How long to get a GP appointment in your part of Scotland?

[Stroopwaffels]

Just phoned the GP, need an appointment to discuss my HRT which is not working any more, I am not sleeping, anxious and just feel awful. No it's not a life and death emergency, but the first routine appointment I could get was 27 September. 15 days.

Large suburban Glasgow practice. (And before anyone asks - no, there is no e-consult, no online, no video calling. You phone in the morning and sit in the queue). This isn't sustainable, is it?

No e-consult / online here either.

8am call roulette here (central belt) I need to do it in the morning for DD as she's got reflux which has been getting worse over the weekend and also for me as think I've got an infection brewing post CS 🤦‍♀️

Its a phone at 8.30am for same day appointment here too
Though I always call when I randomly remember so it’s always lots later. Then the receptionist will say a GP will phone back within the hour (always does) and they’ll either write out a prescription and leave it at the desk for me to pick up or they’ll ask when I can get in (in 10 minutes is my usual answer) and they’ll see me then.

In our practice, you can see the specialist nurse for reviewing HRT meds. She’s great, extremely knowledgeable and TBH I prefer speaking to another middle aged woman than an 30 something male GP.

You can make appointments in advance with her , but for the GP it’s the time wasting “phone at 830 “ lottery.

OP, can you not call at 8 and get a same day appointment?

I’m on the outskirts of Edinburgh and can usually always get at least a phone appointment the same day. Although it’s a pain in butt getting through and they might not give you a specific time to call.

I was in the city and also never had trouble getting an appointment with a similar system above.

Only if it's really really urgent. Phone appointment was not offered - to be honest I don't have a problem with phone appointments when it's something you know they aren't going to have to examine. More than happy to discuss things like HRT and whether I need a blood test over the phone, it's not like a rash they will need to look at.

When they were doing all phone appointments it was slightly easier to get an appointment but it was a "the doctor will call between 9am and 1pm" sort of thing rather than a definite slot which isn't always great if you can't sit waiting for the call all morning.

West of Scotland here. You can only book appointments for that date, no online, no booking in advance for non urgent things. You have to call at 8:30 on the dot which is not great for parents trying to get kids to school. If you’re a couple of minutes later all the routine appointments for the day will be gone but you might get a call back if you can convince the receptionist it’s urgent. There just isn’t enough capacity.

What’s also worrying is that private is running out of capacity too as we already have a de facto two tier system with everyone who can going private. Private waits for family have recently been several months (although they were offered a spot in England which seems to have a bit more capacity).

Sometimes it can be a week's time for a routine appointment, or ten days or two weeks if they are very busy.

I’ve given up. Excellent GP practice but too few docs and too many patients. I work and can’t spend two hours waiting on phone in morning. In comparison my son in England can book appointments online, see his medical notes and test results online and send and receive messages to his doctor. But the SNP won’t let NHS Scotland leverage the English system. Oh no - it’s far better we’re different 😬

So I’ve booked private appointments when desperately needed, especially for ‘non urgent’ things like medication reviews and blood tests that my consultant said are needed.

That’s why I’m gnashing my teeth at the suggestion of taxing private healthcare. It’s hardly a luxury if we’re unable to secure the most basic healthcare available elsewhere in Europe.

Fill in a eConsult form and depending out that you might just get an email, a same day appointment, telephone appointment, appointment in two weeks…

Edinburgh - only in the last 12 months have we got the ability to get an appointment by phone! Previously, you had to line up before 8am outside the surgery!

Now we can get an appointment on the day by calling at 8am, but you do have to redial a few times as if there is more than 3 people on the line you get cut off.

If it’s a non-urgent appointment you can usually get one within a week. But we don’t have any telephone appointments or e-consults, which is a shame as I found these services to be really effective when I lived in England.

I'm in the east of Scotland. We have to call on the day for an appointment, but you can always get one except on Mondays, when they're busiest after the weekend. If you turn up at the village practice at around the time the phone lines open you can make an appointment for the same day in person - they have some receptionists in the back room on the phone, and the one on the desk alternates between the phone and anyone who turns up in person. If it's for a child you can normally get one if you call later in the day too; they keep a few back for emergencies. If you've just seen the doctor and you need a follow-up appointment, you can book in advance.

Overall it works okay and I can normally get an appointment if I need one. It's a bit annoying if you are having to take time off work for something routine and you don't know for certain you've got an appointment, but I can see why they do it like that because so many people don't turn up to routine scheduled appointments.

What on earth??! I'm in Edinburgh too - never had to queue outside (that's appalling), have telephone and e-consults, and can have multiple people in the telephone queue. GP practices really are a law unto themselves.

Fife - I can always get a same day appointment - but my practice is directly managed by the NHS instead of by the GPs and is unusual.

I'm just North of Glasgow. Same day if you call before or just after nine, next day if you call later. Never had issues getting an appointment

The old system of queuing in person was also probably an excellent vector of illness.

SIL's practise in NL has a real lottery to it. You call at 8am for an appointment that day. They don't do telephone appointments - however one of their nurses and one of the GP's answers the phones as well as the receptionists so if you happen to get them you basically get a telephone appointment.

It's the most bizarre system.

If you phone after all of the appointments for the day are gone you have to try again the next day. SIL ended up at A&E recently when she couldn't get an appointment for over two weeks and her chest infection caused her to have an asthma attack.

West of Glasgow here, can usually get the same day if it’s urgent and about a week if it’s not. My GP is brilliant and is on the ball with a lot of stuff despite it being a very busy practice.

It’s a surgery with 8 practices inside it. The busiest one however has about 1300 patients and only 4 GP’s (1 who is part time). It’s a nightmare for them

Phone at 8 for same day appointment, usually with a phone call back from GP that morning. Difficult to get through but not impossible. Further ahead appointments can be a week or two, but twice this summer when I’ve called I’ve been offered cancellations. Generally I’m pretty happy with the system.
(Perthshire)

Emergency on the day; routine 14 days. PKC. NHS Tayside.

Four weeks, but due to new estates going up I anticipate things getting much worse.

If I phone on time, I will get a telephone appt on same day. Doctors have a lot of time for each patient and sometimes the call back can come late in the day (7 / 8pm) if not urgent. If something more urgent then call would come earlier and followed up with an appt for that day.

I called once at 2pm on a Friday as my daughter had a rash. Receptionist went to speak to doctor, called me right back and told me to bring her in so I was seen within 15 mins of phoning.

The doctors work very hard at my surgery and I really cannot fault them.

Three weeks or so.
Plus endless texts telling you that they are short of staff and there are limited appointments and only bother them if it’s urgent and then the signs in the waiting room telling you the ten other options for medical care to go to before them.
They are beyond rubbish.

You can’t access them really in my corner of South West .
Phone at 8 am
Difficult if you have to commute to work
If you manage to get your call answered after recalling for an hour you get full interrogation by receptionist who likes to offer inappropriate advice .
You may get a GP call back
Usually on the wrong number eg house phone when you are at work with your mobile specified as best number to contact you on .
Might then be offered an appt with who you think is a GP but turns out to be a nurse practitioner .This will of course be in a fortnights time .
They do however phone you to tell you that you are ordering too many migraine tablets
When you request a medication / migraine review though you are advised that’s not possible!
Surgery empty when you access it .
Believed to be moving to a online appts system soon
Village very much a retirement area lots of over 75s so that’s going to work well .
When we moved here 10 years ago had fabulous GPs and a super well run surgery .
There must be a wider agenda at play ?