GPs and opening times, whats going on

I use a very large practice but the new system is so far working really well for us I don’t use the doctors very much prefer self help wherever possible but over the 15 month lockdown I have had to use it twice both times I filled an email form in the evening by the next morning I had an answer telling me I would get a phone call from MY OWN. Doctor after 9 am and very soon after 9 I did get a personal call we talked over my problem agreed on a medication that had been used before and by 11 am I had picked up my medication at the nearby pharmacy This saved me a two week wait for an appointment (with any GP) and two bus rides
Again for the vaccination i was rung for a next day appointment I went on time and it was run like clockwork straight in, ja, straight out next person in
I ve got nothing but praise for the new system

I should have added I can well understand people with more complex needs wanting face to face contact but surely if you can deal with more simple cases over the phone or video call that leave the practice freer for more complex health needs We all know how many no shows there are every week and how many take up an appointment with a snuffle also with colds and flu surely it’s better for that person to not be sitting in the waiting room

LadyWee
My daughter is a GP. She has discussed the points that your links/posts raise with me. I’m glad a real doctor has decided to post on here, because I know what you say is correct. However, with some posters, you are wasting your breath because some posters are determined they are right whatever is said or explained and despite the actual evidence. The difference between most posters and my daughter or yourself is that people who are actually doctors have read all the information and know the position nationally. Doctors are well informed about their own profession. However individuals who are not doctors are making judgments based their own dissatisfaction and they have no idea how many patients needed to wait for an appointment or how many were seen the same day. It has always seemed strange to me that the posters lamenting not always being able to be seen face to face are the very same ones who have claimed over the last year to never go to the shops or anywhere else, but they apparently desperately want to see the reception staff when they arrive, then possibly meet other people in the building, and finally see the GP who has a much higher chance of being infected with Covid than the socially distanced people in the supermarket, due to the fact that they have been seeing patients face to face all through the pandemic. Hence the number of GPs who have died or suffered from Covid , including my own GP son in law. Of course they don’t go to work once they know they have Covid.

Anyway, as you say, many doctors are leaving to work in other countries where GPs are treated with more respect than they are here by the government and by many of the patients. It’s hardly surprising given their extremely transferable skills, and unfortunately doctors are not being replaced as quickly as they are leaving, as my daughter, who has seen the data, has told me. In fact, next month my daughter and my son in law, both GPs, are leaving to go to work in New Zealand. Why aren’t the general public and in particular, posters on here, concerned about this? Because the more GPs that leave, the less likely they are to be able to get a quick face to face appointment whether they believe they’ve paid for it or not.

Two fewer GPs from next month. And how many more that we don’t know personally? According to the data, many more.

Thank you BlueBelle for a post that tells it how it is for the vast majority of patients in this country. And for your support. Sadly though, your support won’t prevent my daughter and family, and many others, from seeking a more satisfactory working life abroad. There are many equally satisfied patients in the country, but unfortunately many others too. No wonder the doctors are leaving.

GagaJo why do you think doctors are leaving this country? Why do you think that doctors have been leaving for years, whoever was in power? Do you seriously think that doctors have only just started leaving because we’ve got a Conservative government now? Covid has exasperated the situation I agree, but doctors have been leaving for years. We used to call it the brain drain. We’re losing, and have always lost our doctors because other countries value their skills properly and incorporate that respect into their conditions of service. Fewer hours, fewer patients, longer consultation times, more pay. That’s why they’re leaving.

exacerbated

Predictive text, grrrr

I feel so sorry for you Oldbat with a sick husband. If you're not happy about something phone your local hospital and ask them for advice----telling them that you can't get an appointment with your GP. Shame him/her, they get paid enough !

What a shame there are so many entitled patients, eh? How very dare they?

BlueBelle

I should have added I can well understand people with more complex needs wanting face to face contact but surely if you can deal with more simple cases over the phone or video call that leave the practice freer for more complex health needs We all know how many no shows there are every week and how many take up an appointment with a snuffle also with colds and flu surely it’s better for that person to not be sitting in the waiting room

I do have complex needs and that's exactly why I have requested a face to face appointment, but according to one poster, that makes me entitled.

PS. And, yes, I self-diagnose whenever I can and buy my own medication, even though I could receive free prescriptions, but apparently I'm still "entitled".

I phoned the gp practice this morning at 8.30. My GP phoned me back at 8.55 and because I needed to be seen he gave me an appointment at 9.55.

growstuff

What a shame there are so many entitled patients, eh? How very dare they?

Without going over all the points previously made, we are all as UK citizens entitled to NHS care, free at the point of access. However, we are not entitled to demand what we want because we feel the having contributed, that enables us to demand without clinical need. Care is based on need, not want, and unfortunately due to the growth of population, rising age, advances in science, lack of resources, we cannot all have what we want. NHS rationing has to be done. That includes access to GP time. You may be right that your complex health issues need f2f time. Equally they may easily be managed virtually or perhaps a bit of both as seems to suit most people.

BTW as I said, n=1 is not a great statistical sign. NHS Digital does not 'claim' anything. They collate all the information and present it. If you feel that is a 'claim' implying some sort of untruth, there is little point in the debate. NHS digital collate info on all the stats eg waiting times in secondary care, primary care, no. of appts offered, no. of 'do not attends', etc. They do get GP practices to submit timings on things like time taken to answer the call, no. of calls to the practice per day, waiting times for appts so that they can monitor areas in need.

However, you have options if you are disastisfied with your care within the NHS, as moaning on a forum is unlikely to change anything.
1. Register at an another practice.
2. Pay privately for care where, because you are paying you will have more chance of demanding what you want.
3. Be proactive and make noise at your MP to change the system.
4.Complain to NHSE if you believe your practice are acting inappropriately and it will be investigated.
5. Leave the UK and find a better health service elsewhere.

www.ivygrove.org.uk/status.html?ref=ivy.gs/status

You may enjoy this reading. A brave post by a surgery feeling the pressures felt by all and trying to highlight some of the issues GPs face.

My son who is a GP showed me this, I am sure it will offend many but it speaks the truth, one that is echoed by many of my friends who are looking to retire earlier than expected to escape. I was in secondary care so dealt with many other frustrations but have several family members working flat out in primary care and several close friends, many of whom are burnt out and looking to leave.

Ladywee I like your numbers 1 - 5 list.
I might just add I am not dissatisfied with the service at my GP practice at all.
All my adult life I have been in category 2 - a private patient, although I did of course have to get my GPs to refer me for consultations.
I have also been in number 5 category abroad.
So, all in all, I have never cost the NHS a penny even though I have paid taxes and NI contributions.
Now I am retired and no longer have Bupa I can honestly say that the service I have received from the NHS, especially my gp, has been excellent .

Can anyone tell me what GP s are doing if they aren't seeing patients in the surgery and telephone appointments are very limited. I've been unwell for a while so decided to phone for a telephone consultation by the time I got through slots for that day and the day after were full. I was given a date for 3 weeks time! I do hope this is not the future as l feel a person has to be seen in person by the doctor.

Our GP is practically unavailable now. Phoning in the morning is be a total waste of time - 'constantly engaged, and then a message tells you there are no more appointments. I used to book online - that facility has now been stopped. I have hand delivered a letter to my surgery; even that was fraught with difficulty as getting one of the receptionists to come to the door was a challenge in itself. (No post box) Luckily I don't need to see him often. A friend went to A and E the other day and said it was heaving with people who had been advised by 111 to visit, as they couldn't get to their GP.

Well done 2020. If we need to complain we should do so. Not everyone has the same degree of help from surgeries and if they get enough feedback will have to consider how they relate to people more. After all, why do we have GPs in the first place? Considered reasonable complaints are not 'GP bashing' and people should feel free to voice their concerns.

When one phones my surgery you have to listen for about six minutes to announcements about what you have to call if you have breathing difficulties, heart pains, Covid symptoms etc then wait to be put to a receptionist who will triage you. I don’t like discussing my symptoms with her.
Three weeks ago I was unwell and needed to be seen by a doctor. Instead a paramedic was sent. I am housebound. Apparently doctors do not now do house calls and are working from home. It was something which really needed an internal examination and was suggested I was sent to hospital for this. I refused. At my age and state of health cannot face hospital.
Very few are able to actually go to the surgery and then are seen by the Practice Nurse.

this gov't want to force us to go private so GP & NHS services are being run right down, hence only a 1% rise for nurses and billions for Serco and the various private agencies that are now taking over NHS work, a US owned company now own many GP surgeries. There's good money in health and US business want part of it

It takes 2/3 hours to get through to our doctors receptionists who think they are doctors. They have built a wall where the entrance doors used to be to stop people trying to get in and replaced it with a gate now that when you press the button you have to put your hands on this board that tests your temperature before the gate will open and that's only if you have an appointment. It's all triaged, doctor diagnoses you over the phone. A lady I know's hubby demanded an appointment the other day after being fobbed off for weeks and she ended up having a perforated bowel and rushed into hospital where may I add contracted Covid while in there. I'm am certain some people are being misdiagnosed left, right and centre. You cannot treat people over a phone, it's ridiculous.

Quite agree, have used e-consult two or three times and had gp call next day and saw me in person after that. No queues, or crowded waiting room to deal with. And I used to work for a gp surgery.

You're right. Some surgeries definitely aren't on the ball. We have to phone and remind our surgery when my husband needs his monthly injections for kidney disease. And then some fly by night nurse has the cheek to ask him why he needs to have them and could he not do them himself. He's 89 years old

Since the pandemic my GP practice has had phone appointments for GPs and nurses with photos submitted where applicable. Only after that and deemed to require a face to face appointment will one be granted. The problem is though there is a 3 week wait even for a phone appointment . Blood tests have a week waiting time. No idea what it's like for children. Have a feelings the pandemic system will be here to stay.

NanKate

I managed to speak to the receptionist and get 2 phone consultations only by pretending I didn’t have a mobile or access to the Internet. I asked her if the Rapid Access Clinic was still working and she said yes, but I was not offered this even though I had had bad stomach pains for over 3 weeks.

We gave up in the end and went private and I will be having a colonoscopy on Wednesday.

I call our Surgery the Marie Celeste ?

Sadly I think this is what the current government is after, privitisation of the NHS, it is slowly but surely going that way
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I have tried to book a telephone appointment, but refuse to give my medical details to a receptionist, she is not qualified to assess my medical conditions, so I find the only way to get such an appointment is to say it's about my medication, this is always suffice enough to get said appointment.

Our surgery has always been brilliant but that unfortunately changed with Covid. 2-3 weeks now for a phone apt and even then usually with a series of different trainees doctors who generally then have to go off, relay your details to an experienced doctor and come back with some sort of conclusion only to be asked another question and to go off again. I was treated three times with medication for something it eventually turned out I didn't have. So very much hoping they go back to pre Covid days asap.

Our area has a central prescription service, they told me that adult ds (sn) needs a prescription review. I cant even get through to see if they want him to have a blood test!! I have given up and emailed!!