Long wait for doctor's appointment

Emma_N

Having to wait a month for an appointment with your GP seems excessive!

At my surgery you can always get an appointment on the same day if it's an emergency. You can't request to see a specific doctor but you will always get an appointment.

The surgery has introduced an online system which is great as it means I can book my appointments when I know I need to call in for a repeat prescription. The system has apparently made it easy to book appointments by phone as less people are phoning the surgery.

OP. Does your surgery not have a patient charter or something similar which outlines service standards/waiting times etc?

BTW I think there are something in the region of 15.5 million missed GP appointments each year.

fionajbanana

doughnutmachine wrote: »

but if something is free at point of use they are more likely to abuse it. if there was a fee (like a tenner) people would be less likely to go to the doctor because they had a cold.

if i was a doctor's receptionist i would rather give appointments to people that haven't been in years rather than people who are in every month. after all the person that hasn't been in for ten years is more likely to have a legitimate problem.

I have medication which cannot be ordered on repeat prescription and only can be done via a GP.

Plus I have been back n forth to the docs as another medication was discontinued by the pharmaceutical and took three visits and three different medications before found one that agreed with me

ThumbRemote

doughnutmachine wrote: »

but if something is free at point of use they are more likely to abuse it. if there was a fee (like a tenner) people would be less likely to go to the doctor because they had a cold.

if i was a doctor's receptionist i would rather give appointments to people that haven't been in years rather than people who are in every month. after all the person that hasn't been in for ten years is more likely to have a legitimate problem.

What a barmy idea. So much so that I expect the government will suggest it themselves soon.

You're suggesting that the most ill - who also tend to be the poorest - end up paying the most for seeing a GP.

Also, the whole point of a GPs is primary care. If you dissuade people from that, you end up catching many problems way later, and simply end up paying out hundreds of times as much in care later. Haven't you seen all the adverts trying to encourage people to see the doctor? The last things that's needed is to try and put them off.

Humphrey10

My current GP has a system where if you ring up on the day and say you need an appointment that day, you will be booked a telephone appointment with a doctor who will assess you over the phone and then if needed will make you a face to face appointment with a doctor or nurse, or if you know what is wrong with you will leave a prescription at the counter for you to pick up. It works well I think.

zaksmum

doughnutmachine wrote: »

i would still suggest that going to the doctor once a month would only cost £120 a year at a tenner a visit.

a tenner is enough to to discourage the people that consider a visit to the gp as a day out. but it's not enough to discourage people that have a genuine ailment.

But as usual it would be anyone who has worked all their lives paying out and those who have sat back and lived off the state getting it all for free.

katejo

fionajbanana wrote: »

So glad my GP has a drop in clinic every morning. I always get there at 8:25am and normally the 3rd patient. I just play games on my iPhone (on silent) to pass the time.

My previous GP practice you had to phone up at 8:30-9:00 each morning to get an appt. Was annoying to get the bloody engaged tone all the time and on the odd occasion, no more slots! OK for your days off as I wasn't fussed what time I saw the doc, but on days where I stated work at 12-1pm, always the afternoon appts available. I am really going to take a 2:20pm appt when my GP practice was 15 mins drive from work in the middle of the day.

Do GP practices understand that about half of their patients work?

15 minutes journey would not be too bad . Takes me 45mins to get to an appt from work. My practice has decided to abolish most advance appts due to patients not showing up. We will have to ring on the day . It has put me off trying to see the doctor unless essential

katejo

Emma_N wrote: »

Having to wait a month for an appointment with your GP seems excessive!

At my surgery you can always get an appointment on the same day if it's an emergency. You can't request to see a specific doctor but you will always get an appointment.

The surgery has introduced an online system which is great as it means I can book my appointments when I know I need to call in for a repeat prescription. The system has apparently made it easy to book appointments by phone as less people are phoning the surgery.

OP. Does your surgery not have a patient charter or something similar which outlines service standards/waiting times etc?

BTW I think there are something in the region of 15.5 million missed GP appointments each year.

My practice was supposed to have an online booking system but it failed dismally . On logging on I always got a message which said 'no appts available . If you need one , please contact the surgery ' ! How completely useless

ceebeeby

We're also same day service. OH rang on Friday at 2 expecting to be told Monday, and they told him to be there for 4 same day. Non urgent. That's quality service, and we appreciate it.

doughnutmachine

ThumbRemote wrote: »

What a barmy idea. So much so that I expect the government will suggest it themselves soon.

You're suggesting that the most ill - who also tend to be the poorest - end up paying the most for seeing a GP.

Also, the whole point of a GPs is primary care. If you dissuade people from that, you end up catching many problems way later, and simply end up paying out hundreds of times as much in care later. Haven't you seen all the adverts trying to encourage people to see the doctor? The last things that's needed is to try and put them off.

most countries don't have a health system like the nhs (it's either private or insurance), yet their public health seems ok....

people should be able to budget for things that are important to them. if the "poor" would rather spend money on fags and sky telly rather than visit the doctor it's really their decision.

Fire_Fox

doughnutmachine wrote: »

most countries don't have a health system like the nhs (it's either private or insurance), yet their public health seems ok....

people should be able to budget for things that are important to them. if the "poor" would rather spend money on fags and sky telly rather than visit the doctor it's really their decision.

Does it seem OK? If you spend any time on US forums that are frequented by females, it becomes clear they have more of a culture of self diagnosing and self medicating than we do.

I've seen on US skin/ dermatology forums people openly discussing purchasing roaccutane online which is so vicious it can only be prescribed by a hospital dermatologist here in the UK, not even an NHS GP. Some can't consistently afford contraception or their prescription for mental health issues. Don't get me started on their obsession with 'vitamins' (= any supplement including herbal remedies) including megadosing.

It's the younger ones who often don't have the common sense to prioritise and budget for their health even if they can afford it. Many of us thought we were invincible when young and cringe at the decisions we made in our teens or early twenties. Do we really want to go down the road where teens cannot afford contraception or are self prescribing powerful acne drugs? There's already a minority who take recreational substances or anabolic steroids, you want to extend that?