GPs and opening times, whats going on

I think we must be fortunate then. My DH was ill with stomach pain over the weekend and we suspected it was his gall bladder. He phoned the surgery at 9am and had a call back from our GP at around 12:30pm. She arranged for him to see her at 2:10pm and gave him a thorough examination, prescribed antibiotics and arranged to see him the next day at 12:15pm (yesterday). After examining him she arranged for him to be admitted to hospital almost immediately and he is being operated on today. His infection score was found to be 200, the average is 5 so if he had had to wait for an appointment I dread to think what would have happened.

I’ve just seen my phone bill. Five calls to the surgery with waits up to 45 minutes cost me almost £20.
Now I need to book more appointments I shall stagger down to the surgery to make them, which is 20 minute’s walk away.

Just to add to my comment. I sent that request on AskmyGp at 08.20 and have already had the reply, less than an hour later. Now what could be better than that!!!!

My Gp surgery uses the AskmyGP system. I have found it very easy and useful. So, when I sent a message about some wart-like growths on my face. A GP rang me within a couple of hours, asked a few questions and then made me an appointment for a face to face the following day. From that I was referred to hospital Dermatology and received that appointment for the following week. Could not have been easier or more efficient.
Equally, I have just sent a message this morning asking for an email reply as all I want is some numbers from a recent blood test. Would have been a waste of everyones time for me to have to there for that - this way is so much easier for me, and more efficient use of their time.

I rang my GP on Friday morning as I was worried about certain symptoms, last time I had these I was hospitalised for 11 days with sepsis, got a phone call from a nurse and an appointment at 6pm that night, not sepsis but they are concerned and I am having tests, my DH had his diabetic check done during lockdown he didn't ask for it he was contacted by his surgery, I am happy with the service thus far

I have a serious disease which will need years of treatment with powerful drugs which have many side effects. I’ll need frequent blood tests and reviews.
Every single thing about my condition I’ve learned from Google. I have spoken to a doctor once for five minutes.
This has profound impacts on my future life and I feel very alone. How ill do we have to be to see a doctor?
If I should need minor surgery I expect to be told to watch a video and do it myself.

That’s interesting barmey, I hope we don’t get another peak in May or another later in the year. If that actually happens, I shall feel as if there’s going to be no end ever, and I’ll find that very depressing.
Gla£ to hear you’ve got you’re pain sorted out, and you were able to speak to your GP.

I have chronic upper back pain, no cause found yet but there again no-one has tried to find a cause. Just know its not mechanical as I went privately to a see a Spine Specialist. He believes its an inflammation condition. My GP surgery has been hopeless with support for the pain and Wednesday night I ended up calling the ambulance service who were marvellous and sorted me out with some painkillers that I could actually take. They also sent an email to my surgery with a report and asking them to give me a prescription for this medication. I was then able to actually get a telephone appointment with a Dr and talk it through with him, also asked him when were we going back to face to face appointment. His answer was that they are expecting a peak in covid at the end of May and another later in the year so they have to stay as they are the moment.

My son in law’s Practice had over 800 telephone calls yesterday. A huge number were saying that they had a headache after the AZ vaccine. There are protocols for dealing with those calls, which includes getting a blood test however mild the headache. There were also a lot of calls asking about when routine tests were going to be done.
So for those wondering what their GPs are doing, this is at least part of the answer.

I’ve personally had no problem. My one issue was dealt with quickly and efficiently. However I hear from someone in the game that A&Es are now ultra busy with issues that could have been sorted by GPs but have been left so long they now need urgent treatment. Not always the GPs fault- many people have put up with things longer than normal.

Looking at this thread and also from personal experience, could it be that some GP services are just better organized than others?

For instance, ours has been amazing with regard to Covid jabs and the reception staff are able to help with things like internet access or repeat prescriptions.

Our local practice is trying to modernise, joining with a group of community medical services in order to give better coverage. At the moment, it seems like work in progress.

Years of austerity by Conservative governments that cut public services to the bone, failed to invest effectively in the nhs, alongside privatising services.
Brexit = many doctors and nurses return to other parts of Europe, where the feel welcome.
Then, this Pandemic, a perfect storm for a health service that’s understaffed.
Our Covid immunisation centres seem to be working very well. They’re fully staffed by doctors, nurses and volunteers. The medical staff can’t be running surgeries and immunising.

It’s frustrating and worrying that getting a face to face consultation is so difficult, with long waits the norm. A relative had his radiotherapy but back for a third week yesterday.

Yet - Mr Johnson is credited with the fantastic immunisation programme and he and his party given no responsibility for the long term impact on the health service of privatisation, lack of support for our nhs.

Figures show many fewer people seeking medical help during lockdown, So GPs are not more busy.
When I could no longer bear my symptoms and had self-diagnosed myself from Google I rang the Dr. I was offered a telephone consultation 3 weeks ahead.
I needed blood tests, also 3 weeks ahead.
Each time I rang I waited between 30 and 45 minutes on hold.
I was given faulty drug dosages by a receptionist. and test results dismissed by her as ‘normal’ when the Dr later said they weren’t.
When I was finally being treated and not afraid of being ignored if I complained, I wrote to the practice manager. No reply.

Last year on the few occasions I had to contact my GP I was lucky. On one occasion i had a call and prescription delivered on same day.
Over the weekend i developed a style that became infected. I has experienced the same thing a few years ago. I was pretty certain i just needed antibiotic cream.
I phoned my surgery on monday although i had to call several times because the queue was very long and i was on my break at work.
Finally got through and was told i could have a phone consultation in two weeks time. I was quite taken aback and said by then the eye would have self healed or dropped out! Almost as an after thought receptionist mentioned e consultation which i duly did including uploading a photo. Yesterday morning GP phoned and asked quite a few questions. She prescribed eye cream stressing i needed to start that day and if not better by end of week go to A&E or call surgery for emergency triage appointment.( which i had never heard of).
All is well ,cream delivered within hours and eye already vastly improved.
The implications of waiting for that origional appointment have worried me though. The receptionist seemed to assume i knew about e consultation, which i didnt. What if i hadnt had the access to internet or skills required. ?
Maybe if I hadnt they would have offered an appointment sooner?
I also have a medical exemption certificate which runs out the end of the month. From what I remember it's a simple form you fill in and GP signs. I asked if I could do it digitally,or it be posted out and I take in to surgery ,or better still post back. B
Nope you have to physically go into surgery,ask for it,fill it in ,hand it in! I dont drive so have to get taxi. That isnt the problem ,but I'm bit surprised with such strict Covid guidelines in surgery you are told just to drop in to complete a process that could be done in alternative ways!
Obviously I dont know the full circumstances of the surgery,maybe face to face appointments are taken up with backlog of potentially serious illnesses. However I would have thought phone consultation would be quicker and speed things up!
In future I will bypass receptionist and go straight to e consultation. What the future may hold for those who cant and GP services in general is something I find rather worrying.

I’ve just had a thought about accessing a GP if you’re finding it difficult. My son in law works in the Covid Hub after hours. He does his normal GP work at his Practice during the day, and some evenings and some weekends he works at the Covid Hub. The Covid Hub treats Covid patients who are not ill enough to go to hospital, and indeed does send Covid patients to hospital to be admitted, but that’s not their only function. They will see patients who need a physical examination for other conditions because basically it’s an out of hours service. If a patient can be diagnosed and treated without seeing them that will happen, but if you need to see a doctor, you can go to the Covid Hub. You might have to ring 111 first, I’m not actually sure about that. Anyway my niece went to the Covid Hub in her area for an infection that was spreading on her leg and it was weekend. She said to me that the doctor who saw her was wearing full PPE including a gown down to the floor, gloves, mask, and face visor. Well yes A......, they would as they see Covid patients too. Anyway the doctor told her she’d done the right thing to get her leg looked at as the infection was spreading. He gave her a prescription and it healed up. I don’t know if this information is helpful to anyone, I just remembered about it.
Incidentally my son in law caught Covid from working at the Covid Hub but luckily he wasn’t too bad. He passed it on to his wife and one of his children though.

Lesley60

I just don’t understand what GPs are doing all day now that covid is so low, I had to wait two weeks for a telephone consultation.
I think they will probably try and keep it like this.

Having naps under their desks, while encouraging their gossipy receptionists to ask all the personal questions.

Obviously

We all know that cancer cases are not being picked up. Anecdotally, I know a woman who has cancer that was only picked up when she went to A&E in despair. She struggled for months to get a real appointment with the GP but was fobbed off as menopausal and got prescribed an anti-depressant.

You realize that this likely would’ve happened to even if she had had face-to-face appointments, correct? Women’s issues are historically constantly ignored.

...it’s not enough to blame poor GP services on lack of funding.....

Indeed it is not. But I would ask you to consider why Britain loses so many GPs to other countries, in particular Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Why?

I just don’t understand what GPs are doing all day now that Covid is so low.

I rest my case.

I just don’t understand what GPs are doing all day now that covid is so low, I had to wait two weeks for a telephone consultation.
I think they will probably try and keep it like this.

Whist I’m not detracting from the very real difficulties some are experiencing maybe this horrid situation will reduce the number of missed GP appointments that used to happen.

Doodledog

suziewoozie

NI only pays for 20% of NHS expenditure with 80% coming from all forms of taxation. NI is anyway a very unfair tax as it’s levied on workers and even then only on those under state pension age.

I still think that it is unfair to suggest that people are 'entitled' if they pay tax and NI at the rate set by the government and then expect to get back what they are told it is paying for.

We have a choice between living in a higher tax society with decent services, or a low tax one in which the poor can shift for themselves. That is the choice we make at every election, however, and people nearly always vote for the latter, then complain when services are cut.

I absolutely agree - there's nothing entitled about receiving care from the NHS. I made the point because I think talking about the funding from NI muddies the water and encourages the idea of entitlement because of the contribution rules for some benefits. I also get fed up of people equating tax payer with income tax payer when every person in this country pays tax of many kinds.

But going back to the OP, it’s not enough to blame poor GP services on lack of funding - it’s more complicated than that and there are some very very poorly run practices around. I have no idea of the proportions but they exist and they shouldn’t.

suziewoozie

NI only pays for 20% of NHS expenditure with 80% coming from all forms of taxation. NI is anyway a very unfair tax as it’s levied on workers and even then only on those under state pension age.

I still think that it is unfair to suggest that people are 'entitled' if they pay tax and NI at the rate set by the government and then expect to get back what they are told it is paying for.

We have a choice between living in a higher tax society with decent services, or a low tax one in which the poor can shift for themselves. That is the choice we make at every election, however, and people nearly always vote for the latter, then complain when services are cut.

NI only pays for 20% of NHS expenditure with 80% coming from all forms of taxation. NI is anyway a very unfair tax as it’s levied on workers and even then only on those under state pension age.

maddyone

Sorry to hear that JaneJudge. Can she not change surgery?

Unfortunately maddyone, she was admitted to hospital a month ago, has been passed between two hospitals and is now in a nursing home which was supposed to be temporary but my sister in law saw her yesterday for the first time and she is very unwell. I suppose this is another issue with covid, people being in hospitals and no relative involvement. It is really distressing for everyone.