How difficult is it to see your GP?

[Hoolahoophop]

I have a breast lump. I have called up tons of times to try to get an appointment over the last few weeks but lines open at 8am and by 8.30 there are no appointments left, I work full time and cant keep calling all day. Today I was off looking after my sick child. I was on the phone calling from 7.45 until 9.30 and each time the que was full. When I finally got through there were not appointments. Call back tomorrow. All automated message. Am I missing a trick, why can I never get an appointment? I've not managed to speak to an actual person.

I'll be calling back again later to see if I can actually speak to a receptionist at a non busy time.

Is this the way it is everywhere?

Do they have econsult?

Virtually impossible.

The only way to see a GP where I live is to use a private Healthcare Centre. £75 for 30 minutes. That or sit on a phone for 30-40 minutes to be told that there are no more appointments today. Repeat on a daily basis until you finally google Private GP Services.

You can of course go to A&E and wait 6 hours which will probably cost you £15 in car parking fees and then be given a lecture on why you need to go to your GP first.

No econsult, emails will not be read. Could try a letter. Apparently nurses are all fully booked and couldn't help anyway. I'll try again tomorrow morning as I'll still be off with sick child and if I cant get an appointment I'll try letters etc.

Taking care of your health should not be this difficult.

But we are a small town, with 2 small practices (receptionist said they only had 2 doctors on today at mine) serving the whole town and several outlying villages. There has been massive development recently huge estates springing up on the outskirts of town but no increase in services. It was always difficult to get an appointment a few years ago, now with COVID and the new housing its practically impossible.

I'm sure they are doing their best, but are just totally under resourced.

Just to add, @Hoolahoophop, not being able to book appointments in advance is a load of bollocks. My surgery claim they can't do it, but I've had appointments made two weeks in advance at times.

Call 111-they can get you an appointment at your gp

I have a similar concern (armpit rather than breast). Called at 9am today, will see a Dr on Wednesday afternoon.
I could’ve seen one earlier but I only want a male doctor and it needed to fit around my work.
There seem to be huge discrepancies between GP surgeries.

@use257 I also called the gp today about my 5 year old who i think has a uti..... couldn't get that appointment either, and they said done bother with 111 as all out of hours are already booked, if it gets worse try A&E!

My GP is hopeless.

I called mine about DD’s infected eczema in her ear, that was keeping her awake all night.

Phoned at8.30, asked to send in a photo. Surgery called back and asked if l could bring her in for 9.30. Seen by doctor and script wired to chemist.

I’d be seriously complaining in your situation.

Write a letter to the practice manager. Send it recorded delivery and CC your local MP.

It's not acceptable that a possible cancer symptom is being ignored by the practice.

Many GPs are running amazing, efficient services. If your GP is crap COMPLAIN

• direct to the GP
• AND to the local commissioners [https://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/other-services/Clinical%20Commissioning%20Group/LocationSearch/1]
• AND to NHS England

If you need info on how to complain then contact your local Healthwatch who will tell you who to contact.

My surgery is the same. Phone at 8am for a same day call back only, no advance appointments and no e-consult. There’s no phone queuing system so you have to redial until you get through. Once all the slots have gone they stop answering the phone.

The door is locked so you can’t go in to book. If you have an appointment you can sit on the chair outside until you’re allowed in!

Apparently this is working well for the practice so there is no plan to change it

It's difficult to make appointments unless it's a same day emergency - and then you have to call at a very specific time, which happens to be when I'm wrestling with a room full of pre schoolers .

So it's ok if I'm off sick and need something there and then, but when I called recently as I wanted to have a check up of my asthma, it was impossible as they wouldn't accept booking me in for a future date, and it wasn't classed as an emergency either...

I don't know when it'll go back to normal? You can't even walk into our surgery at the moment to talk to the office staff

My previously great practice is now the same as yours OP. Online bookings suspended since Covid, as are e consults and no face to face appointments unless it's deemed essential. The doctor apparently does not even phone from the surgery so presumably working from home so unlikely ever to be seen face to face again. I was informed by the receptionist very rudely that this is how it is in the NHS now. I'm a medical secretary and I can assure you it doesn't have to be like this. The only people it suits are the GPs.

I also recently found a lump
Filled in an econsult Friday afternoon
Monday morning GP rang me back and booked me in for 11.30 that morning
I now have an urgent referral for breast clinic
Couldn't fault them

Nhs care seems to be a postcode lottery , it's not good enough

I'd ring and ask to speak to the practice manager

Relatively easy to get a phone appointment (as long as you can answer when they call) but they won't let you through the door.

I wouldn't bother with the practice manager, their are there to provide a GP service, which is not happening, regardless of which are they have to cover, go straight to www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/complaint/complaining-to-nhse/
There ads on TV at the moment saying the earlier the better, that lumps are investigated.
If the surgery is really struggling to cover the area, then NHS England should be made aware.
Hope it resolves quickly for you.

It depends. we have an online system. I was offered an appointment with a pharmacy today for something that needs to be looked at in order to decide if it is serious or not. I pushed back via email and now have an appointment tomorrow. I don't mind them triaging. I do mind them not even wanting to examine me before they decide what to do.

I rang on Friday at 8am for an appointment for my daughter, got through first time, offered a choice of appointments, seen face to face this morning. I've also been seen twice throughout covid following same day telephone consultations that led to them asking for me to come in.

Very difficult to get an appointment here. Phone engaged all morning and then there are no appointments apart from telephone consultations with trainee GP or pharmacist. Impossible to see or speak to your normal GP.

For mine you need to get online at exactly the right time in order to have a chance at an appointment. I have no idea how elderly people manage it. The phone line seems permanently busy.

Good luck OP, hope you get seen soon...

Really fucking difficult. I resorted to turning up at the surgery and crying into the camera at the entrance until I was let in. Doing so saved my life. Still furious about how it all went.

I called for an appointment last week. GP called me back by 10am on the same day and did a phone consult. Booked me in for an appointment the next day at 5pm. Referred me to hospital for follow-up tests. Following day had blood tests. Two days later was on medication.

As a PP said, it seems to be a postcode lottery and I think there are massive differences across the different countries in the UK too.

No problems at all trying to get through on phone to the receptionist.
No problems getting an appointment with DR (they, and we, prefer a phone consult if we're just asking for advice). They offer a time for the DR phone consult and are very prompt IME. If something needs a doctor to examine it, then face to face appt available. If it's nothing urgent the F2F appt will be within 7/10 days and we're offered our choice of time and DR.
We prefer to see the same DR most of the time
Haven't needed to ask for urgent appointment right away.
Seeing a nurse/HCP for routine tests/checkups; no problem at all; they text us when regular checkups/vaccinations are due and ask us to ring and make appt.
Phone query to practice pharmacists, just ask.

Mine is much the same as pre-pandemic. Ring at 8 to be seen same day, non-urgent (telephone) appointments can be booked but usually about six weeks away. No e-consult.

I had flu over Christmas 2019 which turned into a horrible sinus infection. I eventually ended up crying on the phone to reception saying I had called at 8 for a week, and couldn’t wait six weeks, what could I do? Funnily enough they had a space open up about 30 minutes after that call, someone rang me back, and I was seen that afternoon and given hefty antibiotics.

My friend’s surgery seems absolutely great in comparison, and they clearly have “code words” on the e-consult. Her husband filled one in ref chest pains, had a call back within the hour, and was seen in person the same day. (It was muscular, nothing serious thankfully.)

Our GP is awful like yours so I turned up, knocked the door and the moment the reception lady opened I walked in and said I'd wait for a gap in the GPS list.

She asked me to leave but I said calmly that I have a limo and it needs looking at by a person and that I'd tried making an appointment numerous times.

I was seen within 30 minutes.