Doctors appointment

Has your surgery got an online booking system? That way you can book an appointment out of hours and before the phone starts ringing in the morning. I only book that way now.

No. I would have said that sounds v wrong and I'm amazed they are allowed to operate that way, however I know someone who had the same problem but I thought she was exaggerating. In the end she told them it was now an emergency and she was able to get an appointment but that also puzzled me because I thought they would have just said go to A&E then.

Absolutely unacceptable I would say! Don’t know where you live but if you need to see a doctor you need one within a week at least! Kick up a fuss. Tell them you will report them. All GPS have a duty of care to all on register. Making you wait 2 months is not acceptable

It’s how it is with our surgery for non urgent appointments, particularly if continuity of care is wanted or needed. I requested repeat prescriptions on line today and looked at the appointments, the only one with my doctor of choice was in the last week of June. That disappeared while I was looking. Having said that if an urgent appointment is needed it is always offered on the day, often with a paramedic in the first instance. The surgery is totally overstretched, doctors are unfailingly professional and as helpful as the system lets them be, deception staff have the patience of saints. It’s the current NHS pressure in our case, not the medical or other staff.

I was grateful !!! to be seen within a fortnight by which time a new, more problematic issue was dealt with and so the original problem has had to wait.

We can only ring for appointments for the present day, we have to ring from 8.30am onwards, it usually takes until 5 or 10 minutes after 9am to get through, then they say all appointments have gone, but sit and wait is available, and it`s anybody`s guess how long you`re going to be sitting and waiting.

My surgery was closed last year and 5000 patients had to find new GPs. I was lucky and got accepted by my first choice surgery but some of my neighbours were given a new doctor 5 miles away! My old surgery was excellent and had appointments from 8am to 8pm 365 days a year, yes even Christmas!
Now I can only book about 2 weeks in advance but we have to ring on the day for urgent appointments. There is also immediate appointments with a nurse practioner.

Ours is similar, HAZBEEN. I'd be interested to know why your surgery was closed.

Oh dear, oh dear how sad all this is.
I remember when you rang to see your own GP and got an appointment the same day or the next.
I feel so sorry for the GP's the nurses, the receptionists, the local pharmacist and us the patients, the whole system seems to be crashing and there doesn't seem to be anyway to stop it's demise!!!!

Our appointment system is the same, ring at 8am and be given an appointment for 14 days hence. We have online appointments but it is a shambles at present as they are updating/improving the website.

We can't book online but even if we could it would still book up as quickly. We can be triaged for an "on the day" appointment if we claim it won't wait. I think maybe releasing a week at a time might be better. Feelingmyage... we are older and have to think which problem is most urgent as they won't let you discuss more than one. Callgirl1's system sounds good although difficult. Surgery closures- we've had that here too. It's all such a mess and I'm sure our health is suffering badly. I live in Carrickfergus N. Ireland. I don't blame the doctors at all. Or when needed hospital staff. Treatment is always really good from very wonderful staff and I always thank them.. I think we need to pay more for our NHS. much more. It would still be cheaper than private. I would advise young people to have private health care as a priority nowadays. I'm sorry I didn't take it yrs ago when offered a good deal. I will complain of course to my MP. I can't complain to the Minister as we don't have one at the minute!! So I shall write to Theresa May Maybe we all need to protest more. Most of us grumble but never do anything about it. And remember to think carefully when voting. Staying in Europe may have helped. ( and I know some will disagree). I feel we are moving swiftly to an American style of health care.

One thing I notice is people saying ‘ we can’t get
OUR doctor’ I think you just have to be open to take whatever doctor you can
I think all ( or most)/surgeries have the ring on the day appointment system but ours has a few emergency apps and cancellations each day I recently felt I needed to see a doctor although I wasn’t sure if it was emergency or not (until I d seen the doctor) but they fitted me in when I explained
I also find the online system good for non emergency but your own dr if popular probably will be full up for weeks
However your situation sounds out of order Annep so maybe a change of surgery is needed or a letter of complaint as you can’t just go on ad infinite waiting to see a doctor

Sorry Annep I posted before your last one showed up so some of what I said was useless ?
If you have a concerning problem I would suggest you take the on the day appointment they don’t expect it to b3 a blue light problem and you can bet your bottom dollar the next person to take that not waiting appointment probable has a cold

That's awful, annep, and totally unacceptable. Our surgery has tried several appointment methods, including ring on the day, at 8am for late morning slots, 11am for afternoon ones etc, which just didn't work and was quickly abandoned. I may just have been lucky, but they seem to have it right now. We can ring at any time, and request an appointment for a few days hence if it's not urgent, but on my most recent attempts I've been surprised to be offered a choice of slots the same day. As BlueBelle does, I ask for any doctor, and I'm okay with seeing the senior nurse instead if appropriate. We've an online booking system too, but I've not tested it. And there are sit and wait appointments every day. We're a fair distance away from our surgery now and I know they're fully subscribed and have had prune their patient list, so I just hope we don't ever have to change surgery.

Don't want to detract from the seriousness of this thread, but this made me laugh,

Cornergran deception staff have the patience of saints

It's very difficult to get an appointment at our local surgery.
And when we can get through on the phone all we are offered is a telephone call from the doctor rather than an actual face-to-face appointment. And these call backs are usually about 10-14 days ahead.
We can order repeat prescriptions online, but don't think we can actually book an appointment.

We can't book ahead. The only way to get an on the day appointment is to be outside the surgery at 8 o/clock when it opens. Fortunately my surgery is close enough to walk to.
My Dr is so over stretched that I've asked him if he's ok, he looked so shattered.

I have just been extremely lucky then. I went for a blood test and mentioned a worry to the practice nurse. She said she could book me an appointment, and would I like her to do so, yes please. I now have one for next Tues. morning, result.

Sorry kittylester only just come back on the thread! My original surgery was closed as their contract was up. Even though we tried to get it extended the powers that be wouldnt have it. It was attached to the local hospital building and also housed a minor surgery unit (closed) and a walk in centre which still operates, its the only one for quite a big area so gets very busy.

Husband is a GP partner.

His surgery started at 8am yesterday. He got home from his last house call at 11pm last night. He had a house call booked in for 7am this morning followed by surgery.

He was in the surgery from 8am until 9.30pm on Wednesday. On Tuesday it was his turn to do phone triage for the practice. He spoke to 147 patients on Tuesday.

He now hasn’t seen our toddlers since Monday, and depending on how today goes, he might not see them until tomorrow teatime because he has out of hours to cover from 7am until 5pm (extended shift because out of hours is currently operating with only 30% of the doctors it needs).

The GPs we have can’t work any harder, and those old enough to retire are doing so in droves. The understaffing problem is only going to get worse.

I don't think anyone was having a go at gps, muffin, more the system.

To get on my soap box once again.

The nhs needs rethinking from the very basics. It needs ring-fenced funding and removal from government control! My DH worked for the nhs for almost 50 years and things have got progressively worse with more and more layers of 'managers' taking up more and more of the available resources.

Sorry kitty I can get a bit overly defensive. Brother is an A&E consultant and I see how hard they work and for such long hours week after week.

I agree that the reorganisations of the NHS haven’t worked and aren’t working.

I feel for DH because one of his partners has part retired so will not commit to a regular day a week, and the other refuses to do face to face consultations any day except Tuesday. She is the only female doctor in the practice so he gets a lot of (frankly) abuse from patients about how long it takes them to see “a” doctor. They can see him any day in the week, but if they insist on only seeing one of his partners, he can’t magically make them come to work

We seriously considered for a number of months relocating to the islands to take up a rural practice there. Eventually he decided his mum would be too upset but in all honesty I can see him seriously revisiting this decision in a couple of years.

I know people have some awful waits. But the workforce planning exercise for doctors that was done over ten years ago failed to take into account jow many doctors would do less than full time hours, a problem now exacerbated by EU and overseas doctors leaving due to Brexit and visa changes.

I honestly believe it is not well understood in public discourse how drastically short we are of doctors in the UK. There certainly never seems to be much political interest in the issue.

The NHS is quietly heading towards privatisation
Every new initiative is costing millions and is discarded after a few months.
It’s so sad that the front line staff are ignored. They saved my life and I shall be ever grateful. The managers that are paid megabucks have no idea what really goes on and I don’t think they have any empathy for sick people.

I am fortunate GP practice is absolutely fantastic. I am asthmatic and if I ring up any time during surgery hours have always been seen. Nurses and 'front of house' compassionate and efficient. Small GC lives with us, have never had a problem getting an appointment for him.

Had my Mother living with us for the last 5 months of her life, GP visited 2-3 times a week to see how she was doing, district nurses etc, were all so very kind and approachable.

Our NHS should be taken out of the hands of politicians who use it like a metaphorical football to score points and votes!!!