No appt with GP, after hours doesn't open until 6pm, not serious enough for A&E

[Gaelach]

I have a dilemma. Serious ear infection, possibly throat infection too, and will likely develop into a sinus infection (has happened before). My GP surgery has no appointments today or tomorrow, walk in hours aren't until Wednesday. It isn't serious enough for a trip to A&E. The out hours clinic doesn't open until 6pm. How do I get an antibiotic without waiting until Wednesday?

You bring your GP and ask for an emergency appt today?

**Ring

Yes, they don't do emergency appointments apparently. I can either come to the walk in on Wednesday morning or take the earliest appointment they have, on Thursday afternoon.

That's crazy!

Ring the out of hours the second it turns 6pm . This is one of the reasons why the NHS is on its knees as people can't access appts when they clearly need them!

Out of hours clinic this evening.

Take Paracetamol until OOHs opens. What is wrong with 6pm appointment?

Be standing outside when OOH opens at 6.

Yes, the evening out of hours and A&E if it gets bad in the meantime.
Will 8 hours make much difference?

You could try your pharmacy and see if they could help at all. Failing that, what about 111?

It probably won't be a 6pm appt as that's when it opens ,depending on where it is the OP might have to travel ( ours is 11 miles away with no PT) it's a waste of resources when GP surgeries should provide emergency appts.

Yep, OOH bang on 6. Paracetamol and Ibroprufen until then. Also, pop into your local pharmacy and ask them of they have anything over the counter that will help.

Nothing wrong with an out of hours appt at all! Just trying to navigate the best way to see a Dr without putting extra pressure on the system.

Thanks for the advice everyone

OP - would surgery offer a phone call from GP ? Hopefull prescribe AB .

Where I live you have to ring and they try and fob you off then they allocate you an Ooh appt

Ask for a phone consultation from a dr. If you tell them you need to be seen/speak to a Dr today they should have a procedure in place to make a dr available-even if it's just a phone call.

There may be walk in clinics nearby too, maybe at your local hospital?

If you call 111 they should be able to point you to the nearest clinic/dr

sunny I asked about a ring back, they said they don't do that. Receptionist asked for my symptoms then said sorry no appointments. I'm not too annoyed about it, I can definitely manage until the OOH later.

dame where I am the OOH and GP are separate, the GP can't allocate OOH slots, I'll just have to ring them later and then show up.

No,I meant you have to ring a separate number provided on our GP website and they call you and allocate a number.

**appt not number

I think it's one of those cases where patient feedback or complaints are appropriate. The surgery and the health authority should become aware that this system is not working for patients.
That's what feedback forms and complaints are for.

Try pushdoctor.co.uk - they will give you an online appt with a GP and fax a prescription over to your pharmacy of choice. You so have to pay for the online appt but it's cheap and should get you a prescription quickly.

OP, I can sympathise.

I rang our GP this morning and was told I was number 19 in the call queue

smoking I noticed that while googling last week,looked really interesting and probably something I'd use of I needed to .

Dame I've had to use them twice for antibiotics for a reoccurring infection when I couldn't get a GP appt. They are really good actually, went through everything with them within 5mins I had a text saying they had faxed the perscription to the pharmacy I had chosen and informed my GP. I mentioned it to my Dr next time I had an appt and she is a real advocate of the service, said that if people don't mind paying a few £ for the appt (think it was £9 for mine) then it can be a godsend for those that work or are struggling to get an appt elsewhere

what happened?
fwiw (I have wimp sinuses) if I keep them warm (big scarf!) and reach for methylated crystals, I can usually protect mine well enough to prevent a bad infection. I had to get thru pregnancy with a bad sinus infection, so learnt the tricks.