Adverts for private healthcare…

I have phoned 111 on a number of occasions but have usually found them over cautious. I guess they have to be! They can't just say "kiss it better"

DH had some worrying symptoms whilst having chemotherapy. It was the weekend and we couldn't make contact with oncology.
We were told by 111 to go straight to admissions at the cancer unit where he was eventually seen the next day by a doctor and allowed home.

My other mantra is "don't get sick at weekends or bank holidays "

A friend was worried about a bowel issue, rang her surgery, was told to go straight to A&E.

Whilst waiting there, she got chatting to two other people (separate issues). Turned out they were all from the same GP practice, all had been sent to A&E, not seen by the surgery.

Seems often the surgery tells you to “Go to A&E”.

It sounds as if we are very lucky with our doctor's surgery. I make appointments for my elderly husband, his brother and myself. If really ill I get in the car and get in a queue outside the surgery door at 8am. The first appointments are kept for these people. Otherwise I'd ring up at 8am. Sometimes I could be in a phone queue for an hour, listening to their annoying music and getting updates on my place in the queue. Last week however I rang to get an appointment for my husband. The phone system has changed. I got through and was told I was number 42 in the queue and that if I wished I could press 8 and the surgery would ring me back when I got to the front of the queue. I was quite sceptical, but pressed 8, and 20 minutes later I got a call back and an appointment for the afternoon. Last year my brother in law had to wait several weeks for his ears syringing and the nurse told me that they had a long queue of people waiting but they have now caught up and my husband got an appointment within a week.

A friend of mine has changed gyms to the public pool one and a big sell was a guaranteed video appointment with a GP within 48 hours. This was a "wellness" add-on and along with some basic health checks cost (I think) £3 a month.

I cannot speak to highly of 111. When I thought DH might be having a heart attack, I rang 111 and spoke to them they just said. Ambulance is on its way - and it was - and reached us within 5 minutes.

Earlier this year, I rang 111 again, extremely worried about DH's deteriorating health. We had been to the GP been sent to A&E, who did a few tests and sent DH home. Once again told within minutes, paramedics and ambulance on their way. This time DH was taken directly into cardiac admissions and 3 days later had a pacemaker implanted. This problem should have been picked up by A&E last summer.

We are asked if we have a sore throat,cough or cold symptoms and if you do you have to go round the back of the practice to another entrance. Fair enough, I suppose, with Covid etc. If it is really urgent they often tell you to go to the hospital but they do try to fit you in on that day. It costs a rocket for every appointment,though, so you think twice before going. That’s how they seem to be going these days here in Australia.

I paid £450 for a painkilling injection which didn't work.

I can get an appointment quite easily with a GP, but don't try speaking to one. The telephone is constantly engaged' so I don't try.

Our GP practice is the second worst in the area. I tried to get in touch recently via PATCHs but it was closed. There was a message at the top of the page saying that the phone wasn’t working so to use PATCHs!
We don’t see doctors, just nurses who go and ask for advice if they are not sure what to do.
I have spent a lot of money on private physiotherapy and a private consultant which I think was money well spent.

My GP practice is brilliant although it does take a 2-3 weeks when booking an appointment with your own GP.
Phones are answered quickly and on the day appointments are available for anything that needs same day attention. Receptionists are really helpful - and I do have a lot of health problems!

111 recently reminded me that they were there 24/7 for me to ring. 111 were able to either make an appointment for me at a local hospital or to send a message to my gp for an appointment following on from recent major surgery.
I was surprised by the efficiency of 111. Foolishly I chose the local gp …. I shall know better next time.

Does anyone here remember when you were ill ,you could phone the health centre and ask for a doctor to visit ..I remember when I was a child having pneumonia my mum sent for the gp and he came in every day to see how I was till I was well. and the district nurse came in for 6 days and gave me a penicillin jag.

Walk in centres don't require an appointment round here and I would guess in most places. They deal with children falling off swings & ?broken bones, that sort of thing, they take loads of pressure off A&E by plastering undisplaced fractures & re-assuring those who are just bruised, They couldn't function as an appointment -based service.I think it's really bad that Facebook wouldn't let you post that, my GP has got much better in the last 2 years for same-day appointments although you do have to jump through hoops & as Monica rightly says, that can be hard if you're feeling rotten.I think your post was important & informative & I can see no basis for Facebook censoring it,other than commercial. And that's scarey. They're a multi-national profit making business, not an elected body, & they should not be infringing poster's freedom of speech unless it's hate speech or child abuse where thay have a statutory obligation. Scarey stuff.

We are lucky and booking online we can still get same day appointments. Not all GPs are hiding.

I’m pretty sure that what used to be walk in centres now require you to make an appointment as well. I don’t understand why Facebook refuse to take down fraudulent adverts that I report or ban those weird people who send you friend requests but won’t let me make a comment about these private healthcare adverts.

Did you get treated at A&E M0nica? Or were you sent back to the GP?

I think where I live, you have to get through reception and say what it's about and if lucky, a Duty doctor will phone you later that day.
If you suggest it's not serious, you could wait up to 3 weeks for even a telephone appointment.

I would avoid A&E unless I was taken in an ambulance and even then the waiting is horrendous.
Don't get sick and don't break any bones is my mantra.

I should have added, that that is why we have so many adverts for private health services, people are using them in despair. becasuse sameday appointments with their NHS GP are so difficult to access.

Whether it is deliberate privatisation by stealth, or just patients turning in despair from a failing neighbourhood GP services.

I have started using 111 before I think of going to my GP they are excellent and I have no complaints about hospitals except that some waiting lists are very long.

It is the GP service as a whole that is failing and needs a thorough shake-up.

111sent me to A&E this week. The doctor I saw decided that he would refer me to my GP and asked how easy it would be for me to access them. My eyes rolled heavenward, and I said, 'not easy'. He then said that many of the people coming into A&E were there because they either they could not get an appointment with their GP, or it was so difficult they had given up trying.

The truth of the matter is that nowadays, you have got to be in really good health and mental resilient to be able to fight through all the obstacles that make getting an appointment so hard, in which case you probably do not need one.