Getting a doctors appointment

GwylimT

At our surgery (and virtually every surgery I have known) a certain proportion of appointments can be booked in advance for specific reasons, e.g. need tests every so often or course of injections.

Then for an appointment on the day you call at 8:00 am for appointments after 10:30 am, between the hours of 8:00 am until 10:30 am there is a walk in clinic where you can either see a nurse or a GP.

Callie22

My GP surgery isn't too bad, I've never seen a doctor there (only a nurse) but you can generally get a nurse appointment within a week or so. The one time OH did have to see a doctor then he was able to within a few days, and I don't doubt that they'd fit you in sooner if you really needed it.

One thing that does annoy me though is that it's practically impossible to get early morning or evening appointments. They make a big thing of having those available but despite stressing that I work full-time and can't really take time off just to get a repeat prescription for the pill, I still can't get one of these magical early or late appointments. I did once ask for a morning appointment with the nurse only to be told that 'we save those for the old people's blood tests' ...

Torry_Quine

Callie22 wrote: »

My GP surgery isn't too bad, I've never seen a doctor there (only a nurse) but you can generally get a nurse appointment within a week or so. The one time OH did have to see a doctor then he was able to within a few days, and I don't doubt that they'd fit you in sooner if you really needed it.

One thing that does annoy me though is that it's practically impossible to get early morning or evening appointments. They make a big thing of having those available but despite stressing that I work full-time and can't really take time off just to get a repeat prescription for the pill, I still can't get one of these magical early or late appointments. I did once ask for a morning appointment with the nurse only to be told that 'we save those for the old people's blood tests' ...

I don't work and yet have been offered appointments at 7am which is of no use to me at all. :mad:

lostinrates

Callie22 wrote: »

My GP surgery isn't too bad, I've never seen a doctor there (only a nurse) but you can generally get a nurse appointment within a week or so. The one time OH did have to see a doctor then he was able to within a few days, and I don't doubt that they'd fit you in sooner if you really needed it.

One thing that does annoy me though is that it's practically impossible to get early morning or evening appointments. They make a big thing of having those available but despite stressing that I work full-time and can't really take time off just to get a repeat prescription for the pill, I still can't get one of these magical early or late appointments. I did once ask for a morning appointment with the nurse only to be told that 'we save those for the old people's blood tests' ...

We have one Saturday morning clinic a month. (Sometimes once a fortnight if enough people demand it) For personal reasons I choose to go to so e appts with my husband who works. I am always plagues with guilt for taking a Saturday appt till I get there and gather that by far the majority of other patients there on the Saturday are also non workers. It does seem tough on workers who complain they cannot get appoint ments often.

pigpen

GwylimT wrote: »

At our surgery (and virtually every surgery I have known) a certain proportion of appointments can be booked in advance for specific reasons, e.g. need tests every so often or course of injections.

Then for an appointment on the day you call at 8:00 am for appointments after 10:30 am, between the hours of 8:00 am until 10:30 am there is a walk in clinic where you can either see a nurse or a GP.

Stuff like this is done by the nurse at ours which is why she is booked weeks in advance.. People going for bp checks, dressings changed, bloods etc book a month in advance so nothing is left if you need to go for anything else.

Savvy_Sue

Oh yes, another joyous thing: our surgery sent out letters to everyone with asthma, inviting them to make a nurse appointment for their annual review.

DH was up there the same day he got his letter, so asked to make his appointment. There were two available. Not two left, only two had been made available at all.

Fortunately he was able to book one of them, apologies to the rest of the asthma sufferers!!!

notanewuser

2 people I've known since childhood are GPs. One now lives on the other side of the country and the other lives on the other side of the world.

I consult with them over everything (skype is a fabulous thing) before even attempting to get a doctor's appointment.

trevor_john

pigpen wrote: »

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!

Crikey!!, Are you absolutely sure about that comment regarding ethnic minorities ? If your surgery is doing that then they are practising discrimination against non ethnic minorities and surely that is against the law. I can't see any gp surgery being that reckless or stupid. If they are then you should report them asap.

pigpen

trevor_john wrote: »

Crikey!!, Are you absolutely sure about that comment regarding ethnic minorities ? If your surgery is doing that then they are practising discrimination against non ethnic minorities and surely that is against the law. I can't see any gp surgery being that reckless or stupid. If they are then you should report them asap.

Please, read my further posts on the matter.. I understand WHY it is easier for the surgery to do it but it doesn't seem very fair... esp with so few prebookable appointments even for those who work and struggle to get there.

And yes, 100% certain!

j.e.j.

trevor_john wrote: »

Crikey!!, Are you absolutely sure about that comment regarding ethnic minorities ? If your surgery is doing that then they are practising discrimination against non ethnic minorities and surely that is against the law. I can't see any gp surgery being that reckless or stupid. If they are then you should report them asap.

From what I can gather I don't think it's official policy, more that the ethnic minorities say they don't understand when they are told there are no pre-bookable appointments and the surgery can't be ar5ed with hiring a translator to tell them! So they just let them have the appointments.