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.

Our current surgery (in the south west) can be tricky. If you don't get through at 8.30 sharp then it can be anything from 7-14 days for an appointment. They only have one GP on duty at a time though as our surgery is a distant outpost of a practice in town. In some cases they allow the smaller practice patients to go to the big shiny surgery in town - but the reception there is often hostile at best towards this! I have more recently found that calling and asking for a telephone appointment is easier for most things. The practice is also closed on Wednesday afternoons which can be a hassle. It would be much better if there was funding to cover more than one GP in the practice.
My previous practice (in the north east) was wonderful! Lots of GPs and nurses in every day meant that, providing the call was before lunch, a same day appt was guaranteed. They also had on site counsellors, health visitors and OT so it was a real one stop shop! More practices like this would be good.

I just ring about 8 & get an appointment for later that day if i need it or whatever day I want.

When I've had an emergency with unwell kids they just tell me to bring them right in & get seen right away.

If unable to get to surgery a Dr will come out if needed.

Many thanks for all of your input. We did this panel at the Labour conference yesterday and there were yelps of recognition from the audience when we outlined some of your frustrations, particularly with poor telephone booking systems. We did also emphasise that MNers seem on the whole very supportive of their GPs - seems to us that the major takeaway here is the need in some surgeries for better management, along with some other issues like patient confidentiality and continuity of care, particularly for chronic or unusual conditions. We also mentioned that some of you would like to be able to choose your surgeries based on criteria other than residential address, and that the size of the practice - from this anecdotal sample at least - doesn't seem to have a relationship with the level of patient satisfaction: one-woman-bands and large multi-doctor practices can get it right (or wrong).

There was some interesting discussion about the wider issue of whether GPs' contractor status within the NHS is a useful distinction or a difficult anomaly (we didn't take a view on this as it wasn't something that was raised much on the thread).

Do have a look at the RCGP campaign if you're interested in the issue. We'll be doing the panel again at the Conservative conference next week.

Thanks
MNHQ

2 week wait here (12 drs in the practice, and you can see anyone you want)

I called this am as I think my dd needs blood test done. Was told to ring at 10 to speak to a dr. Since if was 9.58 I asked could I just be out on hold, but no. So 2 mins later I call... And try 27 times before I get through. The girl takes my number and says dr will call me back between then and 1pm. why not just take my number at 9.58?! ANYWAY, I get the call mid dirty nappy change so can't answer. But they don't try to get you again, so now I have to wait til tomorrow and start all over again, and be unable to leave my phone for a second. Arrrghh!

One time I just called in as I was having chest pains. They had been recurring, pass within a few hours, but excruciating and extremely scary. I had been to drs and they couldn't find anything wrong because " we really need to see you when its sore". So I dropped in, barely able to stand, breathe etc and I sit waiting in tears for 2 hours in waiting room to be seen, not taking pain relief as per dr. Then nurse puts me on ECG as the pain is subsiding and leaves me a further hour.... Pain subsided by the end of the monitoring session and then dr sends me home without seeing me as he needed to see me while I was in pain.
Thankfully whatever it was hasn't happened in nearly 2 years.

Overall, not a great impression of the unit.

The surgery I was at was terrible.
They said phone at 8.30am, then the phone would be engaged until 9am and they would say you were too late and all the appointments had gone, try again tomorrow.
On at least two occasions this went on for over a week and I ended up in A&E.
The icing on the cake was when I went to an emergency walk in clinic, in tears and in pain, and basically suicidally depressed and with an open wound that needed to be assessed to see if it needed stitiching. The doctor there said that I needed ongoing programme of treatment and the best thing would be to go to my GP so I could have my own doctor supervise the treatment over time etc. Anyway the emergency doc phoned and had to demand an appointment for me, and when I arrived, my own GP took one look at me, without even asking what was wrong, was verbally abusive and told me in no uncertain terms that there was "nothing wrong with me except I was fat" and to "go away and don't come back until I lost four stone" and ushered me out of his office.
The following day I had a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest.
Needless to say I now have a different GP and they are "so so" for getting appointments.
We still have to go in person to the surgery and join the queue at 8.30 am to get an appointment though. Phoning is no good because they hand out the appts to the people in the queue before they begin to answer the phones.
Since I have 3 DCs still at school, if it is a school day I either get someone else to do the school run, or get someone else to go queue for me - luckily this has always been manageable so far, and we have never not been able to get in when we really needed to.
Quite why they can't just let us book an appointment is beyond me though - things like renewing repeat prescriptions, or contraception and suchlike, where people must see the doctor in person, but there's no urgency as such, and want a convenient appt for after work or whatever.
It's even worse for DH because he has to either go to work late, having phoned to tell them he is trying to get in to see a doc, then leave again later for the appt, or phone from work on his mobile which costs a fortune, and then leave at short notice.
Not everyone wants or needs an immediate same day short notice appointment and it just causes unnecessary stress and bad feeling trying to force people into the current ridiculous system.

Mine seems really patchy
I can get an emergency Dr appointment fairly easily. 8am ring, wait in a phone queue. They give you a slot.
I do this about once every two years.
Further out appointments for contraception, smears with the nurse seem to be harder. But I think that's because they lost a nurse and got a new one.
They seem to be totally baffled that I work in the next town and giving me an appointment at 11.30 isnt helpful.

I've stayed with my gp despite moving house 2 miles away because I like the 'open surgery'. Every morning you can turn up between 9 and 12, join the queue and patients are seen in order of arrival. For anything longer than 5 minutes you have to book an appointment in the afternoon, which does get booked up, but TBH I've never needed more than about 3 minutes. You can also ring between 12.30 and 1 and speak to the doc on the phone.
It's not ideal putting all the ill people in the waiting room together, and you do have to wait about an hour, but you can see a doctor the same day which is the main thing.

My practice has been bought out by Virgin, as an exciting central corporate (add lots of claptrap) ..... I feel like saying 'nuff said.

Their shiny website explains that everyone who rings on the day is seen. NO. Everyone who manages to get a call through between 8-10am when the phonelines are permanently jammed and engaged is seen on the day. The many people who are unable to get through are not logged or recorded. I rang in twice lately. I have a severe chronic pain condition which I manage myself. (Have never received any GP support or management for this; am never asked how it is going when I visit for an appointment, my bp/heart rate although can reach ambulance levels due to another chronic condition, have never once been checked, medication has been prescribed that actively aggravates the condition without the GP realising or reading the computer notes) I reached the point of pain so out of control I was sobbing, I rang to ask for an appointment, they had a slot available in two weeks. I took that slot. It was cancelled two days prior to the appointment due to issues with GP absence cover, they could not offer another appointment.

I rang again more recently with severe cystitis, needing antibiotics. The phone was engaged from 8am-10.45. (Literally. I sat there pushing the redial button constantly for nearly 3 hours.) When I got through, the appointments were gone. The receptionist agreed I needed to see a GP for antibiotics and leaving an infection for 24 hours to get worse was really not a good idea, but could offer option 1: try playing phone lottery again tomorrow (you may not win then either) or 2: go to A&E.

I have pointed out that having to phone from 8-10am constantly in the vain hope of being one of the lucky ones who gets through means anyone who has to work for a living is probably unable to do this. (plus be available to drop everything and take a return call from the doctor at any time during the day the doctor is able to do so). Also that anyone really unwell and in need is not going to be up to the battle of the fittest to fight for an appointment and will give up, as I did, and muddle through by messing with their medication and what advice they can glean on the internet with no idea if what they're trying is safe.

The consultant I see at the hospital keeps 'discharging me back to GP care'. Don't make me laugh. There is zero communication or continuity of care between the GP and hospital. Absolutely none. The GP practice won't even carry out prescriptions issued by the consultant THEY referred me to. The GP deals at face value with whatever presenting problem is sat in front of them at that moment in time with no perception of whole person, previous history, nothing. It's the same relationship I have with the person behind the fish counter at Tesco. I don't think this is their choice or preference, I think it is the state of the situation they are being left to deal with. And my surgery DESPITE openly admitting they are failing patients and turning them away WITH significant need to see a GP because they have more patients than GP slots are STILL advertising for new patients!

Words fail.

I honestly can't believe some of the stuff I'm reading on this thread.

Virgin bought my local gym...and it went bust.

The ten minute appointments are clearly not long enough for some situations. I wonder where all the GPs will come from to cover 8-8, 7/7, or whatever the latest political gesturing is.

Also, people who say they only need 3-5 minutes, add to that the time needed to type in the notes, or to scan through the notes before the appointment, as the GP won't know what you come for so a quick look, read through last letter or so, still needed.

The GP deals at face value with whatever presenting problem is sat in front of them at that moment in time with no perception of whole person, previous history, nothing. It's the same relationship I have with the person behind the fish counter at Tesco - this is so true.

There is also absolutely no cross-referencing like "in possession of an insane husband" or "has two dc with major health issues".

We all need a guide to "How to make sense of your GP consultation"

The current NHS websites say, for example, that you can ask for a double appointment if you need one.

Well, you can ask, but you won't get. Not at the surgery we go to.

I forgot that Molly - our surgery has posters on the wall saying that if you want to ask the doctor about more than one thing you must have a double appointment, but they refuse point blank to ever give anyone one.
The doctors themselves also just blank anything relating to anything that isn't the first thing you mention iyswim.

That's after they've updated their computer YET AGAIN about stuff they ask you every few months, like "Have you ever smoked?" Does the computer delete all your answers every now and again, so they have to start all over again? You go in, feeling really ill and possibly upset, and they start right in about your non-existant smoking habit. By the time they've finished with all that, you are feeling very very much worse, and certainly somewhat irascible.