Getting a doctors appointment

valk_scot

My mum used to be allowed to book appointments face to face because she was tagged on the computer as unable to communicate well by phone due to being partially deaf. This also meant that if she was due to get results over the phone the receptionists knew to say that she was to come down to the surgery, her results were in. Etc. I would have presumed that most surgeries offer this option, the difficulty is that you had to get your GP to tag you as such and you'd have to get an appointment to see them first, no?

pigpen

Pixiechic wrote: »

You don't have to tell the receptionist anything about your medical situation.

The receptionist is not qualified to determine your medical needs. Outrageous!

I ask when they qualified as doctors lol

OP.. Our surgery is the same there are 2 prebookable appointments each day ONLY for those who work which is fair enough and I do think there should be more.. this is not per doctor but for the whole surgery.. BUT.. members of ethnic minority groups can book appointments whenever they want for whenever they want. Us mortals have to phone at 8am for an appointment.. not easy when you are getting children ready for school at that time.. by 8:15 at the LATEST every appointment for that day has gone. It takes forever to get an appointment.. I had to wait 3 weeks for one when I had tonsillitis, glandular fever and a UTI.. which by then had resulted in my kidneys failing.. I was rather ill by this point.

I tend to ask for a home visit now if they refuse to give one of the children an appointment.. they tend to fit them in pretty darn quick then!

tea_lover

There are no pre-bookable appointments at my GP's surgery at all. You just have to call at 8am and hope for the best :mad:

That worked particularly well for me when I left home at 6.30am to get to work 60 miles away. They were still telling me I had to call at 8am, be on hold for at least 45 mins, then hope for an appt that day - which I had no hope of getting to as I worked bl**dy miles away. Muppets.

ETA: and they close every Thursday afternoon, have no evening or weekend surgeries and only have 2 tiny parking spaces. I really need to change GP's!

JimmyTheWig

pigpen wrote: »

Our surgery is the same there are 2 prebookable appointments each day ONLY for those who work which is fair enough and I do think there should be more.. this is not per doctor but for the whole surgery.. BUT.. members of ethnic minority groups can book appointments whenever they want for whenever they want.

Is that their rules?
Or is it the case, for example, that some people have arrangements in place for reasons you don't know about and these people happen to be from ethnic minorities?

scooby088

Simple thing is when ringing for an emergency never ring your gp as there is a receptionist who think she is medically qualified to diagnose you over the phone. Normally I just goto the walk in centre for urgent when I can't get in to see my gp, otherwise I have to wait a week for something none urgent.

pigpen

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Is that their rules?
Or is it the case, for example, that some people have arrangements in place for reasons you don't know about and these people happen to be from ethnic minorities?

No that is their policy I have spoken to the practice manager about it after struggling to get even an emergency appointment for my son who I was fairly sure had diabetes and couldn't get to see the GP.. They do try to fit in those who are known to have certain illnesses and the elderly before anyone else too.

JimmyTheWig

pigpen wrote: »

No that is their policy I have spoken to the practice manager about it after struggling to get even an emergency appointment for my son who I was fairly sure had diabetes and couldn't get to see the GP..

Did you ask the practice manager why this was their policy?

How are they defining ethnic minorities? Can you claim that you have some, say, Welsh ancestory and so be allowed to book an appointment?

FatVonD

My surgery was just as infuriating, you'd have to call at 8.30am which is when I should be leaving to catch my train so if all the appointments had already gone then I'd missed the train for nothing and had to repeat the process the next day.

They have now introduced a system when you can book online which seems to work fine as long as it's not an emergency. I have rung to get a short notice appointment for my son since then and was told they didn't have any so I said I wished to cancel my advance booking for that same day and he'd have that one thanks

Murtle

I consider all appointments only bookable on the day as a normal appointment as that is all that is ever available. My surgery run a fornightly appointment booking and if that's full I have to phone the following week when they open the next slots up. Ours recently had their systems upgraded - they didn't take any bookings during those times - apparently they aren't competent enough to run a manual bookings process, instead it was a wait and you might be seen by a doctor! I am very glad I don't have to see a doctor too often as my faith in them has deteriorated drastically over the last few years.

fluffnutter

pigpen wrote: »

BUT.. members of ethnic minority groups can book appointments whenever they want for whenever they want.

Are you sure this is actually their policy? Or does it just seem like that? I'd be very surprised if their 'Welcome to our surgery' booklet says..

'How to book an appointment:

If you're white British, then you can book an appointment by phoning the surgery between 8am and 8.15am.

If you're non-white, then you can phone at any time.'