Doctor's appointments - what a farce.

System

Rang up to make an appointment and the receptionist was like ooh we have a cancellation tomorrow. I'm think great, as i need one asap. She then read it back to confirm and she's booked me in with a completely different doctor than the one i asked for.... and it turns out there are no appointments with my GP till next week.

*bangs head against wall*

dizziblonde

My old doctors was dreadful. Not only did they do the early morning lines are open now phone competition for appointments, but they'd randomly change the time that you had to call in at - so you'd ring at 8.30 to be greeted by a surly receptionist snarling that it was 8am you were meant to call and all the appointments had gone... next time you'd call at 8... they wouldn't open the phonelines till 8.15. God forbid you wanted to see a specific doctor - that made life so complicated that you'd NEVER get in.

Then we had the triage nurse actually ask me on the phone (while chewing gum which always drives me nuts) if I'd "tried to top yerself yet" when I was suffering from depression. No appointments later than 4.50, no advance booking the later ones - so a nightmare if you have a job like mine where you can't duck out for half an hour or so... just dreadful attitude all round.

Moved over the county border and I can't speak highly enough of the services here. Not only have we got a good walk-in centre in the town centre, but the GPs surgery we registered with run a late surgery once a week till 8pm, you can book appointments in advance, the staff acknowledge you might work and try to work around you, and on one occasion, when I needed a blood test doing at a certain point in my cycle and they were fully booked, the receptionist told me to pop in anyway, she was trained to take them and would do it for me while one of the other receptionists minded the desk - just little things that really do go above and beyond the call of duty and dramatically contrasted the difference between the two surgeries.

Even my weight has been dealt with so differently and more proactively - from being barked and snarled at that "you must lose weight" to the change of "yes I can see you're working on losing weight, let's check out any issues you might have and see how we can work WITH you to get things under control" (and no I'm not referring to throwing gym memberships or anything at the obese- although they'll do fitness referrals), just not being viewed as a demon with three heads and the time being taken to listen to the steps I am taking mean so much and are so much more effective than the snarl I used to get whenever I went into my former GPs.

System

I guess mine aren't the worst, one day i went in and had got my appointment mixed up (there's a computer thing you can use to say your there-which told me i was in). I was sat there for a while and the receptionist noticed and said she'd check for me. Turns out i was due in the next day but my doctor managed to squeeze me in anyway, which she didnt have to do.

littlegirllost

in my doctors, you call in the morning, leave a number for the doctor to call you
back (which can take hours). You then have to tell the doctor over the phone
(on loudspeaker) whats wrong with you, they either just give you a prescripition
over the phone, or get you a appointment in the same day.

I personally dont like this as good as it is to get a appointment the same
day, im rarely seen as im diagnosed over the phone, surely thats not right?

My doctor gave me slimming tablets over the phone without even seen me
and telling me how they worked.

nikki2804

Mu surgerys like this too. Phone at 8am for a same day appointment. You phone at 8 am, by the time you get through its 8.15 and all appointments are gone. But what i find best is that if your 5 mins late (even if you phone ahead) they wont see you but the doctors generally keep you waiting (longest I waited was 40 mins at one point!) Or in my surgeries case they make you wait in the queue while they continually answer the phone then when you say "ive got an appointment for 10.30" they say "its 10.35 your late" well yeah but youve been sitting looking at me for 10 minutes!!!!

Remind me what I pay NI and tax for again?

HugoRune_2

Ditto whats been said about the new system, same at mine, took three days to get an appointment and nearly 3 hrs continual dialling immediately after 8 like everyone else was.
Also to get a home visit for my frail father you have to jump through so many hoops it is utterly ridiculous and I expect many give up during the process.

I can only think the system has been designed on purpose to put people off using the NHS to save money. And yet at the same time, there is supposed to be some drive to get more men to visit the GP as their mortality rate is higher with some conditions in due partly to being more reluctant to make appointments with the GP when they have a problem.

Unless I felt close to death I probably wouldnt bother trying to get an appointment again and then I'd ring an ambulance so I guess the main point of the new system is working. Not exactly going to do any good for mortality rates though.

littlegirllost

after reading all the other posts, i starting to think mines is not that bad, least
i get to see (though mostly speak) my doctors the same day

ljbnotts

I remember a doctors i had when i was at uni. I was really poorly with an awful cough and chest pain. Rang the doctors everyday for a week 1st thing begging for an appointment, none left call again tomorrow.

Eventually on the 7th day they gave me an appointment for another 5 days away. By this point i couldn't hold any food down as i was coughing so much constantly and my chest was so painful. I ended up ringing my mum who was 300 miles away begging her to get me a doctors appointment. She rang them, gave them an earful hey presto 2 hours later a doctor saw me!

Listened to 1 breath and said good god, i think you have pneumonia. Why have you left it so long to see me?
Err? Ive tried! It turned out i just had a severe case of bronchitis

Anyway after 3 weeks on antibiotics, still felt awful went back (they saw me quickly this time!) and said how my chest still hurt and i was still being sick. I had lost over a stone in weight.
the reply:
good your overweight, this is a good way for you to lose weight.
Erm? what being sick after every meal? No i dont think so, isn't that called bulimia? (i was only about 2 stone overweight).

I left, saw another doctor at another practice who then prescribed me 2 asthma inhalers for the next 3 months. Which eventually worked and i could stop coughing and so stop being sick!

As a result of not having a doctors appointment when i needed one, i took time out of uni (which wasn't great in my final year!) and was on inhalers for months. Even now as soon as i get a cold it goes straight on my chest due to the damage, that could have been prevented if I'd been seen in the first place! Great!

Moral of the story, if you need an appointment then make sure you get one when you first need it! Do not be fobbed of with stupid power crazy receptionist!

Sorry that turned into a long post!

LJB

before_hollywood

i had symptoms of swine flu, desribed them to the docs and they said 'we have an appointment in a weeks time'
turns out it was just a bug, i found out from the on call doctors in the same building on the same day, i only went there cos i would have been told off by my housemate if i didnt

my personal favourite is the self check in machines, which recepionists here insist everyone uses, i manage to confuse it by being ''early'' for my appointment

10 minutes early

FACEDUPTOITATLAST

My doctors surgery has a really good booking system. You can book appts in advance, but if you need to see a doctor on the same day, you phone up - anytime, although the earlier the better, and give a brief idea of problem to receptionist (if you wish) and then a doctor phones you back, and then makes you an appointment. I have always got in on the same day, and the doctor always phones back very quickly. The previous doctor I was at was a nightmare - phoned for a week to get an appointment!!