The NHS is going questionnaire mad.

I am very privileged in that our surgery (Scottish Highlands) provides an excellent service. Appointments offered either face to face online, by phone or in person with the professional most appropriate to my needs. I have an annual review and I can order prescriptions online to be delivered to my local pharmacy (who offer delivery). Most people I know who live here have a similarly positive experience.

Out of interest I just logged in to local GP practice to find that there is no longer any opportunity to book a face to face appt. The only option now available is to book a phone appt. and the first available date is 20 December. A THREE WEEK wait just for a phone call!!! It was bad enough when it was 3/4 wk wait to actually see a GP. I presume this is for some sort of triage system and then if necessary a face to face appt might be arranged. Disgraceful 'service'.

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Yes. Phoned GP urgently today. Sensitive and serious issue. Receptionist wanted to know every last detail. I said no, politely, and that I wasn't happy to speak about details except with a doctor. I had given her an outline already, but she had never heard of the disease. Didn't even know how to spell it. I felt on this occasion it was intrusive and unnecessary especially as the doc had told me to call and leave a message if I had problems and he would call back. After the phone call I couldn't stop shaking.

Our surgery has an online system called Patches where you log on and select for Admin or Clinical help. This is followed by a short series of questions about what you need, symptoms etc.
We get an acknowledgement that our request has reached them and often a call back the same day. If they need to see you that would usually be the next day, first thing. If only a phone call from a clinician is required that will happen very quickly.
I'm very happy to fill out a short series of questions if I can get this fast response. It weeds out urgent and non-urgent problems and enables them to send appointments with nurses or assistants for things that can be solved without the need for a doctor's input.

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grandmalynn

the other day I had to fill form at my local A&E after my cat bit me. one of the questions asked if I was a LESBIAN? WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH IT. I put no although I dabbled with a female friend in my youth. the NHS has truly gone mad. I blame the youngsters and all their phases. my grandson claims to be gay but I know it won't last. cheeky boogers.

Tell me about it. I have a niece whose son (about 11) will only wear pink or yellow clothes and the other niece has a boy about 6 with long hair nearly down to his waist and he wears dresses.

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I suspect the long questionnaire is the one on the NHS111 website, which is a triage for all sorts of possible problems someone might ring up NHS111 for. Our area used to have a good out-of-hours GP service, which has now been replaced by NHS111.

Our surgery had also got to the point of needing to ring at 8.30 am Monday to stand any chance of getting a GP appointment. Apparently it’s now different, but I haven’t tried it recently. If I’m firm enough about needing to speak to a doctor, I can usually get a phone appointment. I don’t find a phone call, usually from a locum GP, as helpful as talking to someone in person.

My surgery's changed their presence on-line and is now so difficult to understand, follow instructions for doctors appointment and end up with a screed with no option for actually getting an appointment - if they were gold dust before - now they are impossible to get without phone reception around 8 am!!

So lucky here. I rang Monday afternoon with a bad chest infection and was given a sit and wait appointment for same day. Went at 5pm and was seen at 6pm. Full examination, sent to nurse for nebuliser then prescribed medication. If our surgery doesn't have any appointments left they do a sit and wait evening surgery.

It’s gone crazy if only we could bring back the days whereby you turned up at your surgery sat on the appropriate Gp bench and moved up a place when it was your turn

Our practice has changed recently and they no longer allow phone calls or popping into reception. Now we must fill in an on line form for triage.the good thing is that the filled in form does seem to get actioned- with a text back. Before the new system we had to ring at precisely 8.30am to try and make an appointment- but it was always impossible to get through - or when you eventually did get through the appointments would be gone.

What bothers me, is that faced with these extensive qquestionnaires, even for minor matters, someone who is not feeling well is just going to give up. DH nearly did, I had to stand behind him to make sure he kept going. Then there are all those that struggle with doing things online.

Ringing up to see the doctor about a problem the doctor knows all about and will always see that patient when that problem comes up again, faced with a question about whether they have genetic interstitial lung disease, cancer or an organ transplant are likely to stop and do nothing.

Our surgery loves questionnaires and I usually fill them in with 100% honesty.😉

I tell them about ridiculous waits on the phone, I tell them about unhelpful receptionists, I tell them we should not have to wait more than 3 days for a repeat prescription and I tell them IN CAPITALS that it is not acceptable to wait up to 3 weeks for a face to face appointment.

If I can find anything positive then I tell them that too.

Siope 'standard NHS ' referred to the change in the surgery site from the usual one, to one headed NHS above the surgery name and with the whole site done to NHS design rules, type face, layout etc.

If your surgery hasn't got there yet. It will!

Once DH had answered the questionnaire and been able to send the request to the surgery, he got the usual quick response he is used to. No complaits at all.

Our surgery has the questionnaire, after which either reception or a doctor phone to give advice or an appointment. Appointments increasingly are with one if the excellent practice nurses.
If you have an emergency, you phone, tell the receptionist the details. A gp phones back that day, or the day after -the helpful receptionist calls to give you the date and approximate time.

It’s a far cry from the brilliant service pre pandemic, for reasons we should understand.

My main concern is a simple one. Research is clear, we all, especially we oldies, do much better if we have continuity of care from our GP. A key element if the relationships we develop. Our GPS know us over long periods of our lives. We learn to trust, even like them.
That is all gone with negative results

It’s not ‘standard NHS’ since my surgery does not do that. When I want an appointment, I phone or book one online, and the most I am asked is if I want a phone or face-to-face appointment. I’ve never yet not had a same day appointment, and if a follow up visit is required, I can book at reception on my way out for whatever time period the GP has suggested.

When my husband, who also has lung issues, rang a couple weeks ago, mid-morning as he was having some breathing pain, a GP called back an hour later, arranged a visit for an hour after that, and consequently scheduled a hospital appointment for later that afternoon.

This year my asthma review was carried out by completing a form and returning it to the surgery. Last year it was a useless telephone call with some inept person from the company which manufactures one of my inhalers. I have heard nothing more since returning the form, which only required details of symptoms in the last month. Oh to be able to discuss with a nurse, as before, my symptoms during the spring and summer months. Maybe that’s why the form was sent out in the late autumn.

Oh yes, and the hospital physiotherapist who referred me had first sat with me and I had answered questions from him, which he typed into a computer for over 30 minutes.

And no one has yet given me any idea what my problem might be.