doctors making it as awkward as possible to be seen

buxtonrabbitgreen

My surgery is also one of the ring up at 8am and the lines will be engaged till they have run out of appointments.
There is no possibility of making non urgent appointments in advance. For instance I want to check if my kids heart murmers have now gone. I need to do this because of the need for anti biotic cover for dental treatment and they are both allergic to penicillin. So this is not urgent but I am not alolowed to make an appointment and I dont want to take up the emergency morining appointements causing them to take time off school in GCSE years. Sorry to ramble on but this seems silly to me.

lana22

Annabee wrote: »

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.

Do you pay for a temp to cover you when you go on holiday? No, you use your entitled annual leave like every other employed person.
I agree there are problems with GP appointment systems, but why the public think Drs should be slaves to their patients is beyond me.

Annabee

I did 't mean from their personal salary, correct me if I'm wrong but I had the impression GPs received much more than a salary - that in fact they were given money to run their practice, pay reception staff etc as they saw fit?

mspig

At my doctors if you want an appointment that morning you have to phone at 8:30 to get one, if you want an afternoon appointment for that day you have to phone at 1:00 to get one, but you can also ring or call in to get an appointment for another day.

However my old doctors was a nightmare they had strange appointments - you would have to state whether it was a 5 minute or a 10 minute appointment you wanted for the same day, then for the 5 minute appointment 5 people would be put in seperate rooms and a nurse would come round and speak to you all individually, then if she felt it necessary she would pass you on to the doctor, otherwise she would send you on your way and put someone else in the room(the nurse/doctor would move from room to room with a STOPWATCH to time the 5 minutes) and yes if they hadn't finished when the 5 minutes were up they told you to go and make another appointment and would carry on to the next patient.

For the 10 minute appointment you were guaranteed to see a doctor, but it could be any of the doctors as you couldn't specify which you wanted to see or whether you wanted a male or female doctors, and again they would have the stopwatch going.

If you wanted an appointment for another day you could only book 10 days in advance otherwise you had to call in on the day you wanted and use the above system.
I also got fed up of the reception staff asking what illness etc i had, like their medically trained!!!
I also had a doctor hand me a prescription for painkillers once before i had even spoken to her - her reason everyone comes in for painkillers, really made me cross and a complaint was logged.

I was glad to get out of there, but my parents and grandparents still use the surgery and say it is still the same now.

Fire_Fox

The attitude at many surgeries seems to be either you are sick enough to not be working and have all the time in the world to attend the surgery, or you are well enough to go to work and therefore don't need to see a doctor. This doesn't allow for the many minor/ moderate ailments that need medical attention - e.g. eye infection/ cystitis/ regular BP checks/ smear test - that may not actually prevent you from working.

I lived in a village for a while, with an excellent public transport system. I had to be registered at the surgery in the nearest village with a bus service every two hours, and I don't drive. For convenience they had their own on-site pharmacy. I used to have the contraceptive injection which they insisted was done exactly every 12 weeks, or they would refuse to administer it and insist upon a pregnancy test. :eek:

I had to try for the first appointment in the morning which was before the pharmacy opened, so the injection was never ready (even if I reminded them when I made the appointment) .... My husband would drop me off and head to work out of town, I would have to wait 15 minutes in case I had a reaction and then pray I didn't miss the bus into town or I'd be two hours late for work/ college. Nightmare.

The first time I ever got cystitis I didn't know what it was until I was groaning in agony and bleeding into my urine. I was forced to actually discuss my personal medical stuff with the receptionist to get an urgent appointment. I'm not shy but I was only 17 and very very scared! :mad: When I finally saw a doctor and gave my sample they told me it was my period (you know the difference), then dismissively told that they couldn't see any blood anyway ... had to apologise after testing it.

Just heading off now to pick up my prescription, which is rarely ready even tho I follow the system. :rolleyes: I am pretty sure now that this is down to one useless member of staff, as I noticed a mega change of attitude last time when I could specify what day and time I had been in and what the receptionist looked like! They actually know my name now, which rather suggests that I am a pain in the bum ...

money_maker_3

My docs are great, it is open surgery every morning and 2 afternoons a week, so you turn up between 9am and 11am and so long as you are there you will be seen, fair enough you might have to sit for a while, but you are seen on the day you are sick, unlike most of the surgerys around here and it takes a week to get an appt

The other afternoons are for appts at any time that suits, up to 6pm

funguy

Annabee wrote: »

I did 't mean from their personal salary, correct me if I'm wrong but I had the impression GPs received much more than a salary - that in fact they were given money to run their practice, pay reception staff etc as they saw fit?

Doctors are not salaried....practices are private businesses....they receive a set amount of money for providing general medical services to the people on their list. despite increasing costs (gas/elec etc), and increasing staff costs (yearly rises), practices in the UK have had a 0% increase in total funding for the last 3years. Hence services may not have kept up with increasing patient demand! Anything that the practice does such as hire a substitute/locum doctor costs the individual doctors money from their own pocket. This includes building running costs, toilet roll, paper etc....

If we as public want GPs to run like hospitals where doctors are replaced etc etc then the system needs to change where all GPs are salaried by the NHS. This would cost the NHS approx 50% more than it already does as then they would need to pay for all the extra unpaid hours that most GPs put in after the doors have closed. An alternative would be a private system where everyone pays to be seen and eveyone gets seen the time and day they want...At the end of the day, as with all things, we get what we pay for.....

sillyvixen

Glamazon wrote: »

We had over 200 patients DNA last month - which is disgusting and includes people who have phoned on the day!

i agree that is awfull and selfish - that is 200 patients waiting for an appointment when they could have been seen earlier!

Mrs_Ryan

My doctors is pretty good, I must say. Im seeing a fantastic doctor at the minute who is really taking the time to help me, but the other doctors are also very good - last time I called for an emergency appointment, I rang at 8.10 and was told to come in for 8.50, I was there for 8.30 and was seen at 8.40, doctor was very concerned and rang the local hospital to ask them to assess me that day, OH ran me to the hospital and I was assessed, diagnosed and home again by 1.30. I work for the NHS and know how painfully slow these things can sometimes be, but I was very impressed.

Mrs_P_Pincher

The PCT is in utter disarray in our area.

At our surgery there is at least a two week wait for a non-urgent appointment. A stroke patient with a week's medication only left is apparently non urgent! We are looking at changing doctors as it is now virtually impossible to see any of our GPs even if you have active symptoms.

We are looking into changing GPS as this situation, and other problems that have arisen, mean they are not providing any form of service for patients.
This is the up to date position according to PALS earlier this week.

The guidelines are that a patient should be able to be seen by a GP within 48 hours or a *primary care professional (PCP) within 24 hours. *e.g. practice nurse etc.
The 24/48 hour target means that all patients should have the opportunity to see a GP within two working days and by a primary care professional (PCP) within one working day. The target does not mean that all patients must be seen within 24 or 48 hours, but all patients must be able to see a GP or PCP quickly if that is what they want. Practices also need to provide appointments more than two days in advance and patients should have the option of making appointments for dates beyond the 24/48 hour target timeframes. (Department of Health).
If however a patient is specifying a named GP, the 48 hour target may not be doeable, depending upon the named GP's availability. If for some reason a practice is unable to accommodate a patient to be seen within 24/48 hours, they may signpost the patient to the Walk-in Centre if appropriate.

Personally I'm not keen on the Walk In Centre after I went there and was diagnosed as having suffered a series of strokes, when actually, I had toothache!

Mrs P P