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Trying to get through to the doctor....
Comments
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To Loz01 and Onomatopoeia99, I read LKRDN_Morgan's post as meaning only online appts were possible.If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales0
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-I_told_you_so wrote: »Therein lies the difference. Your dog is a private patient, you either pay for this service out of your own pocket or his pet insurance will pay the vet. = quick and efficient service.
You can get the same service as a human being if you pay for it or have private medical insurance.
The NHS on the other hand is past its sell by date and will eventually implode.
You will have to face the brutal reality that the only way forward will be health insurance schemes like you have everywhere else on the planet, i.e. you will have to pay a lot more for your health service than you currently do as the current form is totally unsustainable.
It will take a brave government to do it, but it will have to be done at some point.
Yes definitely the nhs is definitely well past its sell by date- point made really to illustrate how we treat ourselves so poorly as humans. I pay £9 a month to insure my dog. It is miniscule compared to what I pay in tax per year which feeds into a contribution in the NHS - at the levels I pay tax, the percentage of tax paid that equals my input into the healthcare system is somewhere in the region of £900 - £1200 per year. yet my dog has better access to healthcare based on £9 per mnth
Personally I would really like the option or opportunity to withdraw from the mandatory system and input that £900 or so into a private healthcare system .The opposite of what you know...is also true0 -
Personally I would really like the option or opportunity to withdraw from the mandatory system and input that £900 or so into a private healthcare system .
I assume you wouldn't expect to still be able to use the ambulance service, or A&E or get an ICU bed if you needed one, or a donated organ?0 -
kingfisherblue wrote: »26 minutes on hold, and counting. I was position number three when I first rang, and average waiting time was three minutes. I finally moved up to position number 1 at 5.01pm, and average waiting time had changed to four minutes.
All I want to know is when a flu jab is to be booked for my disabled son - we haven't received a letter. I've looked on the surgery website (no email available) and the flu clinic was two weeks ago.
And in the time taken to type this, I have now been on hold for 28 minutes!
I had this experience earlier this year when my daughter had an asthma attack. We both tried ringing for over half an hour from when the surgery first opened only to be told, when we finally got through, that all appointments had been taken and we should go to a walk in centre. Waiting time 4 hours.
She was feeling too ill to stand for 4 hours in an airless room packed with sick people so she used her father's inhaler. However she still needed an inhaler so had to take a second morning off work the following day to go to the walk in centre (no appointments at doctors again). After the long wait she explained to the foreign doctor about how she had suddenly experienced an asthma attack on the train to work. His words to her 'so what do you want me to do about it.' She asked for an inhaler and he wrote her a prescription. No questions, no examination, nothing. Our family very very rarely go to the doctor.
I think if there is a next time I will dial 999.The forest would be very silent if no birds sang except for the birds that sang the best0 -
I tried to phone the doctor Monday morning and the line was busy from 8am to 11am, when I finally got through after being in a queue for about 10 minutes.
The reception staff have to ask what is wrong to decide who you need to see and whether you need to get a face to face or phone consultation. The doctor phoned me back within the hour, faxed my prescription to the chemist who then delivered it to my home.
If it had been a life or death situation I would not have waited 3 hours to get through on the phone.
Roll forward to Thursday and feeling desperately unwell phoned to ask for advice whether to go to Doctors or hospital (had an op last week). The receptionist phoned me back within 10 minutes and I got a taxi to the surgery and was seen within 5 minutes.
I have been very happy with my treatment after my op last week and cannot fault my doctors/receptionists. However in the past with other illnesses I have been told there are no appointments and to visit the treatment centre. I guess it depends on the illness/circumstances.0% credit card £1360 & 0% Car Loan £7500 ~ paid in full JAN 2020 = NOW DEBT FREE 🤗
House sale OCT 2022 = NOW MORTGAGE FREE 🤗
House purchase completed FEB 2023 🥳🍾 Left work. 🤗
Retired at 55 & now living off the equity £10k a year (until pensions start at 60 & 67).
Previous Savings diary https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5597938/get-a-grip/p1
Living off savings diary
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6429003/escape-to-the-country-living-off-savings/p10 -
I had this experience earlier this year when my daughter had an asthma attack. We both tried ringing for over half an hour from when the surgery first opened only to be told, when we finally got through, that all appointments had been taken and we should go to a walk in centre. Waiting time 4 hours.
She was feeling too ill to stand for 4 hours in an airless room packed with sick people so she used her father's inhaler. However she still needed an inhaler so had to take a second morning off work the following day to go to the walk in centre (no appointments at doctors again). After the long wait she explained to the foreign doctor about how she had suddenly experienced an asthma attack on the train to work. His words to her 'so what do you want me to do about it.' She asked for an inhaler and he wrote her a prescription. No questions, no examination, nothing. Our family very very rarely go to the doctor.
I think if there is a next time I will dial 999.
They have chairs in walk in centres, despite the name.
The contribution of foreigners to the NHS is fantastic, I agree.
In all seriousness, please do not dial 999 unless it is a genuine emergency.0 -
I had this experience earlier this year when my daughter had an asthma attack. We both tried ringing for over half an hour from when the surgery first opened only to be told, when we finally got through, that all appointments had been taken and we should go to a walk in centre. Waiting time 4 hours.
She was feeling too ill to stand for 4 hours in an airless room packed with sick people so she used her father's inhaler. However she still needed an inhaler so had to take a second morning off work the following day to go to the walk in centre (no appointments at doctors again). After the long wait she explained to the foreign doctor about how she had suddenly experienced an asthma attack on the train to work. His words to her 'so what do you want me to do about it.' She asked for an inhaler and he wrote her a prescription. No questions, no examination, nothing. Our family very very rarely go to the doctor.
I think if there is a next time I will dial 999.
The lesson here is that people who have asthma should make sure that they don't let their inhalers run out without replacing them!
An ambulance would be appropriate if she was struggling to breathe and her blue inhaler was not relieving the symptoms.
Calling 999 just to get a repeat prescription would have been selfish and irresponsible.0 -
They have chairs in walk in centres, despite the name.
The contribution of foreigners to the NHS is fantastic, I agree.
In all seriousness, please do not dial 999 unless it is a genuine emergency.
Nothing against foreigners working in the NHS but have always thought we'd have equally, if not better, care and treatment if we released the funding to train up many more of our own 'would be doctors and nurses'. I actually get fed up with all politicians telling us the NHS would fall apart without foreigners, not if we trained our own it wouldn't.
My GS qualified as a doctor two years ago and would very much like to go out to East Timor where he did his placement, but,...........he's very mindful of the 'over half a million' it cost to train him, and feels he owes the NHS at least 10 years before he goes elsewhere. At least 5 years should be a requirement, imo.
For such a rich country it's a crime that our public institutions are so underfunded.0 -
My wife just changed GPs. I was put off when the new GP asked my 7 year old for her driving licence and a utility bill in her name before they could register her.
Hahaha! :rotfl:
Something like this happened to us once. We tried to register at a new doctors when we moved house circa 2009, when our daughter was 14. We all had passports and me and hubby had driving licences. They said they needed photo ID... We will all be OK I thought, as we have passports.
Errrr no sorry. Because the only photo ID my daughter had was her passport, and it didn't have our address on it, which the receptionist insisted they needed!!! Well, passports don't HAVE your address on! And she had no driving licence, as she was 14! The receptionist insisted we need something official of hers with her photo on!
US; What can we give you then?
HER: An official letter written to her.
US: well THAT isn't photo ID is it? Can someone at the school like her headmaster sign the back of a photo verifying it's her?
HER: No, can't accept that!
US: But you have accepted us, and she is our daughter.
HER: Need photo ID with address on.
US: shook our heads and walked out.
The way we got round it was that me and hubby got registered, and I went to see Doctor Smith soon after, and I had known him for 25 years as he lived near me, and I asked him if he could help. The day after I saw him, I got a call from the SAME receptionist saying we needed to come sign some stuff so they could complete our daughter's registration.
Done.
What a palava!
* :wall: *
That surgery was always a mare to get to see someone. Unless you were lucky and got a cancellation.
Where we are now is OK. We have rarely waited more than 5 minutes for them to answer the phone. Maybe 10 minutes a few times on a Monday morning. If you need to see a doctor that day, you can go at half eight and queue, and will be seen that morning. Sometimes you will be there til half ten, sometimes you will be seen by half nine. If you are in the first 5 or 6 people in the queue (so go wait at about 8.15am before they open,) you can sometimes be out by 9am.
Oh and we didn't need ANYthing to register. Just our address and NHS numbers!
A routine appointment usually has anything from a 10 to 20 day wait. I have rung before (say on 5th Sept) and got an appointment for 25th Sept. (20 days wait.) Then I ring back on 7th Sept, and get an appointment for 17th! Or even the 11th or 12th... I think it's because they stick extra appointments in, or they have a few cancellations.
The receptionists are nice too at our current surgery (except one grizzly harridan,) but every surgery I have ever been registered at before this one, has had snooty receptionists.Person_one wrote: »The lesson here is that people who have asthma should make sure that they don't let their inhalers run out without replacing them!
An ambulance would be appropriate if she was struggling to breathe and her blue inhaler was not relieving the symptoms.
Calling 999 just to get a repeat prescription would have been selfish and irresponsible.
Hmmmm good points.
I wonder if anyone has ever had an asthma attack when they actually have their blue inhaler with them? :huh:Proud to have lost over 3 stone (45 pounds,) in the past year! :j Now a size 14!
You're not singing anymore........ You're not singing any-more!
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DH very rarely needs to use his blue inhaler, but rarely leaves home without it. He uses a preventer morning and evening.I wonder if anyone has ever had an asthma attack when they actually have their blue inhaler with them? :huh:
I have only once seen him having a full-blown attack, after I asked him to move a rug. We had to call the GP out. The GP gave him a right telling-off, saying how irresponsible it was not to have an inhaler. THEN the GP asked when his last attack had been. Between desperate gasps, DH said ...
"About ... four ... teen ... years ... a ... go ..."
GP was slightly more sympathetic at that point, and changed the prescription he was writing from two inhalers to one ...
Since then, he has kept an inhaler, and replaced it as it goes out of date. Neither of us want to go through that again!Signature removed for peace of mind0
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