of the day, knowing that there are people hanging on to an 0844 number trying to get through?

I'm tempted to change my doctor over this. Am I overreacting?

Mine have one of these numbers. The system once wasn't working properly and I ended up spending £9 on calls to get an appt. I did write and complain but they said it wasn't broken

Anyway it's a real bastard and now illegal but they are tied into contracts so there's nothing they can do.

At my GP we just turn up in surgery time , give your name and say which GP ( of 2 ) you want to see . They also dispense prescriptions there , which is good as we are in a rural area .

Jamdonut I do NOT understand why people have to be 'truly poorly' to need to go to the doctor's.

Sorry, not having a go, this just gets on my wick hugely.

In the last year, I have had spotting and bleeding between periods so wanted an extra smear test. Emergency? No. Important enough to see a dr? Yes. My DP has erectile probs and we are going to start ttc soonish so he wanted to see someone about that. Emergency? No. I have also had a weird rash that wouldn't go away for a few weeks.

There are a LOT of reasons why people need to go to the dr's and it's not about not taking time off work, it's about being prepared to take time off THAT day which is not always realistic. Actually for me it is fine, I work in a nice professional job and as long as I don't miss an actual meeting or deadline my boss won't care.

When I worked in a minimum wage job as a student I could easily have been fired by a narky manager if I cancelled shifts at the last minute a couple of times, even for a dr's appointment. You don't think that happens? - let me tell you, it does. This kind of lack of flexibility really impacts not upon nice middle class SAHMs but upon poorer women struggling around shift work and inflexible managers, who can't afford to piss their bosses off.

Recently I had an appointment at the hospital where I was supposed to have a scan and then talk to a consultant - only they forgot to book the scan in so the whole thing was a waste of time. I'd taken half a day off work for it. Now it didn't make much odds to me beyond working overtime that night to make up for it, but if I'd been a shop worker who had lost half a day's pay right before Xmas because of their bloody incompetent booking system...?

It's NOT okay.

yep ours is an 0844 number too

disgraceful

and there is always a wait of at least ten minutes to get through

My doctors surgery has an appointment system where if you need an appointment for that day you turn up between 8.30 and 11am and see a doctor. Unfortunately this can sometimes mean waiting a long time, but if your there early you do get seen to pretty quickly. Obviously it works on a first come first seen basis but is a good idea. They also still have the usual appointments system. Think this is much easier to be honest, rather than waiting on a phone to be told to go to the doctors or the triage system where they take details and get a doctor to phone you back at some point during the day and then either make an emergency appointment or tell you it isnt urgent so to make an appointment for whenever. x

Thanks Mumsnet, I have just emailed my MP about our doctors' 0844 number. It annoyed me but I didn't know they weren't allowed to do it. I look forward to hearing back from him.

Honestly you would be amazed what a strongly worded letter can do in these situations! I have written 2 to our surgery recently, one about the phones (which like yours, OP, go unanswered whilst the women sit and chat and then tut when the phone keeps ringing!) now there is an automated line which starts at 7am through which you can book, change or cancel an appointment - it really is great! Gives you the option of a female doc or a specific other doc (there are at least 5 at our surgery) Plus you can book 2 days in advance on there too, so if you have some results due in on the Friday and it's a Monday you can book for Friday - the only problem is that all of the hospital results come in on a Thursday so Fridays are very very busy as most of the pre-booked apps have been taken meaning less "emergency" (I.e same day) appts but you can't please all of the people all of the time and now that the phone line thing has been eased patients have a lot more, well, patience!

Now that has been dealt with the receptionists only have a handful of calls to deal with and are fab at it - no more tutting!

HATE the ' oh just call at 8.30' system - at 8.30am I am dropping the kids at school, then driving to work. By the time I get to work, or to a place to pull over and make the expensive call on the 0844 number all the appointments are gone, and you have to try again the next day. You cannot make a booking a couple of days ahead. I much prefer the old system where you could always get an emergency appointment on the same day, if not, one for tomorrow/the day after. Not everything is an emergency, sometimes you just have a niggling problem that needs seeing on the next few days.

And I can't afford to take the day off work just to see a doctor. The other annoying thing they do is offer you a 3pm slot - ummm, no, for the same reason I can't call at 8.30....... the school run!

Why can't doctors have days when they open til 8/9pm?

Anyway OP hope you better now and have it sorted. I know we are lucky to have the NHS, but sometimes they really try your patience!

My GP's surgery is the same. You're supposed to call after 07:30 but the phone is constantly engaged from 07:20 to 08:30 and by this time all of the appointments with the 'better' doctors have gone. I have to leave the house at 07:40 to get ds to school so have little chance of getting an appointment. My usual doctor also only works 2 days a week. As much as I try to be polite to the receptionist when I finally manage to get through, I've pretty much lost the will to live. You can only prebook an appointment if it's during that week and if you want an appointment before 9am. Impossible if you're doing the school run.

I hope some doctors have read this.

I totally agree with LadyBeagle. We too have BUPA. I don't treat private hospital staff any differently from how I treat staff at the GP or local NHS hospital. They treat me very differently though. They say things like, do take a seat, sorry to keep you waiting, the doctor's running a bit late, .....and please!

The last time I went to my GP the receptionist said "you can sign in youself on the computer without coming to the desk" and her mate then bawled across the surgery - it was very full "THERE'S A NOTE ON YOUR RECORD THAT YOUR SMEAR'S OVERDUE".

Jamdonut and all other NHS workers there really is no excuse for rudeness by anyone. But if people are rude to me, you know what, I tend to be a bit terse with them and stop asking them how they are and saying good morning.

Ours is the same now. It used to be quite easy to get an appointment and they also used to have an open surgery two mornings a week where you could just turn up and be seen, you might have had to wait a while unless you arrived very early, but at least you could guarantee being seen that morning. But now you have to ring at 8.30 which is not very practical for anyone on their way to work or getting dc out to school, wait ages to get through on an 0844 number, with no guarantee that you will get an appointment.

Silverstar2

most GPs now do extended hours , our practice opens late on a monday and sat am and others do similar. They do not advertise this well however and a lot of patients are surprised that it exists so ask your practice. Is often easier to get appt on sat am than the rest of week as all pre bookable.

am too amazed by receptionists making tea at that time of day

Our lot have changed to 8 am, it is bliss.
Still a pain to get through, but knowing wether or not the appointment is early or late so i can work out whether me or DH is doing the school run is brilliant.
Trying to fight with being stuck on hold at 8.30 was just the worst time of day possible.

The point about the 0844 number is interesting. My (frankly brilliant) drs surgery is on that list.

They frequently offer telephone appointments, I've had a couple of those over the past two years when the drs has written my prescription based on what I've told them over the phone - I know if I've got a chest infection and they will prescribe ABs for me on that basis.

I'm almost loathe to complain about the use of the 0844 in case it affects their service for the worse, but equally it's not on if they should have put this right more than 6 months ago. On balance, I think I might be writing to my MP.

Hatescolds

Thanks for that I will look into it.

I'm not saying its right... at my surgery its 08:00 for a morning appointment and 12:30 for an afternoon appointment. Its difficult for me to phone at these times as I need to be already heading to work ,or just finishing morning session at school. I only go to the doctors when I have exhausted self medication/home remedies and I'm clearly not getting better.

As for my dentists; I had to cancel an appointment in December because I couldn't get the time off school...my next appointment is now MAY 2012 because that was the next available !!

I'm just asking people to be understanding about receptionists . The 'general public' think its ok to speak to NHS /JobCentre/Council/School staff like they are total morons just because they are following rules . They may not like it any more than you,but have their hands tied.
Having said that, I hope I have NEVER been deliberately rude to anyone in the course of my work!!

jam that is bad about your dentist, and sorry you have caught the rantiness from everyone especially me on here.

my sense is that NHS frontline staff often have to present an overstretched service to ill/ scared people who are then understandably frustrated and the whole thing goes from there, iyswim. Like, I recently had an orthodontic appliance in my mouth break in early Dec and they can't get an me an appt till mid-Jan - when you have wires hanging out in your mouth that's not great!! the woman on the phone was quite rude, nearly hung up without telling me which ward to come to etc, but although I was annoyed I also appreciate she probably gets a lot of shit and adopts a defensive/ bored manner as a coping mechanism.

I'm shocked.My Gps is nothing like this.Thety answer promptly you can usually get an ordinary appointment the same day whatever time you ring, always an emergency one if you feel you need it and no cross-questioning by receptionists.

Hi I didnt read until the end of the thread but if you go onto a site called SAYNOTTO0870 you can often get the root number of 0844 0854 and 0870 telephone numbers and call the local number direct hence no over the top charges.

Jamdonut when someone is truly poorly "making the EFFORT" might just be the last thing they feel like doing no?

YonderRevolting has got it spot on.

The 0844/0845 number thing really annoys me too. Definitely complain, both about that and about staff chatting and ignoring the phone. Really not on.

On a slightly different tangent it really pisses me off that most numbers for benefits are also 0844 / 0845 numbers. I am a support worker for people with mental health problems and the prohibitive cost of these numbers means I am not allowed to use my work mobile to call them. Many of my clients only have mobiles themselves and can't afford to call when (not if sadly) their benefits get messed around. I find it stressful so god knows how they feel about it. I made a call on behalf of a client from the office once to the benefits office and was on hold for almost 40 minutes. If I hadn't done this for her the situation would never have been resoved as she could not have afforded to make the call and her physical disability meant she was also unable to visit the benefits office in person. I wonder how many other people there are in similar situations who cannot afford to call essential numbers such as doctors surgeries and benefits offices and therefore miss out on vital services

The reason for no longer booking in advance relates to the (i think old) govt target of everyone getting an appointment within 48 hours. If you were able to offer same day/next day appointments, there was a bonus (or penalty for failing - not sure). Therefore GP's stopped booking advance appointments.
Unintended consequence of targets - reason more and more are being scrapped.

We have had the 0844 no for years, just been changed a couple of weeks ago to 01.

Costs a fortune.

TBH I've only skimmed through this thread because GP access is (a very painful) part of my job and I'm on holiday.

But just to say that lots of practices are stuck in fairly long contracts for 0844 numbers, many of which should be coming to an end in the near future, of the 16 practices I work with only 1 now has an 0844 number and they'll be changing it very soon.

The ring at 08:00 issue is a result of the old 24/48 hours targets set by the govt back in about 2003/04, and it's a struggle to get practices to move back to a more balance system, because often they think it works for then, although it may work for the GPs, and make life difficult for reception staff and patients.

Your practices should have a patient participation group or patient reference group, and you might be able to join virtually, thats the best way to bring some pressure to bear, also always fill in any surveys you get, most practices will be conducting surveys between now and the end of March as part of a directed enhanced service which encourages then to engage more with patients.

Also, if you want to complain I'd suggest finding out which Clinical Commissioning Group your practice is part of and complain to the locality manager/general manager, they'll probably be more interested than the PCT at this stage of the NHS reorganisation.