No appointments available at GP online booking system for 3 weeks?

maman

Our system locally seems to work much better but not if you want to see a named doctor.


I'm fortunate in that I live close to the practice so I find I far better to go there in person than phone.


There is an online system but I've never tried it.


Appointments can be made in advance. If flexible you'll get an appointment in a few days. For a named doctor it can be 3 weeks.


If it's urgent, then extra appointments are released every day at 11. 00.am. So we can ring (or in my case get in the queue) at that time and be seen later the same day.


I agree, the system doesn't work well for working people. When I was at work I'd have found it almost impossible to make a phone call at 11 o'clock although I suppose if I was feeling that unwell maybe I wouldn't have been at work.


What's always annoyed me is that I can make an appointment with my dentist, chiropodist, hygienist (even my hairdresser) way in advance but not with the GP. They also seem to avoid missed appointments by phoning or sending an email reminder.

sheramber

I explained that due to the nature of my condition, I should like to see a lady doctor. I was told that that the male locum was the only available non-urgent appointment in the next three week period and if I wanted to see a practice doctor, I should try phoning again next Tuesday (Monday is bank holiday.)

If you were told to wait until next Tuesday to phone why did you

So on Wednesday just gone I registered to book online for non urgent appointments. The system offered me the option of booking up to 3 weeks in advance with a chosen GP. Turned out to be no appointments available with any of the GPs, salaried doctors or locums in the 3 week window from then. I tried again on Friday, same thing.

So I tried to book again on line this morning, as soon as I woke up, at around 6:30am, in case the 3 week period started again on a Sunday. Still no appointments available with any of the doctors. Are they really all booked out by 6:30am on the first day of a three week window.?

It would seem that the system will not be updated until next Tuesday.

Fire_Fox

My practice does not have online booking. There are never any prebookable appointments if you telephone.

Receptionists always advise to telephone at 8.30am, at which point you are put into a 'queue' telephone appointment/ priority assessment for same day / urgent appointments. By 'queue' I mean that a doctor will telephone you at some time that morning.

I have resorted to requesting to speak to the Practice Manager every time there are no prebookable appointments available. Not urgent =/= not important. I would suggest everyone do the same, register the problem with the Practice Manager.

funguy

GP Practices are under immense pressure at present due to a national shortage of GPs and also massively increasing demand.



This week alone the papers have picked up articles about the UK having 10 minute patient appointments compared to most European countries having 20 minute appointments or longer. For the UK to switch to this would mean GPs seeing half the number of patients or double the amount of GPs.



Also GPs in this country deal with over 90% of ALL NHS patient contacts. In return the funding going to GPs has fallen over the years from about 11% to 7-8% of the NHS budget. Maybe this is partly to blame for the lack of appointments?



Papers a week or so ago reported on UK GPs seeing upwards of 40 patients in a day - some as high as 60!! In other countries there are safety limits of 25-30. Do you want to be the 40th or 50th patient seen by a tired GP?



Maybe we should petition our MPs for more funding for Primary Care and GP Practices. No one wants to be a GP these days and 100s of GP Practices are closing every year in the UK. For those of you concerned that more money for GP Practices will go into the GPs pockets rather than increasing patient capacity, why dont you ask the MPs at the same time to salary the GPs just like hospital doctors/consultants? Its very easy to blame the practices and the GPs for lack of appointments - do we blame the individual bank managers/tellers when a bank branch gets closed down? If we want better timely access to our GPs then lets fight for it and demand that we have a decent employed GP service with the capacity for patients to be seen with within 48 hours.....

funguy

Pennywise wrote: »

Hardly surprising when they get paid "per patient" rather than "per appointment". More patients on their books means more profit for the partners!

If the government didn't think they were getting a great deal on this model, they could easily switch the GPs to a salaried service just like hospital doctors/consultants or switch to a fee per appointment basis. Both these models exist in other countries - interestingly all of which spend more on Primary Care than we do in the UK.



So you have to wonder why they don't change the model when they negotiate the contracts?? Maybe because the current model means this is the cheapest way for them to fund Primary Care at the expense of access for patients and overworking the GPs!

roddydogs

Just keep phoning as soon as the practise opens, not " ill leave it fo 10 mins" never failed for me, and ive never been asked to describe symptoms.

pmduk

The practice I use has a telephone triage system. When you call, a doctor calls you back within an hour to check the problem. Much of the time the issue can pe sorted out over the phone. If not, an appt is made for the same or next day. Seems to work well.

DiddleyConfusedOne

My GP practice have used an online booking system for a few years and it was once good. I could easily book to see a specific GP a few weeks in advance.

Now it's impossible, I can't book online for any GP in the practice nor can I get an appointment via the phone for the next 4 weeks. Absolutely atrocious!

And it's been like this for the last six months.

Robin9

I received a letter from my doctor yesterday (June 3rd) as a follow up from an illness requesting that I make an appointment to see him.

Telephoned the surgery - first available appointment is June 26th.