doctors making it as awkward as possible to be seen

bestpud

My surgery is great tbh.

Appointments can be booked online, with a nurse or doctor.

Repeat prescriptions can also be done online and there is a choice of pharmacies where the meds can be picked up from the following day.

We can also view our medical notes online.

For urgent appointments (for single and non-chronic ailments), they have a quick access clinic every morning.

Other appointments can be booked as and when by telephone, but the phones are always busy first thing, understandably.

I can usually see a doctor within 24 hours, or 48 hours for my own GP.

The longest wait if often to see a nurse, and that can be a week or so if done by telephone, or a couple of days if online.

The receptionists, as well as doctors/nurses, are great too; can't fault them at all.

This is on stark contrast with my old GP though! There is good and bad in every area no doubt, and I think i have the best in my area.

Nicki

goochie wrote: »

If you need to be seen the same day then our surgery also asks you to telephone at 8am for a morning appointment or 1pm for an afternoon appointment, which is a pain sometimes, as I am usually at work at these times and not around the corner from my GP - and their response is "well if it's an emergency you will take what's offered" (not very helpful if the appointment is in 10 mins time which has happened).

Though to be honest if you are well enough to go to work, its hard to see how urgent your medical need can be that you must be seen that day, rather than in a few days time So I can kind of see the surgery's point on that one.

basketcase

Glamazon wrote: »

Our list size is growing even though we have one of these super surgeries close by that's open 8pm - 8pm Monday - Friday and Saturday AM so we must be doing something right!

What lucky patients you have!

Mine's open Mon-Fri 9-5 and - if you can actually get through! - you might get an appointment within a week. They used to be really good...

bubbs

Hi,
I feel i have to comment on this about appointments. I very rarely go to the doctors and to prove this point i moved nearly 3 years ago and didnt have a doctor, well i now need to go firstly it took over 3 weeks to register and they finally rang me last Thurs to say i was accepted, i asked how you made appointments and this surgery and she went through it all with me.
Basically ring at 8 am for appointment ,or monday they have a drop in between 9-10.30 but you need to get there about 8.15 she says as its busy....not convienet for me as i am at work! i had also asked about the nurse as you could just go on the day at my old doctors, no you need to make an appointment here ok far enough but........
Friday morning i ring to make an appointment at 8 am could not get through finally at 8.45 i get through, sorry no appointment left ok can i make an appointment for the nurse then, no sorry shes on holiday
ok can i make an appointment for next week for the doctor , sorry no they are all booked.........hmmmmmmmm thought you could only make on the day!!!
Ok then can i make appointment for the nurse then please next week.......yes we have Friday 12.15.....great perfect for me except.....
today i get a phone call cancelling Fridays appointment.......by this time im getting angry lol, can you come at 10 am monday? she says no i am at work ok you tell me when you can come , so i said Tues 12.15 ok i will see you then she says, so what the betting if i ever see her??

eamon

The service at my GP's is really good. Getting to access the service though is a real pain. Same story as most of the other posters. I'm sure that there are better ways of doing things it can't be that difficult. A previous GP practice had imho an excellent system. Early bird 1.5hr session every morning on a 1st come 1st see basis and a similar event (late bird) in the late afternoon. I think this worked well on most occasions as it allowed working people to attend and left the day time slots free for those under less time constraints. You were not guaranteed to see your GP (could be their day off, holiday etc) Of course the downside was that in the mornings you could wait for a long time, but equally it gives you the choice (do I wait or do I go).

funguy

The system of phoning on the day for most appointments is due to government legislation...it is another example of the government forcing GPs to change systems that seemed to work for most people for years and years. This, together with an increase in demand for appointments per head of population ( with no resulting increase in doctor numbers) has meant that there are just not enough appointments for everyone that wants them.

The government has a solution though - they are reducing the number of GPs and instead training more nurses....soon people wont have a choice to see a GP in certin areas as they will have to see nurses who can then discuss the issues with a GP....this is already happening in lots of out-of-hours centres/walk in clinics. In our area, there are over 100 unemployed GPs despite the obvious need for them to be working!

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

OP, do you not have a walk in centre where you can be seen if you cannot get an appointment?

annie_d

Could you call the receptionsit and ask that the GP calls you when they finished their surgery? I have done this a few times.

Silaqui

As posted by Nicki
"Though to be honest if you are well enough to go to work, its hard to see how urgent your medical need can be that you must be seen that day, rather than in a few days time So I can kind of see the surgery's point on that one."

The problem is though that in so many surgeries you cannot book for a few days time, it always has to be a same day appointment. So instead being able to just get an appointment that day for some antibiotics or whatever, you suffer through it untill you are bad enough to have to take a day off (which might have been avoided).

Our local surgery needs you to phone up at 8.30 am - any earlier and the phones are switched off, and if you leave it any later the appointments are all gone. Speaking for myself, I am teaching at 8.30am (registration starts at 8.25) so no chance of calling at this time.

When I was at uni, they had the system someone mentioned earlier where you literally just turn up and wait. I suffered from periodic bouts of tonsilitis when I was younger and during one such bout during my first year at uni I simply couldn't afford the time to wait for hours at a time in the doctors so tried to just wait it out and treat it with stuff from the pharmacy :rolleyes: . I ended up developing quinsy, which was fun!

I understand the difficulties - it needs some serious work to get something that works for everyone!

xx

Kirri

bestpud wrote: »

My surgery is great tbh.

Appointments can be booked online, with a nurse or doctor.

Repeat prescriptions can also be done online and there is a choice of pharmacies where the meds can be picked up from the following day.

We can also view our medical notes online.

For urgent appointments (for single and non-chronic ailments), they have a quick access clinic every morning.

Other appointments can be booked as and when by telephone, but the phones are always busy first thing, understandably.

I can usually see a doctor within 24 hours, or 48 hours for my own GP.

The longest wait if often to see a nurse, and that can be a week or so if done by telephone, or a couple of days if online.

The receptionists, as well as doctors/nurses, are great too; can't fault them at all.

This is on stark contrast with my old GP though! There is good and bad in every area no doubt, and I think i have the best in my area.

If one surgery can run such an excellent service ^^ then why do others make it SO hard for everyone...