GP waiting times to be seen for anxiety disorder

[SnowNezumi]

I’ve put in a request and have been told it will be 4-6 weeks until they can confirm when a clinician will review my query.

So it’s 4-6 weeks just to tell me when someone will look at it, which could then be an indefinite waiting time after that for when the actual consultation will take place? Is this the norm across the country?

Our surgery, in line with many, have a 'call up on the day' system. So you call first thing, then speak to a receptionist who will 'triage' and either arrange a time for a GP to call you or book a face to face apt.

Ours is an online form, or if you call, they ask you the same questions as the online form. I’m just a bit surprised that they have a waiting time of 4-6 weeks just to be told when you will actually be reviewed.

Yesterday 13.2% of our practice population requested an appt/consult/task done.

That equates to every patient needing an appt more than every 2 weeks roughly.

General practice is funded and resourced for 1-2 appts per year NOT every 2 weeks.

it’s drowning day by day and people don’t realise until they need the service. 6 weeks is crazy!

it’s likely you can self refer to most MH services in your area - have a look at their website and see?

Wow those numbers are wild. 1-2 per two weeks is of course nuts but per year seems too low?

They have mentioned self-referring to talking therapies in their text to me, but I didn’t find those any use for me unfortunately. I’m hoping they will be able to prescribe me medication.

I think it differs from surgery to surgery. I phoned mine to make an appointment for anxiety fully expecting to wait the normal four weeks for an appointment. When the receptionist asked what it was for and I replied anxiety she asked me if I was ok waiting that long to be seen. I got a bit teary (because I was in a very low place) and she immediately referred me to talk to a GP that day, I was seen within an hour and had a prescription and counselling referral by the end of the day.

There are often same days appointments OP. You phone up at around 8am and can get an appointment that day.

Oh wow perhaps worthwhile for me to call and ask them, I’m feeling pretty panicky if I’m honest as I was expecting something much much sooner.

I will try now thank you 💐

Our surgery is pretty good - they triage the e-consult and will get in touch on the day if needed. To some extent it depends how you word your econsult. In the past when I’ve said I am really struggling, low, crying, they’ve always got me through to a lovely GP same day.

If you know you want medication and have a spare £50-100 you could book to see a private GP? Not for everyone, I know.

It's probably too late now, as they'll be all gone. You need to try at 8am tomorrow. Keep pressing redial as the phone can get jammed.

If it's an emergency dial NHS Direct option 2, that's the mental health service. You can phone them anytime 24/7. They'll assess you and make referrals if needed.

I think I probably didn’t fill in the form correctly. I get into an anxious state and my mind goes blank. Afterwards I realised I should have added more things that I forgot in the moment 😕

That’s a good idea about private if I can’t get anything sooner when calling my GP.

After trying about 5x and being told it’s too busy, I was able to get in with a queue of 30. I won’t hold my breath about getting in today but worth a shot, and if not maybe they can give me an idea of whether a GP would see me sooner.

Thank you for the info, don’t want to take up emergency services time, I can manage until I can talk to someone, maybe even private if it comes to that. I was expecting something sooner as the form moved me on the urgent bit and I checked one of the boxes about intense anxiety, so being told 4-6 weeks is a shock.

I’m so jittery and I broke down crying, so embarrassing. I hate being like this.

I'm so pleased! Let's hope you get an appointment.

Btw Anxiety UK has a good website and offers reasonably priced therapy.

Has the counselling helped?

They won’t see me any sooner 😞 Receptionist told me to refill out the online form again. The thing I didn’t mention were panic attacks because the NHS website says a panic attack happens for no apparent reason. I have a reason, it’s because I feel anxious about something and then it turns into intense panicky feelings and physical sensations.

Next time you have a panic attack phone NHS Direct option 2 and speak to the mental health team. I also advise you to speak to your Dr about Beta blockers. You can also contact Rethink, they have a good mental health helpline and the Samaritans are available 24/7 if you need to talk, it might help calm you down.

I redid the form as the receptionist suggested, this time making sure to put down panic attacks and all of my symptoms when I have an attack, and the form came back as contact A&E. It had the option to submit it anyways so I did that and hopefully the GP surgery will treat it as more urgent this time as it didn’t say about A&E before. If I get the same result then I will try NHS Direct option 2 as you mentioned @candlewhickgreen Sorry if this is a dumb question but is that the same as 111?

Yes and don't hesitate about calling them. It's 111 option 2. Hub of hope also have a search facility for support in your area:
https://hubofhope.co.uk/

I just want to say thank you so much for all of the help and support. I have just heard back from a GP who was very kind and has prescribed me Fluoxetine / Prozac + Propanolol. I feel such immense relief, I can’t even describe it. She said the first two weeks are often quite bad on the Fluoxetine so I will have to ride that out until it starts to kick in, but at least the Propanolol is immediate relief.

Great news OP! I hope you start to feel better soon.

Thank you for your kindness, I was ready to give up earlier today 💐