Urgh. GP surgery having a laugh!

JohalaReewi

Also being discussed on new MSE thread...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1945253

MamaMoo_2

So, just thought I'd update with my most recent experience.
Was in a lot of pain yesterday morning (aching in my back & stomach, dizzy, vomiting) and so sent my OH over to the docs to make me an appointment. (I had plenty of credit, but decided I wasn't going to waste it as the phones were busy, and I sure as hell wasn't spending 30p a time to be told this.)
Anyway, he gets into
The doctors around 8:30am, just after opening, and asks for an emergency appointment. He explains that I've just had a baby and the symptoms I was having, and he was told to go home and ring up. He said he didn't have a phone, and he was told to go use someone else's. He said he had no access to any other phone either. Cue a very moody receptionist.
My husband was told to send me over at 11:50am (bearing in mind he could hear people on the phone being given appointments at 9, 9:10 etc, so there were plenty of earlier appointments available) and that I would only be allowed to attend as a 'walk-in'
Turns out that this meant that when I turned up at 11:50, I had to wait until every other patient had been seen (by which time it was end of surgery, 12:30pm) before I was seen. So despite trying to book an appointment in person at 8:30am, I was treated as if I had just wandered in off the street at 11:50. I was disgusted at this! So I cannot book an appointment in advance unless I pay through the nose to be told that the phones are busy & then get cut off, or be put on hold for 10 minutes :mad:
Definitely going to be writing a letter of complaint about this. I didn't mention anything about it to the doctor as she's new and so relatively low on the chain of command, plus she was a lovely woman, but she did say that if I had left it another day (as my husband almost did due to them being so reluctant to give any kind of appointment) I could have ended up with severe kidney problems, as she had caught the infection just in time.

flossy_splodge

Alex-Riley. wrote: »

who (if anyone) from here was on Annie Othen show this morning

Well I was for one, as was Silent calls victim.
Not sure why you ask? Do you want to applaud us?;)

flossy_splodge

MamaMoo wrote: »

So, just thought I'd update with my most recent experience.
Was in a lot of pain yesterday morning (aching in my back & stomach, dizzy, vomiting) and so sent my OH over to the docs to make me an appointment. (I had plenty of credit, but decided I wasn't going to waste it as the phones were busy, and I sure as hell wasn't spending 30p a time to be told this.)
Anyway, he gets into
The doctors around 8:30am, just after opening, and asks for an emergency appointment. He explains that I've just had a baby and the symptoms I was having, and he was told to go home and ring up. He said he didn't have a phone, and he was told to go use someone else's. He said he had no access to any other phone either. Cue a very moody receptionist.
My husband was told to send me over at 11:50am (bearing in mind he could hear people on the phone being given appointments at 9, 9:10 etc, so there were plenty of earlier appointments available) and that I would only be allowed to attend as a 'walk-in'
Turns out that this meant that when I turned up at 11:50, I had to wait until every other patient had been seen (by which time it was end of surgery, 12:30pm) before I was seen. So despite trying to book an appointment in person at 8:30am, I was treated as if I had just wandered in off the street at 11:50. I was disgusted at this! So I cannot book an appointment in advance unless I pay through the nose to be told that the phones are busy & then get cut off, or be put on hold for 10 minutes :mad:
Definitely going to be writing a letter of complaint about this. I didn't mention anything about it to the doctor as she's new and so relatively low on the chain of command, plus she was a lovely woman, but she did say that if I had left it another day (as my husband almost did due to them being so reluctant to give any kind of appointment) I could have ended up with severe kidney problems, as she had caught the infection just in time.

MamaMoo, PLEASE contact both your local PCT and ALSO the PALS service for your PCT and draw the attention of both to this thread as additional clarity for them.
This is simply NOT acceptable and needs to be addressed.
Am I right in thinking you are in Solihull area?

MamaMoo_2

flossy_splodge wrote: »

MamaMoo, PLEASE contact both your local PCT and ALSO the PALS service for your PCT and draw the attention of both to this thread as additional clarity for them.
This is simply NOT acceptable and needs to be addressed.
Am I right in thinking you are in Solihull area?

I fully intend to. I know if I'd gone over to make my own appointment, the way I felt, I would have just given in and probably ended up in hospital. They need to sort themselves out and offer the service that they are supposed to. It left me really angry as I was sat in a waiting room in serious pain for 40 minutes because they couldn't be bothered to give me an appointment, and that's just not fair. :mad:

And yes, I'm in Solihull

DonnyDave

MamaMoo, I suggest you write to your MP with an account of your experience.

NCISROCKS

MamaMoo wrote: »

So, just thought I'd update with my most recent experience.
Was in a lot of pain yesterday morning (aching in my back & stomach, dizzy, vomiting) and so sent my OH over to the docs to make me an appointment. (I had plenty of credit, but decided I wasn't going to waste it as the phones were busy, and I sure as hell wasn't spending 30p a time to be told this.)
Anyway, he gets into
The doctors around 8:30am, just after opening, and asks for an emergency appointment. He explains that I've just had a baby and the symptoms I was having, and he was told to go home and ring up. He said he didn't have a phone, and he was told to go use someone else's. He said he had no access to any other phone either. Cue a very moody receptionist.
My husband was told to send me over at 11:50am (bearing in mind he could hear people on the phone being given appointments at 9, 9:10 etc, so there were plenty of earlier appointments available) and that I would only be allowed to attend as a 'walk-in'
Turns out that this meant that when I turned up at 11:50, I had to wait until every other patient had been seen (by which time it was end of surgery, 12:30pm) before I was seen. So despite trying to book an appointment in person at 8:30am, I was treated as if I had just wandered in off the street at 11:50. I was disgusted at this! So I cannot book an appointment in advance unless I pay through the nose to be told that the phones are busy & then get cut off, or be put on hold for 10 minutes :mad:
Definitely going to be writing a letter of complaint about this. I didn't mention anything about it to the doctor as she's new and so relatively low on the chain of command, plus she was a lovely woman, but she did say that if I had left it another day (as my husband almost did due to them being so reluctant to give any kind of appointment) I could have ended up with severe kidney problems, as she had caught the infection just in time.

Did you not say earlier you could only make appointments by phone?

MamaMoo_2

NCISROCKS wrote: »

Did you not say earlier you could only make appointments by phone?

Yes.
Any time I walk in, I've always been told to leave and call in, and if I've got no credit, they just say tough.
I'm certain the only reason I was allowed to 'walk in' was because my husband said that he was worried the abdominal pain may be a sign of retained placenta (something one of the community midwives had suggested before telling me to get myself to my GP or A&E as a matter of urgency) and that if they didn't give me an appointment, he wouldn't leave the surgery.

NCISROCKS

MamaMoo wrote: »

Yes.
Any time I walk in, I've always been told to leave and call in, and if I've got no credit, they just say tough.
I'm certain the only reason I was allowed to 'walk in' was because my husband said that he was worried the abdominal pain may be a sign of retained placenta (something one of the community midwives had suggested before telling me to get myself to my GP or A&E as a matter of urgency) and that if they didn't give me an appointment, he wouldn't leave the surgery.

Really? That's unbelievable!

flossy_splodge

NCISROCKS wrote: »

Really? That's unbelievable!

Sadly NOT unbelievable.
Any country that can enjoy the spectacle of the Lord Mayors show in London as thousands seem to be doing today where there is a HUGE emphasis on 'our brave lads' (due to it being Armistice weekend) yet appears NOT to react to the leaked report that wounded soldiers are to be made redundant as a cost cutting measure, such a country would think little of leaving a newly delivered mum in pain and possibly at risk.
After all, it's all about money, isn't it.