GPs not functioning again

[HoliHormonalTigerlilly]

FFS It's impossible to make an appointment with my GP again. "Unless it's an emergency"
Surely you's go to A&E in that case?!

@MarshmallowFondant

I think as with always on GP threads, some posters don't appreciate that things work very differently in various parts of the UK, and even between surgeries which are close by.

This talk of an app - unheard of in my part of Scotland. The only NHS app is the one you can see your vaccine appointments on.

E-consult / video calling - none of the local GPs do this. My surgery doesn't even have a published email address. If you want an appointment, you phone. Only way. If you need a repeat prescription, you phone. Everything is done on the phone and phone alone. You can't even drop into the surgery to make an appointment as the doors are locked.

And we're not in some far-flung island in the middle of the Atlantic with no internet. This is in the suburbs of a major Scottish city.

Exactly the same here and we are in Hertfordshire, in the border of London 🤷‍♀️

Completely agree, it's ridiculous, I'm so upset. Went to A&E on Friday with chest pain - it felt like what I imagine a heart attack would - squeezing and heart palpitations. Ran an ECG and thankfully it wasn't, they urged me to follow up with a GP for blood tests. But I can't. I call at 8am on the dot and am immediately 10-15th in the queue, by the time they get to me all the appointments have gone and it's just, 'hey, try again at 8am tomorrow'.

Thank you @KiloWhat.

@bloodywhitecat, I'm so sorry.

Mine told me to come in for a face to face appointment for a long overdue review of my lung medication.

Then they changed it to a telephone appointment three weeks later.

Then they texted over two weeks in advance of the telephone appointment to say the appointment was cancelled due to "unforeseeable circumstances". Their crystal ball is clearly malfunctioning.

This is a postcode lottery.

I've moved end 2021 and received treatment and had face to face appointments at both surgeries with no problems. Just before Xmas I called and was seen later the same day (skin infection in foot - repeated).

Ours is the same, I called for an appointment and was told they could only book it if it was “an acute medical emergency”.

Completely ridiculous especially as my GP surgery has zero online system, no e-consult etc. So the only appointments they offer are on the day ones for “acute medical emergencies”. That’s it - with the exception of childhood vaccinations.

So sorry to hear about the difficulties others have had.

Our surgery has been great throughout. Telephone appointments the same day, face to face if they think it is necessary. They are doing boosters in a nearby building so the main premises are unaffected. Loads of praise for them on the local fb group.

We are back to almost all face to face appointments and the demand has plummeted. We are offering more appointments than we were doing phonecalls so this may be why it feels under control.
I will do some review appointments by phone but on the whole my patients are getting much better care now. We didn't fill all our appointments until late morning today...first day back for us in Scotland.

I am actually having to force some patients to come in as I refuse to give antibiotics in a lot of cases unless I have examined them.

I was at breaking point 2 months ago as demand was outstripping supply. Now I'm almost enjoying it!

I have only used e consult and got a call back day later. It has worked well and it seems they are on the ball because sending me threats that they don't renew my meds if I won't go to blood test.

Ours is brilliant. DH sent in a message request on the 1st of January, got a phone consultation on the bank holiday 2nd of January from a GP, and started his physio today. Gps are capable of functioning well under current conditions. If yours isn't then complain to nhs England.

Well I decided to chase it, I am presuming I had somehow been missed. Got a call back and and now an appointment in a little bit. If you can get hold of someone it is probably a good service, it is just so difficult to do that.

Plenty of money available for the NHS it's just spent on the wrong things!! As for.the GP surgeries they are totally unacceptable not working as normal now. People are dying because of their refusal to allow appointments.

@kittensinthekitchen

You will be able to make a telephone consultation appointment. The GP will then arrange to see you if they need to.

Which would be great if it worked but my dad ended up in hospital twice because his GP missed stuff over the phone. As did BIL. Between them they spent several weeks in hospital that would likely have been avoided or much reduced if their GPs had seen them face to face.

This is a government directive. Not the fault of GPs. A letter went out to them before Christmas saying to suspend most routine care in order to focus on the vaccine effort.

Ex GP here.

I do find it strange that when A&E is over-run, no-one blames the A&E doctors. But when GP practices are completely overstretched, it’s the GP’s fault?

To clarify a number of commonly spouted beliefs:

1. GP’s are open and have been throughout the pandemic, they’re just triaging by phone to maximise the number of patient contacts they can get through in a day
2. Many hospital out-patients clinics are still operating remotely
3. Many hospital departments have closed to GP referrals leaving GP trying to manage patients that should be seen by specialists
4. GP’s have been told by NHS England to only do “urgent” work until the Booster programme slows down
5. Numbers of GP’s are dropping every year. Seems surprising given how many people are of the opinion that it’s a doddle, that GP’s sit around doing fuck all, and they get paid a fortune.
6. Omicron is hitting staff across the NHS, I know a surgery that currently has only 1 GP available to see patients due to others having to isolate
7. The Tory government and the right wing press want general practice to fail. It’s been systematically defunded for years and deliberately attacked by the Daily Mail (who’s ridiculous claims are believed by the public). The government will soon hold their hands up claiming they tried their very best, and that the only answer is privatisation.

There are simply not enough GP’s to go around, there are less every year, and the ones who are sticking with it are flat out and have my admiration.

I’m not saying don’t complain, you should all feel rightly upset with the current state of UK general practice, you’re just taking it out on those left doing their best, when you need to take it up with your MP’s and at the ballot box.

Rant over….

I think people's frustrations are at the way the GP practices are running not at the GP's themselves @DoubleYolker
At least that's how I feel and how I interpreted others' replies.

Seeing a downward spiral across all NHS services is unnerving, and definitely a Government and management issue not a personal GP doing their best issue. It is really sad to see the NHS no longer coping, and that was beginning to be apparent before Covid reared its ugly head. I hope privatisation doesn't end up being the only option, it would be a huge loss to the UK, the NHS was something to be proud of.

Did you all miss Boris making it perfectly clear on TV that he had told GPs they must stop routine work to concentrate on Booster vaccines? Of course you can’t get an appointment, GPs can’t clone themselves!

Anyway if you vote Tory you get what you voted for.

Mine too. No reason given. Is it because they are working in hospitals?

There are so many vaccine centres in my town. Nobody I know went to a GP to get it.

But practices absolutely cannot be run properly or fairly when supply is out-dripping demand so badly. It’s impossible to devise a system that works properly for patients anymore. Most practices are completely aware that patients are having a tough time getting through/speaking to a doctor but there’s absolutely nothing they can do about it.

It’s a very frustrating and worrying situation to be in as a patient, and soul destroying for GP’s. It’s one of the reasons I left.

I rang my GP today to organise my booster and they said they can't do it. (4th jab booster for immune-system-fucked-itis.) The main booster booking system says only my GP can arrange it.

I also used the e-consult form about a general health problem that is now fairly urgent and that rejected my request too as 'it's an emergency - you must ring 999'. I am not ringing 999 about my bloody long-term thyroid problem.

I saw a post from my GP surgery earlier today saying that the CCG have told them to return to core work and that next week is the last week they are doing a booster clinic. Although our surgery is not great for getting appointments at the best of times.
I was away at the In Laws last week. BIL filled in an online form for a problem with his toe that he'd had for a week or more. He got a call from the surgery the same day, an appointment 10 mins later and walked out with medication. He'd walked about 3 miles with us that day without difficulty so it was hardly life threatening. At our surgery you wouldn't get an appointment for weeks for something so minor!

@moostermum

Same here. Luckily I get 3 free private doctor appointments through work so had to use that. It's called doctor care anywhere and it would normally be £60. Same day appointment and private prescription. Be aware though, pharmacies can charge what they want for private prescriptions so it was £15 for some standard antibiotics.

Hardly 'charging what they want'. What you paid would be proportional to the cost of the drug with a percentage added on for a bit of profit (because shock horror they are businesses) and a dispensing fee.

We're not doing booster vaccines. We opted out.
Our GP's are seeing f2f all day as they have been doing for months. Clinics are rammed. We are four nurses down out of six and in eleven years I have never ever been so busy. I had a ten minute break all day yesterday. The work for the poor nurse practitioners who see on the day stuff is now unmanageable.
Still getting people booking appointments and not turning up though.

I haven't been able to see my NHS GP since before the pandemic. You call, you wait on hold for an hour, then are either cut off or told to call again tomorrow.

I have seen my dentist and hygienist annually as usual. I have brought my parents' cat to the vet as needed. I have been to the optician for eye tests, had my hair cut, my legs waxed and my feet pedicured. No problems, no time wasted.

The issue I persevered in discussing with my GP entailed numerous phone calls, going to the pharmacist to get a BP measurement, then further phone calls from about 3 random GP registrars and half a dozen admin staff just to get a prescription which, in the past, would have been given after a 5 minute face to face appointment. When I consider how much time was wasted I am not sympathetic to pleas of overwhelming workload - avoiding patient contact can create more problems than it solves.