GP appointments - any improvements?

Wonderful service at our GP practise although often difficult to see a particular doctor. Phone lines open at 08.00 and you are almost guaranteed to see a doctor the same day so can't complain. The only gripe I have is that if you need/want to see a particular doctor there is often quite a long wait .

Well, this is slightly off topic as this wasn't all the surgery's fault, but I was so furious with a consultant's receptionist today, I have written a complaint to the hospital and will be sending a copy to the surgery.

I kept getting cystitis so the GP requested a scan which I had on June 10th. On July 19th I received a copy of a letter sent to my GP from the urologist saying that the bladder scanner machine had been broken, so he was referring me for another scan and advised on meds to prescribe in the meantime. So I thought I was waiting for an appointment.

Yesterday I received a letter dated 5th August saying, 'I am delighted to report that your bladder scan was completely normal. I have discharged you back to your GP.'

I called the consultant's secretary to ask for an explanation and said this was rather confusing. Her reply? 'Well, it's perfectly clear to me.' Her response was very inappropriate and extremely rude.

I then tried calling the surgery to discuss having the meds prescribed and it seems there was no one home - well no one was answering the phones at 2.30 and lunch is from 1.00 - 2.00.

It's still not clear to me!

Lately I find it very difficult to see my 'designated' gp and have seen several pleasant people. This means I have to explain things anew every time. I am happy that they are mostly young and fairly recently qualified, but they don't know me. Sometimes advice seems confusing or contradicts what I've already been told.
On Tuesday a hospital physician postponed my imminent knee op as I have a chest infection. He told me to get an antibiotic from my gp. I phoned and was told (as expected) I couldn't see designated gp for over a week. I said I was happy to see anyone available asap. The computer wouldn't allow the receptionist to give me an emergency slot next day, I must phone at 8.30 for a morning slot or 12.39 for an afternoon slot.
I phoned, 10 times, to get 'The surgery is now closed' from 8.30 to 8.40 when the phone was switched on. When I got there for my appointment the self checkin screen wasn't on. As I left I mentioned both these points to one of 5 receptionists enjoying amusing chat, they all went quiet but most times I go there they really don't seem to be very motivated. AIBU? Rant over!

That is miep.
That is the sort of thing I am afraid would happen with the idea.

Plus, it seems to me to sometimes double up the doctors' time, as he or she may well be making appointments and sometimes ending up speaking twice to patients[once on the phone, and once in the surgury]plus potentially making lots of phone calls chasing up patients.
It seems to be taking workload off receptionists but onto doctors, which is the wrong way around, both from a workload and time and money point of view.

But as I say, the jury is out, as the system has not long been introduced.

Ours is like Obieone's practice. But I have recently been diagnosed with epilepsy and the answer on the telephone was 'get your carer to record your fits on her phone, then send the images to us'. Yes, right, my best friend/carer (who has a perfectly good life of her own) is REALLY likely to be on standby 24/7 when mostly she can't even remember which room the phone is in! I was not impressed.

Our GP practice is closing in October because of lack of premises leaving 4000 people without a doctor, so ease of getting an appointment is rather secondary at the moment

Our GP,practice is excellent. Each day they operate a no appointment surgery at the end of morning session. There is a wait but the receptionist does not ask intrusive questions.

GP surgeries, like the rest of the NHS, have been starved of funding for years because the Tories want the whole lot privatised. Hey, there's MONEY to be made out of sick people! Let the service get bad enough and we'll be only too glad to be treated by a multinational corporation, paying before we're allowed past the hospital doors and dying in the street if we can't afford the bill.
So don't bother your GP, you won't get your cataracts or varicose veins done, nor anything else if you're fat or old or a smoker.

The service at my surgery has got progressively worse over the years. 10 years ago,you could phone in the morning and get an appointment for that day. 5 years ago that changed to getting an appointment the next week. 2 years ago it changed again to you being lucky if you got an appointment within 3 weeks. And that's when they actually answer the phone. They are supposed to open the phonelines at 8am,but when you try calling at 8.20am,you keep getting the answerphone,trotting out the surgery's opening hours,saying please call back when the surgery is open! I AM calling when the surgery is meant to be open! Or you cannot get through due to it being constantly engaged. Or you DO get through,ask if you can speak to the doctor,are told they will call you back within the hour,but 4 hours later you still haven't heard anything. And don't get me started on the number of times my repeat prescription requests have been 'mislaid'. I could go on...and on....but I would be here all day.

I rang for an appointment, the receptionist said " yes do you want to come in this morning or this afternoon " I live in rural France.

I can't cope with trying and trying to get through from 8.30 to 9am, so I usually ring after that and get to speak to a doctor.
Sometimes my usual one but she is part time so not always, but if I get her and she thinks it necessary, she will fit me in that day, which is reassuring.

(Referrals here though....chest appt I could only get in October, made last month. Only emergencies seen sooner, I'm told.)

My reply was to Obieone's post

I certainly don't tell the receptionist what the matter is but our system is similar. I find it really useful (not at all daft) and it is obviously being used more and more although I don't doubt that there are some people who either don't have access to a computer or the inclination or wherewithal to use one who will never do it this way, but it has to come simply for efficiency and to keep the cost of running a surgery down.

My doctor will also ring if you ask and will often say at an appointment that they will ring me with, for instance, a result of a blood test next Friday or whatever. Again it must be much more efficient for them - and for me with no time spent traveling to, waiting and visiting the surgery. With my mother it works extremely well as I can ask for her doctor to ring me at home so I am not talking about issues in front of her (nearly 96 and with dementia she will argue which is not good for either of us) and she can often advise what I can do very quickly or she will say she will call on mum and we can arrange a time when I will/can be there.

I did notice my doctor made an appointment for the necessary time ahead - with my agreement - directly onto the computer the last time I went. Again, cutting out the middle man so more efficient and cost saving and accurate to the needs of both patient and doctor.

whoops intermittently not intermittantly

There are very few 'advance' appointments at our surgery. We have to start phoning at 8.00 a.m. and keep trying over and over again until we get through and sometimes the appointments have all gone by that time. There are sometimes a few available to book online. I am not satisfied with the ease of getting appointments.

One of my neighbours is a receptionist there and she told me she knows how difficult it is to get an appointment and she will help me if I need her to but I think this would be unfair.

Not too bad here, phone lines open at 8.30, which of course is when everyone dials for an appointment, usually recorded message "you are in a queue, number whatever" then the message will kick in intermittantly "you will be answered shortly remain on the line" once through it's usual to get an appointment for the same day, I would add, I'm not sure whether this would be the case on Mondays, when it's a lot more frantic. When my son came back from university and was still living with us he registered with a nearer doctor and found that he was never able to get an appointment until a couple of weeks hence. He hot footed back to the surgery we are at, in fact is still registered there even though he has moved away but still nearby. I realise we are quite lucky.

I wouldn't wish to explain my symptoms to a receptionist that didn't work well for the little boy who had an awful dose of chicken pox and ended up in hospital.

Wishing you a speedy recovery Kitty Lester.

Ours was fine, but now introduced a daft system I think.

You ring for an appointment and tell the receptionist a brief outline, or go online.
A doctor then rings you back, and either decideds on diagnosis over the telephone, or asks you to come in.

Advantages to this system - dont necessarily have to visit the surgery.

Disadvantages - have to hang around for the GP to ring. And can a GP be accurate in the first instance over the telephone?

The jury is out on this system in this area currently.

There seem to be fewer complaints about gp surgeries I was interested to see whether my experience was the norm now.

My appointment was late by 30 minutes and some other people were complaining but u was just pleased to have got in on the day.

I don't have diabetes or a thyroid problem which is what I was worried about, just a(nother) UTI. Strange as, until the gp said that was the problem, I has-been weeing freely. Not how my utis usually present!! It's strange how things always seem better when they have a name.

Sorry you are not well, Kitty take a break, be kind to yourself (easier said than done!) Our GP's now have a good system, the phone is answered immediately by a recorded message, asking you to hold the line, etc., and intermittently we are told what number we are in the queue. We can't always get the our personal GP for an urgent appointment, but certainly another on the same day, or a telephone referral, which is often useful. I can't think what life for a GP can be like, sitting listening to peoples'aches and pains all day!

Hope you are feeling better Kitty

We have at least a two week wait unless urgent, however I have found out that if we go online just after midnight they release some appointments for that day. Anyone who isn't online or well enough to wake in the night is at a disadvantage.

Hope you will be feeling better soon kitty.

I've always been satisfied with the appointments at our surgery - you can usually get one on the day if you ring early, or a routine appointment would be within a week or 10 days. However, I asked a few days ago for an appointment and was told that virtually the whole of August was full and I would be looking at early September . The receptionist asked me if it was urgent and I said, well no, not really, it's for carpel tunnel which has been getting worse to the point where I'm dropping things and my hands are more or less painful all the time. And bless her, she said, but yes, that is rather urgent! And managed to slip me in for Monday 15th, so a wait of only 10 days.
The problem, she said, is that it's the holiday period and GPs are on leave. I do so hope that is all it is and it settles back to normal soon.

No problems at our surgery. There is a walk in clinic every morning. A routine appointment to see a Dr. is usually within a week, unless you want to see a specific Dr., that can take a couple pf weeks in busy periods. Urgent cases are seen immediately. They also offer a phone consultation service which is usually the same day.
The walk in clinic has relieved pressure on the Drs., they seem to have much more time just to chat about your general health.
The walk in clinic is covered by an "Advanced Nurse Practitioner", he/she can deal with 90% of cases and prescribe, if he/she considers it necessary a Dr. is called in.

Still three to four weeks at our surgery and I book online.