GP Appointments

At least it's paid for through tax and NI contributions and not when you actually see a doctor or nurse. In the USA the average wait time to see a GP is 21-26 days. There is a shortage of physicians - especially in rural areas.
I'm not saying it's right what's happening in the NHS - it clearly isn't but imagine having to wait even though you're paying for medical insurance and often an excess each time - known as "co-pay" in the US. I totally agree that something has to be done about no-shows. A charge maybe unless you can show very good reason? It's too easy to just not turn up knowing it won't cost you a penny.

I am a British woman living in the Republic of Ireland and I count myself very lucky.
I can phone or pop in to our local health centre anytime between 9am and 7pm Mondat to Friday and arrange an appointment with my GP for later that day.
It's free for me as a retired person, as it is for my grandchildren, and low income people, though there is a charge for better off working people.
If it's a weekend and I don't want to wait until Monday, there is a clinic down the road where I can be seen by a doctor within 2 hours ( dentists too), for 50 euros including a follow up visit in the next 3 days.

LOUISA1523

Our gp practice has greatly improved since covid...all appointments are same day....if you call dead on 8am , you will get an appointment that day...its your choice whether phone or face to face

Difficult to call when you are dead!!

Jane, some GPs run an online system that patients can join and use for ordering medication, viewing test results, and viewing their recent medical histories.
I don't understand how you got your test results and your GP didn't get them too.
If that happened to me I'd be asking ChatGPT for practical advice.

I just asked ChatGPT if it can advise on medical test results. It replied:

"I can help interpret general information from medical test results, such as what certain values typically mean and how they relate to health. However, I’m not a doctor, so it’s important to follow up with a qualified healthcare professional for diagnosis or treatment advice.

Please share the details from the test result you'd like help with (e.g., name of the test, the values, reference ranges, and any symptoms if relevant), and I’ll do my best to explain what they might indicate."

Can you go round to the surgery and book an appointment with the receptionist, face to face? I’ve given up using the phone or emails. I do realise I’m lucky that my GP surgery is only 15 minutes away, also that I’m fortunate enough to be able to walk there easily.

The last time I rang needing an appointment I was told there were none but I could have a telephone consultation. I'd already phoned 111 the previous day, as it was a bank holiday, and had been told I needed to see my GP in person. At the time I asked the 111 doctor "What to do if I couldn't get an appointment" and he said "Then go to A&E!. When I said "OK I'll go to A&E!" they suddenly had an appointment and I was seen within the hour! it is a few years ago though so things may be worse now.

We used to have a system where you could turn up early in the morning and queue for an appointment and you were pretty much guaranteed to be seen, but they have changed to a system of filling in a form online and the staff then carry out a triage to determine who is seen. If you don't have a computer you have to phone the surgery and the staff fill out the form. I haven't needed an appointment since the new system started, so I don't know how good ( or bad ) it is. As I'm diabetic I get regular appointments made automatically for blood tests and medication reviews etc but the frequency has been reduced from 6 monthly to yearly. I don't kow if that is an indication of my results being more under control - which they are - or whether everyone is seen less frequently!

jocork The frequency of my diabetic reviews depends on my results. The standard is every 12 months, unless your HbA1c, blood pressure, cholesterol or any other indicator is unstable.

Lesley60

It’s terrible throughout the uk you are afraid of getting ill because by the time you get to see a Dr you could be dead

It depends where you live...our GPS are great ....our specialist hospitals are second to none ( I'm NW) i waited 6 weeks for urology referral and 13 weeks for gynae ....and our cancercare is brilliant ( clatterbridge)

I think waiting rooms are empty now because doctors do mainly phone calls. We have a six week wait for appointments that you can only make by phone. Some mums have been complaining that the doctors won't even make appointments for their children.

It's difficult to get a GP in person appointment here. They always offer a paramedic. It's not an adequate substitute. One misdiagnosed me.

We have brilliant cancer care. Sadly the doctor diagnosed DH with a UTI and gave him antibiotics when he had stage 4 bladder cancer.

I suggest contacting your local councillor and/or MP. As you said, you are effectively without a GP till September!

What's a GP appointment again? Oh yes, where you phone and have to tell the receptionist all your business and then you are channelled to the most appropriate health professional! I waited nearly 3 weeks for a routine GP appointment, luckily managed to get a face- to- face, but they seem most reluctant to give you those. I get an asthma review over the phone, but to be fair I have been told any problems do phone. However, I do feel this will be all very well, until a receptionist makes a wrong call about someone's health.

Sheian57

I would turn up at the practice and wait to be seen if it was results you need to be treated for. Don't assume the barrier (receptionist) is competent to make a decision. They are not clinically trained, if at all!

This doesn’t sound like an admin problem though. It sounds as though the GPs have changed their summer system.

Not fair to blame the admin for that. Often times those poor people are just doing what the doctors have said and then they get screamed at and put down by the general public as being idiots.

I cannot speak for NI but I live in a small town in North Shropshire which has one surgery covering two towns.

Last year, the surgery moved totally to EConsult. This was met with considerable patient opposition but the surgery has stuck to its guns.

The new system works remarkably well. Patients can provide as much information as the want and the surgery will medically triage the form and decide how best to respond. I submitted an EConsult form a month ago and got a text response 10 minutes later offering me dates/times for a face-to-face appointment. I met with a clinician the following day.

Thanks for all the replies and advice, I was lucky enough to be able to eventually speak to my consultant and he has arranged follow up tests but this was only possible because we have BUPA, if we didn't I would be really stuck and obviously you can't use BUPA too often or the premiums increase. We are constantly told that if we think something is wrong we should get in touch with the GP and to be fair the GPs are usually very good if you can get through but the initial gateway is now firmly shut to far too many people, how would anyone working or taking kids to school be able to phone at 8.30? My 78 y.o.neighbour developed a bad infection after surgery, she phoned and the receptionist told her there were no appointments and they were not allowed to pass messages to the doctors, she was eventually advised to wait until the Out Of Hours service took over in the evening, when the doctor eventually phoned back it was her own GP! She got antibiotics which helped but she had to endure stress and pain for a couple of days before getting help, she could well have developed sepsis or other complications. My daughter worked in supported living for those with dementia, she told me she spent many hours on the phone trying to get help for the clients, GPs always refused to visit and instead provided antibiotics without any medical consultation, if that didn't work the staff were told to call an ambulance. It's interesting that today the Assisted Dying Bill is being voted on and many voices are being raised that those who wish to choose this route could be exploited but meanwhile people who desperately want to live are being ignored by GPs and left to cope as best they can, it seems to me that if people die as a result of poor healthcare the government shrugs its shoulders but if someone chooses to end their life they must be stopped at all costs.

Jane112 I have, at times, been my GP practice's fiercest critic, but I agree with RinseandRepeat that the eConsult system only system works well - much better than the 8am telephone scramble or the queues of mainly retired people waiting for the doors to open every morning.

Since the system was introduced, I have been seen for suspected skin cancer the same day I contacted the surgery and was immediately referred for treatment, which I received within days. I've been seen twice within days for a painful hip and I've had a number of routine tests and reviews.

I usually prepare my message in advance, so that it's polite but direct. I state what I want eg. an appointment with a doctor, a review with a nurse, a query about test results or whatever. The initial contact has always been the same day.

Patients have been told that if they can't access the online system, they can ring up or go into the surgery. They will be helped to fill in a form and triaged just like everybody else. If it's urgent, they will be seen urgently.

Incidentally, for those who think waiting rooms are always empty, I popped into the surgery this morning for something. I had been reading this thread and counted the number of people there - there were 14.

My health centre introduced e-consult, it worked very well from a patient pov, given how many voiced their disappointment when it was discontinued.

My husband had been trying to get an appointment for weeks for claudication (pains in his legs due to blocked arteries)that has got so bad he is now using crutches and has to sit every few yards,when we walk our dog. Been told to keep walking but really struggles. Rang surgery several times, used ring back but they only ring twice which even if I have the phone in my pocket doesn't give you enough time to answer. I went to the reception and got him an appt but it was in 4 weeks time.
Last week I had a nurses appointment for bloods, I explained my husbands situation and hey presto she got him an appointment within the next 2 days. He is now waiting for a hospital referral to a vascular consultant, fingers crossed they can help him.

growstuff I'd be very happy if we had the e consult system and envy those who do have it, our GP closed all online communication other than ordering medication at the start of COVID and have steadfastly refused to reinstate it since. If you go to their website it gives you a list of ailments but when you click on them it takes you to very expensive private healthcare options, it's basically an advertising site for the private sector.

Took me a move of over 100 miles to get a brilliant GP practice. My old GP surgery which I had been with since 1981 went down hill in 2005 when the last of the original GPs retired.
Was never sent to see a cardiologist even though I had problems with my heart missing beats not put on medication except BP tablet. Neurologist couldn't be bothered as he didn't know what was wrong with me .

My new surgery sent me to see a cardiologist who just asked if I had a echocardiogram I said no so had one as there was a problem had a bubble echocardiogram and I had been born with a hole in the side of my heart. MRI confirmed place and size. Safer to leave alone as I don't have chest pain . Have PAF and on heart medication.

My neurologist had my whole genome genetically tested and found out I was born with rare hereditary neurological condition. First patient at one of the top neurological hospitals to have it. On medication which has helped me .

By having both diagnosis on BHF forum which has helped. But on Facebook group with my condition and my whole life makes sense. I was 62 and 63 when I had my diagnosis's.
I am 67 now .

My GP practice has online consultation,phone appointments and face to face . In house pharmacist and phlebotomy nurse. Plus we have walk in health centres for out of hours. At one of hospitals there is GP walk in ECG and x-ray departments. Plus specialist hospitals.

Dread to think what my life would have been like if I hadn't moved.

Did you move there deliberately?

It's very concerning that there is so much difference between practices. Initially, there were some problems while my practice (and patients) got used to the econsult system, but now it works really well.

melp1

My husband had been trying to get an appointment for weeks for claudication (pains in his legs due to blocked arteries)that has got so bad he is now using crutches and has to sit every few yards,when we walk our dog. Been told to keep walking but really struggles. Rang surgery several times, used ring back but they only ring twice which even if I have the phone in my pocket doesn't give you enough time to answer. I went to the reception and got him an appt but it was in 4 weeks time.
Last week I had a nurses appointment for bloods, I explained my husbands situation and hey presto she got him an appointment within the next 2 days. He is now waiting for a hospital referral to a vascular consultant, fingers crossed they can help him.

Has he already been officially diagnosed? If so, what was he told to do?

I once saw a vascular consultant about pain in my lower legs and I was told to do what your husband is already doing - walk as much as possible. I had a Doppler test, but was told my condition wasn't serious enough for a stent.

If he's been previously diagnosed, whoever was treating him shouldn't have discharged him until the issue was solved.