Stupid bloomin doctor's!

prowla

photome wrote: »

We can phone at 8am and get a same day with a NP

It can be very frustrating at our docs though

What would be a better way and how would it work

Well, if you go in person at the end of the day before, it seems stupid that they won't give an appointment unless you go/phone at the start of the next day.

pullenuk

Its worse for a Deaf person who cannot phone and online appointments can be booked same day. We usually have no choice to either get someone to phone which often not always possible to. Other way is to simply turn up (when ill) try and get an appointment only to have to leave and come back. If I was well enough to do that I could've gone to work.

Stupid and unfair system

pulliptears

There is a way around it (ours is the same I add, call at 8 for same day appointment). If your practice uses 'Patient Access' you can get a password from them and set up an account via your smartphone or a computer. The way our GP works is a portion of appointments are allocated to patient access.
Not many people in our area are as technologically savvy as other areas so this means that there are usually quicker appointments to be had by going through the patient access system.

You still wont get a same day appointment by using it, but you can usually get within the week rather that waiting a couple of weeks if booked via the phone.

I don't know how other GP's allocate their booking systems but it's worth a try.

giraffe69

Its worse for a Deaf person who cannot phone and online appointments can be booked same day.

Might be worth asking the Practice Manager politely how they cater for those with sight or hearing disabilities. Sounds like it is a question they won't want asked.

szam_

Where I used to live, if you weren't lucky enough to get an appointment when ringing at 8am, you wouldn't get an appointment. They never booked in advance either.

So basically, furiously ring from 8am to 8:05am, constantly engaged or a "broken" phone system which for some reason had been the same for 2 years. Finally get through, and be told to ring tomorrow as there are no more appointments. After three weeks of this I switched practice.

nwc389

Ours is hopeless , you have to call but are then told there are no appointments and they have no facility at all for you to sit and wait to see a doctor if you are ill . The walk in centres are full of people who can't get appointments and they have also closed one of the walk in centres down - you couldn't make it up

McKneff

On Tuesday I rang and got an emergency appointment, went to the docs and sat there for 45 minutes and because there was no one coming or going I asked the receptionist if the doc was in the building.
Oh yes, she has some one with her at the moment, she asked my name and then informed me that she thought it was me in there with the doc and that the doc was indeed not in the builing and had left for an emergency an hour ago ggrrrr.
I had to leave for an appointment elsewhere. Fair enough, emergencies do happen but I just wish they had told me when I arrived that the doc had gone out on an emergency.

pinpin

where I live, we are lucky have a really good A+E, and everyone just uses that now instead of the GP's!
It's starting to be exploited, although with the useless Doctor Surgeries, you can see why it's happening.

Just walk in and within 30 mins they're running all the tests that would take weeks if you went through your GP.

StrongWork

pinpin wrote: »

where I live, we are lucky have a really good A+E, and everyone just uses that now instead of the GP's!
It's starting to be exploited, although with the useless Doctor Surgeries, you can see why it's happening.

Just walk in and within 30 mins they're running all the tests that would take weeks if you went through your GP.

That sounds like a great and appropriate use of resources.

Part of the reason why getting an appointment with one's GP is a struggle is the amount of 'wasted' appointments for triviality that has to be dealt with.

Sore throat for a day - GP.
Cough for a day - GP.
Little finger hurts - GP.
Diarrhoea last night - GP.

Unfortunately in these instances where self care and a modicum of common sense is required the default option is 'GP'.

Of course, this impacts on individuals who are genuinely sick and do attempt to get appointments - the result - none left.

Doctors/appointments are finite. If they are wasted on rubbish they will run out.

themarsbargirl

My surgery does not book any advance appts, you have to call up on the day which is most frustrating for me when i have to see a dr every 6 weeks to assess my fitness forwork.