GP's and Occupational Health questionnaires

lilysgarden

Hi, not sure if anyone can help with this or not. I was due to start a new job this week but unfortunately can't start without clearance from occupational health and they need a form completed by my GP. I've called the GP every day this week and they confirmed they had received the form monday, but the GP still hasn't completed it. Does anyone know how long they usually take?

I've tried explaining I need this to start work, but the receptionist I spoke to yesterday was incredibly snooty saying they only received it monday morning. Like that justifies them taking a week to complete it? I was also told monday that the surgery manager had asked the GP to complete it as urgent as they had been told I needed it. Would I be justified in complaining to them?

Had I known the GP would take so long, I would have withdrawn my notice from my 2 part time jobs so that I still had money coming in for the week which I really couldn't afford to lose. And had the GP got his !!!! in gear, I could have started by wednesday as Occupational health will rush it through as soon as they get it!

Cheers for any idea's!

Nikki x

SomeBozo

Ring the surgery and ask to speak to the practice manager.

They deal with the day to day issues, not the receptionist.

Bozo

Caroline73_2

Frustrating for you as it is, the GP may not have had any admin time since Monday - it's a priority for you but not for the GP.

Have you considered if your GP doesn't give you satisfactory clearance and you have left your other jobs?

hardpressed

I would second what Caroline has said. Contrary to what most people think GP's are not sitting around when they are not taking surgery. There are visit to make, urgent referral letters to dictate, phone calls to make, letters and reports from consultants to read and take action on. Unfortunately some patients think that the doctor only has to sign a form, they have to check through the patients notes to make sure there is not anything in their history that is relevant to the questions they are being asked, that all takes time and in the scheme of thing is not considered urgent. Sorry if that's not what you want to hear but that's the way things are.

Oldernotwiser

My GP's surgery guaranteed things like this would be dealt with within a fortnight; I think you're being very unreasonable to expect it to be done in a couple of days.

dmg24

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

My GP's surgery guaranteed things like this would be dealt with within a fortnight; I think you're being very unreasonable to expect it to be done in a couple of days.

Mine also says a fortnight, though it isn't guaranteed. Considering the demands on GP's I think this is quite reasonable.

OP, you should also be aware that, whilst the GP will be receiving payment for completing the form, they are within their rights to refuse to do it.

lilysgarden

It's just the frustrating thing for me being that I've given occupational health all the info they need, they just need the GP to confirm it's correct! As for not getting clearance, it shouldn't be a problem. The whole problem is cos I have depression and they need to confirm what I've said about it is correct with the GP. As for my GP surgery, they close at noon on a monday for 'training and paperwork related stuff'. They then close at noon on a friday. So they technicazlly work a four day week for a minimum of 120k a year. And as for expecting too much, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to react a little quicker. Especially when I was told the practice manager had told the GP on monday that it was urgent and needed doing asap. And after speaking to a friend who is also a GP (and coincidentally, agree's with me that GP's are overpaid and underworked), it's more frustrating than ever that they seem to think that doing nothing with paperwork till the weekend, is acceptable. Oh yeah, and we can't access them out of hours. Their out of hours line gets transferred straight to the NHS Direct line. So it seems they don't really do a huge amount out of hours!