Doctors and Dentists.

I think that you were very lucky previously
Was your dentist private? Though I dont think even normal private dentists say can you come in right away.

re now.
doctors - mine you can have a non ungent appointment in 3 days time.
urgent - you would likely get one the same day.

dentists - I dont know about refusing a dentist, but I dont know of dentists round here that you wouldnt get fined if you cancelled an appointment within 24 hours, if you tried to do it twice.

Some doctor and dental receptionists are Little Hitlers and just love power. But it might be e case, especially in the case if the dentist, that they do get a lot of cancellations and she was just stating the policy of the practice.

If I were you, when you do keep your appointment, I'd have a quiet word with the dentist themselves, apologise for cancelling at short notice and explain the reason. Then you can gauge their reaction for yourself.

Re the doctor, is it not just two weeks for non emergency appointments? There is usually a 'phone after 8.30' type of arrangement for appointments that day.

When I retired I moved too so I know the pitfalls. I moved dentists twice before I found one that suits.

Yes, I guess I was lucky previously. The doc and dentist were both about 10 years younger than me and I knew them when they were setting up in Practice.

I did argue my case with the dentists' receptionist and explained that I couldn't give 24 hours notice because I was asked to babysit at 8.30 am - DGS had a bad cold, and my appointment was at 9.30 that same morning.

She did back down a bit and explained that they did have some difficult people coming in.

Regarding the doctor - how can an ordinary person really know if they are an emergency or not - also I rang up for an appt to get advice on getting off Diazapma and the receptionist said that the doctor would ring me back.

I had to wait all morning for her to ring and had an appt for a week's time. My grandson was with me and I felt awkward talking about panic attacks in front of him. Luckily I have a walk about `phone.

Strange days indeed.( John Lennon)

I think you were very lucky but you have to learn how to play the game regarding doctor's appointments. If you need to see someone that day at my surgery you have to phone at 8am exactly because by 8.10am all the appointments will have gone. You can try to make an appointment for a later day if it's not overly important. If you want to see a doctor that day you have to say you need to go to the sit and wait session. The receptionist isn't allowed to question you.

I think you can decide if you're an emergency in a lot of cases. Can you live with it for a few days? Are you in pain? Do you think you may have some sort of infection? When in doubt it's an emergency.

Phone calls are usually made at the end of the surgery which is probably why your doctor didn't phone you back until later in the day.

At our Doctors they have a system where you can ring from 8am for an appointment that day if needed but it is virtually impossible to get through the phone is constantly engaged from about 7.50am with people waiting to get through saying that if it is real emergency they will see you at the end of surgery but are not very pleased if it is a trivuale matter.
Dentists are a different kettle of fish altogether nigh impossible to find a NHS Dentist to take you their books but my dentist will see me if I have pain or any discomfort as I have been with her for quite a few years,I feel sorry for people moving into the area looking for NHS treatment they would have to travel quite a way to find a Practice to take them on.

I stayed with my dentist when he went private and I now believe I am keeping his children in private education. However, in an emergency, he can always manage to fit me in and it's good to know that I have this safety blanket.

At my surgery you have two choices:

1) You can insist on seeing your own doctor, in which case they will make you wait about 3 weeks as a deterrent, usually thwarting any argument by telling you that the doctor is on holiday.

2) Ring up at 8AM and make a same day appointment on the 'combined list' in which you see whoever becomes available.

I don't have any particular desire to see my own doctor, so I invariably do the latter. If I keep hitting the redial button I can usually get through within a few minutes, sometimes there are still appointments left as late as 11AM.

Anyone who works in the NHS and wants to join in, there is a twitter storm tomorrow at 9 p.m.

Organised by the NHA, details are here.

nhap.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=937c3e62bc24fa37708920cc9&id=626e51ccf5&e=716bee6853

It's staff and patients, not just staff, in which case anyone who wants to save the NHS and has a twitter account.

Do you work for NHA? Paid or voluntary?

My dentist retired 2 years ago after 35 years of looking after my teeth since when I've had nothing but problems. I've considered moving dentists but few have NHS vacancies.
GP-wise I cannot fault our small village surgery; emergency and it's same day, otherwise no longer than couple of days to wait.

Our village surgery was shut down last year as a cost cutting measure. We'd had a surgery here for over 70 years .

Were you asking me, soontobe?
No, I do not work for the NHA, but I do like their policies, and I hope that at least one of them is elected in May. Preferably Clive Peedell who is standing against Cameron. I'd also quite like it if Jeremy Hunt was beaten by the NHA candidate in South West Surrey.

Anyway, what's that got to do with the twitter storm.
I spread information about lots of things to do with the NHS and the benefits system, and some people are grateful for the knowledge. I do not use twitter or facebook, but at least I can let people who do use them know about what's happening.

If you want, soontobe, I can give you a whole list of websites to go on to find out more.