Seeing a GP at the hospital?

charlotte1994

Hi all,


I needed to see my GP about my knee, I rang up and they didn't have any appointments for when I needed so they booked me in to see a GP at the local hospital this Saturday. As this is out of hours - are there any costs that come with this? She didn't mention it at the time but I wanted to make sure now. I've never had to see a hospital GP before, I'm guessing it's basically the same but not in my local practise :think: sorry for the stupid question, I didn't want to be caught out on Saturday!

suejb2

Phone whoever made the appointments for you.

jwil

The out of hours service here is run from the hospital. There's no charge the same as normal GP.

Here you generally walk through a packed A&E to get to an empty/quiet out of hours GP. I bet many of the people who turn up to A&E with minor conditions that are not emergencies would get seen sooner if they requested an out of hours appointment instead.

charlotte1994

jwil wrote: »

The out of hours service here is run from the hospital. There's no charge the same as normal GP.

Here you generally walk through a packed A&E to get to an empty/quiet out of hours GP. I bet many of the people who turn up to A&E with minor conditions that are not emergencies would get seen sooner if they requested an out of hours appointment instead.

Thank you x I had no idea they had this service at my local hospital! But yes you're right I'm sure most people just need a quick doctors appointment but can't wait a week

Mimi86

It's likely to be an extended hours hub which is quite common now. I have been to other practices etc which is where my local hubs are run.

jenniewb

They've been running a "full" service (in inverted comers as there are no specialists working, but nurses and essential staff- so a more pared down service) for referals for scans and etc at my local hospital in London for maybe 10 years now- they offered me an Xray on a Saturday afternoon by post (as in; I didn't ask for a specific day this was the routine day given) and another on a Sunday for an MRI a few years later at a different hospital, both NHS both services run by the NHS. I just assumed they were integrating the 7 day week service. I know from speaking with my sister who is a nurse that she is paid more for a Sunday shift when she works but this cost is still lower than bank or agency staff and a skeletal service without a specialist on hand no matter if it is a Sunday would no doubt cost less.


I was aware of an out of hours GP but ours is only offered via A&E or calling 111 and being referred. It always seemed better to me to get help before things got worse and required more time, energy and money if you were worried about costs.

KxMx

We have an extended hours GP located at another Surgery, and an out of hours GP service based at the Hospital.

The former will usually be offered if normal Surgery doesn't have appointments, the latter is accessible via 111 only.