doctors making it as awkward as possible to be seen

Annabee

Our nearest doctors - (bigpractice in fancy newish building serving quite a large area) - used to have a decent system for appointments. You would ring up in the morning and if you insisted on being seen that day they would fit you in - otherwise you could make an appointment for exactly a week in advance if non urgent.

Then apparently a few weeks ago they have changed to a new system which seems appalling to me. To get a morning appointment you cannot phone anymore. You have to go into the surgery between 8.00 - 9.30 am and are then given an appointment that morning. Often this will mean that you can't get an appointment until about 11am. So you then have to sit in the surgery for 2 - 3 hours or trek home and trek back again later.

Alternatively you can ring for a pre-arranged afternoon appointment but I tried this on Monday and was told there was nothing available until next week - as doctors 'were on holiday' - why don't they use some of their large salaries to pay for a locum/ substitute doctor?

Am I right to think the system of having to go physically go into the surgery to get an appointment, then return later for said appointment is ridiculous? Imagine if you were feeling very ill, had difficulty walking, needed to get into work, or had small children that you'd have to drag back and forth.
I spoke to the receptionist who basically agreed with me and said the doctors had gone ahead with this without consulting reception staff.
I decided to register my family with another local practice who said they have had LOADS of patients from our current doctors transferrring to them.

Are GPs allowed to ignore patients needs like this, basically offloading patients onto other practices, while still happily taking government money to provide a service? It seems almost fraudulent.

Anyone else have a system like this in their area? I have never heard of it before.

CelticStar

I agree that that sounds absolutely ridiculous and soon this big, flash practice will find that most of their original patients have abandoned them for practices with a more common sense attitude concerning appointments.

nmm

Our doctors is a small local surgery, if you want a morning appointment you have to phone before 9am the same day to book it, no advance booking allowed. If you want an afternoon appointment you can book it a week in advance only. Totally stupid, whatever happened to just booking appointments like normal, the system of calling up and booking the next available was fine.

Kirri

At my doctors they took away the possibility of booking an appointment in advance, now you have to ring at 08:30 to get one that day - which is when most people are commuting to work! Also can't then give any notice to work. I am changing drs soon though. They said they introduced this system because so many people were missing appointments - but why not penalise them and not everyone else!

Yours sounds even worse, it's totally ridiculous to expect people to go down there to make the appointment!

shelly

Our Doctors is fantastic. They have online booking. You can log on 24/7 and see all available appointments for the next 6 weeks. IIRC it will let you book 3 appointments in advance in the 6 week period.

jackieb

We have to phone at 8.30am if we want an appointment for on the day. You can be poised ready to dial at 8.29am if you like, but as soon as you dial it'll be engaged! A lot of people go down to the surgery and queue outside wating for the doors to open. It's just inconvenient for me, but for some people it's nigh on impossible.
The appointments go very quickly because it's difficult to get through on the phone, and most of the appointments will have gone to the people queueing by the time you get through. Quite often i've had to ask for an emergency appointment if i;ve been trying for a few days, without success to get an appointment. There's not much else you can do.

But at least they haven't stopped making appointments on the phone altogether. That seems unfair.

Kirri

shelly wrote: »

Our Doctors is fantastic. They have online booking. You can log on 24/7 and see all available appointments for the next 6 weeks. IIRC it will let you book 3 appointments in advance in the 6 week period.

Wow that's excellent and very sensible!

Kirri

jackieb wrote: »

We have to phone at 8.30am if we want an appointment for on the day. You can be poised ready to dial at 8.29am if you like, but as soon as you dial it'll be engaged! A lot of people go down to the surgery and queue outside wating for the doors to open. It's just inconvenient for me, but for some people it's nigh on impossible.
The appointments go very quickly because it's difficult to get through on the phone, and most of the appointments will have gone to the people queueing by the time you get through. Quite often i've had to ask for an emergency appointment if i;ve been trying for a few days, without success to get an appointment. There's not much else you can do.

But at least they haven't stopped making appointments on the phone altogether. That seems unfair.

That is like mine, can sometimes take 20 mins to get through, all the time while on a rammed train into work! Then sometimes the appts are all gone as you say and you have to go through it all again the next day :mad:

Annabee

What really bugs me is that I have hardly bothered them the nine years I have been registered there but now ( I hope I'm wrong) I may have something that will require a lot of attention and can't face the thought of possiblly trailing down there twice in a day, maybe one day a week/fortnight until sorted. Thats one reason I need a new GPs now!

Why are doctors allowed to get away with this stuff? God knows they are paid enough.

Apparently local councillors are getting involved but why don't the health authority just tell them they can't do it!

JemJam

Kirri wrote: »

At my doctors they took away the possibility of booking an appointment in advance, now you have to ring at 08:30 to get one that day - which is when most people are commuting to work!!

That's just how it is at my surgery, call in at 8.30am on the dot cos you cant book in advance (unless you have a blood/smear/any kind of test in which case its a 2-3 week wait). And like Jackie too you're ready to call and no matter the time it'll be engaged!

I called about 3 weeks ago to make an appt at 8.30am on the dot and was told the last available appt was.....4.20, which luckily enough was fine for me but seriously the "last available appt"?!?! It's obvious they're taking appointments in advance but its definitely only with the doctors say so which I kinda understand, but it's not good for people who need to book time off work in advance for appts.

I swear sometimes it feels like my surgery caters only for the non-working people who literally have all the time in the world to be seen. But then what can you do?! People have complained but they're sticking to their guns.
So now at work I have to make sure that no ones off on any of the days i might be able to get an appt on or else i'm leaving them short staffed which I don't want to do. :rolleyes:

I agree though they should penalise people who don't turn up to appointments and not the people who can't get appointments anymore!

JemJam

shelly wrote: »

Our Doctors is fantastic. They have online booking. You can log on 24/7 and see all available appointments for the next 6 weeks. IIRC it will let you book 3 appointments in advance in the 6 week period.

That's the best system ever!