What's your experience when it comes to getting GP appointments? And other questions...

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

MNHQ have been asked to contribute to panel events at upcoming political party conferences on the topic of the 'access crisis facing general practice' - so, as ever, we've come looking for your views.

Overall, what's your experience of getting GP appointments, whether for yourself or for members of your family? Do you find it easy to book same-day appointments for things that need urgent attention, and/or to book further in advance? Do the mechanics of the booking system drive you up the wall (frantically hitting 'call back' multiple times the moment that appointments are released) or does your local surgery make it fairly pain-free? Have there been times when you've been unable to get an appointment at all?

What do you think politicians should do (if anything) to improve access to GPs, and support GPs in doing their jobs within communities?

Any examples you can give us of things that work well, or ways that things could be improved, would be great.

We should stress this isn't going to be a GP-bashing exercise; the events are being run by the Royal College of General Practitioners, which recently launched a campaign to 'highlight the pressures facing general practice'.

Over to you.

I'd rather not share on the board - is there an email address I could send to instead?

@MrsHathaway

I'd rather not share on the board - is there an email address I could send to instead?

Yup sure - please send in to [email protected] and put 'FAO Rowan' in the subject line. Thanks.

HA, timely!!

At my surgery you habe to know 2 weeks in advance that you are going to be ill!! Or do the whole pressing re dial at 8.30am.

If you do manage to get the much needed appointment on the day you or your child is ill you are reminded several times that it is an emergency appointment and is only for 5 minutes, you are even given a card on arrival to remind you that you can only discuss the one illness that the emergency appointment was given for and all other issues must be booked through the booking system. Which of course is full for the next 2 weeks!!

Love it!!!

You phone dead on 9am. It is then engaged for the next 45 minutes or so.

If it is 'urgent' you get triaged by a nurse.

If not 'urgent' you make an appointment for about 3 weeks ahead.

There is nothing in between actually really urgent needing treatment now and something that can wait 3 weeks.

Also you can only ask for a triage call back during the morning. If you find a breast lump after lunch or your tonsils turn into pus filled craters in the afternoon you have to wait until the next day to ring.

My surgery is brilliant. Ring saying you're ill and you're in the same day. Ask for a less urgent appt and you're in within a week. Or you can book it online. Cannot rate them more highly.

At our surgery, calls for an appointment must be made between 8am and 8.30am. Normally, this is a pretty hectic time getting everyone ready for school/ work so weeks can go past unless it is really urgent or the surgery write to ask you to come in.

May I add that when you do get to see the GP, I have utmost respect for their professionalism. They must feel exhausted seeing so many people yet they are always cheerful and pleasant.

The repeat prescription answerphone service can be a bit iffy so you need to order well before running low of medicine.

Our GP surgery (part of Tameside health care) is 100% excellent.

If I ring before 10am I can get a same day appointment. I can get one for the next day every time I phone.

I rang once at 3pm stressed about a rash which was a reaction to my baby's vaccine. I couldn't get an appointment but within 5 minutes the nurse who does the jabs rang me and talked it through.

The idea of having any less service makes me so cross. I know I have it lucky. It shouldn't be luck, it should be normality

2 weeks wait here or ringing at 8.30am to get a same day appointment. Same day appointment is something that I've only used for the dcs so quite painless. But god forbid if you do that for an adult. You then questioned as to what sort if illness it is and can you not see the nurse etc. why IMO is wrong from receptionist. I don't want to tell all my health problems to someone who us not a HCP. And for that person to make a decision on my behalf as whether it's an emergency or not.
A family member had a 3 week waiting list for an appointment. And another had to speak to a triage nurse first then maybe to a GP who gives a prescription over the phone. Except that it's do do in such a rush that previous illnesses aren't taken I to account and mistakes are made (eg medicine for heartburn for a stomach ulcer in someone with a history of stomach ulcers...). How on earth a GP can make a diagnosis over the phone, I have no idea. You might as well tick a few question over the internet and receive your prescription by email.

Oh yes you also can't be in the situation where it's not urgent but it can't wait 2 or 3 weeks. Which tbh is the case for Most illnesses

My old surgery was brilliant, same day appointments or the next day if they happened to be a bit busy. That GP retired in March and I know I'm still quite lucky compared to many others but my new surgery has been a bit of a shock to the system. If you phone up for an appointment and it's not an emergency that needs seeing right now you'll need to wait two weeks, there seems to be no middle ground. My DP's repeat prescriptions got messed up in the change to the new surgery and rather than sort this out over the phone, they demanded he come in. It has taken three months before they could furnish him with an appointment he could actually make without taking a whole day off work and he has been without his medication for that time. It's completely ridiculous.

Impossible.

I got so fed up with fighting with reception about what I need and when, even when advised by the doctor themselves. I've given up and taken myself off my medication.

They would always insist it was nurse I needed to see when it wasn't. They insisted I needed to have a chat with a doctor when it was the procedure that needed doing, not the chat, THAT I'VE JUST HAD. They made appointments for injections on days when I knew I wouldn't be around and told them..so they tell me one date but put me in for a different one resulting in wasted time and effort on both sides...

I've never bothered calling them when I've been ill...I'd rather walk or be carried into A and E about to collapse than deal with them.

Any complaints made went nowhere and I'll never understand why I have to give out all the reasons why I need to see a doctor infront of a waiting room full of people..even more so when it's of a more personal nature.

My surgery is brilliant (Worcestershire). They have an automated booking line for appointments so you do not have to speak to a soul. You can book and cancel appointments with Doctors/Nurse just by pressing buttons. Painless.

You can get a same day appointment, they also do late night appointments once a week and Saturday mornings.

I just wish everyone could have the same experience.

Our GP's appointment system is phoning at 8.30am for a morning appointment, or 9.00 am for an afternoon appointment.

It is rare that you can make an appointment for a few days away.

Once you manage to get through on the phone it is generally possible to get an appointment with someone. It may not be a GP - they seem to use a lot of nurses and nurse practitioners at our surgery. But that is fine by me.

They have recently introduced online appointment booking - so I will see how that goes.

My surgery used to charge premium rates to call them. I don't know if this still exists, but I think it's unethical. I also found it problematic that untrained clerical staff were making the decisions if my child was sick enough to warrant a same day appointment. I found that on more than one occasion I ended up in the emergency room because the day before the person answering the phone at the gp's had decided that my child was not sick enough to warrant a same day appointment. Also for sick infants (and young children), doing the walk-in and wait for 2 hours until the doctor can fit you in is not really a healthy or practical solution.

Our GP surgery is bliss - emergency appts same day every day, and if ie when they run out, and you're really desperate they'll fit you in if you plead. You get five minutes and can have one problem. Which is fine.

Otherwise it's a wait of a week. But they bust a gut at reception to help, and I love them. Rock on Balham GPs.

Our online booking system is great, IME. You can book a named doctor (might have to wait longer if they're on leave, or only do part-time hours), or any female doctor or any male doctor. If you need a follow-up appointment, the GP can do it then and there from their surgery room.

You can also book the duty doctor, which is what you'd most likely choose for something urgent. Last time I had to do that (which was a couple of years back), I got an appointment the same day. I am fortunate enough not to know if that's typical or not. I've also not tried phoning for an urgent appointment (I love the online system - but I realise that not all patients will have internet access at home.)

You have to phone or call in person to book the nurse or phlebotomist. I was a bit miffed that I needed two separate appointments for a blood test and an inoculation on the same day, as at the practice I was previously registered at, the same nurse could do everything, but it's not actually a big deal - I just had different expectations because of what I'd had before.

I've also not had problems booking a couple of weeks ahead, for things like smear tests or blood pressure tests. It's also comparatively easy to get appointments first thing in the morning before work (I think the earliest is 08:15) - and there are a couple of days where they do evening appointments, though I've not tried to use those to know if it's easy to get a slot then. I think you can also get phone appointments, but again, that's not something I've tried.

When we arrive for an appointment, there's a touch screen system to check in, or you can talk to the receptionist. I think it helps that you don't have to take the receptionist's time if you don't need to, but that the option is there, if you're not confident with using the screen.

I can also manage repeat prescriptions online, or by writing, or by going to the surgery in person (via the receptionist) but I can't do those by phone.

However, I'm registered with a large, town-centre practice which has a number of GPs and a few nurses and thousands of patients. They've got (human) resources that previous practices I've been registered haven't had - more doctors, more nurses - so they can offer more appointments and longer opening hours. It's nothing like one practice I was registered with (I've moved towns quite a few times), where it was a single GP with a part time nurse. I can't see that smaller, more rural areas I've lived in would be able to run a practice like that in the same way.

At my surgery it is only ring on the day appointments. You have to call and the gp rings you back. This is ok if you have a job where you can take calls, but not ok if you are unable to talk calls, or you are a child, or you don't wish to discuss your health problems with everyone in your office. Also unsuitable for those who wish for someone else to be with them. I get panicky on the phone, so phone consultation doesn't work for me. I am also disabled so if the gp does actually want me to go in,(if I'm deemed worthy of an appointment), then it is difficult to organise for my husband to take me at such short notice. It would be nice to be able to book in advance for those who need to organise carers, or childcare.

No crisis here. If I say it needs same day, they fit us in. If not, it can be booked (and changed) online. Practice nurses are great,too. Receptionists are friendly and polite and non-intrusive. I love our GPs (rural West Midlands)

Ours is the 8:30 free-for-all for a same day appointment. If you don't manage to get one, you can turn up to the lunchtime surgery which is appointment-less but then you just have to sit and wait (upwards of an hour usually).
On the odd occasion where you try and book an appointment in advance on a particular day (eg, I try and book when I know i'll be child-free), the receptionist just tells you to phone on the morning and use the emergency appointments instead which is why it's so bloody hard to get one of them when it is an emergency!
The one time I've needed them late in the day though (baby with temp of 40 degrees), they fell over themselves to get me in and seen asap.

It might have issues but it's not as bad as other surgeries I know of where a normal appointment is always at least an hour late and sometimes up to two hours.

Our GP's surgery is pretty good I think. On the occasions we have needed an urgent/same day appointment we have been given one. They have the option of booking advance appointments online too, which is useful and saves us taking up time receptionists can use for more urgent cases. I get through a lot of repeat prescriptions too, and I can order them online or through an app on my phone, which is a big improvement on having to drop it off at the surgery then go back 2 days later to pick it up

I rang today to make an appointment for some time this week.
Tomorrow is ring on the day. 8.30 redial.
Thursday is ring on the day. 8.30 redial.
Friday is ring on the day. 8.30 redial.
Online is booked until October.

Gps fine when you do get to see them.

Could there be an early morning gp service, specifically for working people, maybe schoolchildren as well? So they can go to the gp before work/school.

My dentist (NHS, excellent) has routine appointments from 8 am some days and it really fits it with our day.

Ours is in that 'either turn up outside the door at 7.45am (yes really!) and get an emergency appt or have one for 3 weeks ahead' state. No point in ringing when the phone lines open because all the same day appts have gone to the people standing in line.

Booking for one the same week, or in a weeks time is v hit and miss (more of then than not, miss) and seems to depend on who answers the phone. I've had the GP booking me a further appt at the end of the consult before now 'so they don't make it difficult' which was really quite extraordinary.

I really mind this business of taking up emergency appts because there aren't enough bookable in a weeks time ones, but that's what the receptionists tell us to do

Its a nightmare getting to see a GP especially on the same day. Its even worse if you want to see a specific Doctor such as a female or one you know specialises in your condition/ailment.

The phone is permanently engaged from 8am through to 10am. Once someone answers the phone you cant see a Doctor at all (they're not allowed to book appointments for the GP's) you have to speak to a triage nurse who calls you back later in the day.

The nurse will see you same day only if they deem you ill enough to need to see a medical professional. I have been referred to a Pharmacist before by the Nurse who then referred me back to my GP

If you get to actually see a nurse and they deem you ill enough they will then refer you to a Doctor.
Sometimes its a waiting session to see the next GP available on the same day other times its come back in a week.

The problem with waiting to see the GP is that I have previously sat there waiting over an hour to see a Nurse. After my consultation with the Nurse she said she couldn't help and I needed to see the GP (I had already said this on the phone) I then had to sit and wait another 2 hours for a space to come up to see the GP. I left not bothering to see the GP because I had to collect my children from school.

Its no easier getting an appointment in a few days time. I had to return to discuss x-ray results but I couldn't get in for any of the dates my GP said. I had to go off to the hospital for scans without any knowledge of the results of the x-rays.

I don't bother now for myself. I only sit through it all for my children.

It used to be easy to get an appointment. Up until the local Doctors in the town all joined force in a mini hospital type set up. Suddenly we were competing with 20,000 other people for an appointment with the same few Doctors.

My GP practice is awful for appointments. Monday's are only for "emergencies", it takes on average 6 weeks to get a routine appointment and if you are an emergency there are about ten steps to go through before you get an appointment.

Step one is call and be on hold for anything up to 45minutes. Step two give details to receptionist. Step three wait for call back from doctor or nurse doing triage. Step 4 is give them the excat same information again. Step 5 is wait for appointment lady to call you with time of appointment. Step 6 is to finally be offered a time which clashes with school pick up time.

Practice is very under staffed and all appointments run over as they are good doctors, trying to help people. But a 3pm appointment usually means you being seen at 5 or 6.

I am very lucky compared to many on here I think. My GP surgery is one of a group of 4 so if you are able to travel you can go to any of them. There's online booking where you can book up to about a week in advance I think and you can have either a telephone consultation or see a doctor. I made an appointment for me on Sunday for Monday and had a large choice of appointments in my village surgery but could have gone elsewhere if I wanted.
On the occasions where I've taken one of the DC to the village pharmacy and they've said she should see a doctor we've gone up to the surgery and she's been fitted in.
There are evening appointments available in some of the surgeries and I think Saturday appointments. Also a drop in at one of them.