GP Appointments

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

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.

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.

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)

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.

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!

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.

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."

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.

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!!

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.

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.

Retired GP secretary here….an empty waiting room means appointments (either phone or in person ones) are running on time. Ours was never empty!

Do what I did. After almost 5 months without my medication, unable to get an appointment, even going into reception, she refused to make appointment, said ring or use Anima website at 8am. I came home, in a temper and Emailed Wes Streeting, CQC, local MP and local patients assoc. Three days later, surgery rang, offered me double appointment at time and day of my choosing. Success!!!!!

If u ring for appointment, you are in a huge queue, but make out a form and see someone nxt day? Don't understand.

We're lucky to have electronic messaging to our GP, they message back or phone, normally within a day. However an appointment is virtually impossible, except for an annual health check which is with the practice nurse.

My son used to use the app, which wasn't very good. I go to dr and make out a form. Dr rang me and saw me next day. . They say they are busy, but we have a huge waiting room, and never anyone in it?

Jane112

I had a blood test and a telephone appointment was booked for the following week to talk through the results. In the interim, I was mad enough to look at the NHS app and found a couple of my results were labelled abnormal. When my GP called, an anxiety filled week later, her first words were,
GP: "What would you like to talk to me about?"
Me: "Erm... we're supposed to discuss my blood results..."
GP: "Right....what's your full name, d.o.b, first line of your address?"

Eh? Had anyone looked at my results?

Anyway, abnormal results?

GP after, I presume, she'd taken a look at them: "Oh! I'm not worried about that!"

The moral of this tale is, Keep away from the NHS app. If it's something urgent, they'll contact you....won't they? Won't they? 🙄

I would lodge a complaint about them. This os not good enough.
You have already complained to the practice, but I would write and tell them you are now escalating your compaint.

"In Northern Ireland, if you have a complaint about your GP service, you should initially raise your concerns with the GP practice or practitioner for local resolution.
If you are not satisfied with the local resolution, you can then escalate your complaint to the Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) of the Department of Health. The SPPG can act as an intermediary or "honest broker" to help resolve the issue.
If you remain unhappy, you can refer your complaint to the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Complaints (the Ombudsman)."

I am also in NI and we have no way of making appointments apart from the 8.30 phone lottery. It's the same with trying to get test results. We have one hour in the afternoon to get through. Sometimes you don't get through at all. I'm very disappointed in our surgery but we're stuck with it. If we could book an appointment by email it would be something, but we can't.

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

Can you pop in to the surgery and leave a letter asking for explanation of test results?

I phoned my surgery asking for appointment wed/thur/fri or same days the following week. Receptionist said there were none and I would be better calling at 8 am in the morning on the day I want to see a doctor . On my 1st available day I called was asked to describe what was wrong so I said 2 things. I was told a same day was for urgent appointments and could only be for one concern. I was not told that when I initially called.
When I turned up for my appointment that afternoon the surgery was empty, I was only person in waiting room before i saw the doctor and after and 2 receptionists answering phone calls. Nobody was waiting why could I not have raised 2 issues?

Also very annoying is a sign in the surgery waiting area which says "you may not be seen by the person you are expecting to due to the amount of missed and late appointments we experience " I have never missed an appointment and never been late for a Dr. in my life but I and others like me are penalised.

Absolutely everything is dictated by the surgery and you can't challenge anything the fact that you are conscientious, disciplined, polite, considerate, have paid Tax and NI for 40 plus years and never claimed benefits counts for nothing.

I am extremely lucky to have had good health all my life rarely requiring medical intervention but with ageing comes some health issues where I need to call upon the NHS and I am really angry at the service available to me.
Apologies for the rant but this is a sore subject.

I'm lucky with my GP practice. For any concerning issue we can complete an online consultation form and get a response from.a GP within 4 hours. It might be advice, reassurance or an appointment. Last time I did it I got an appointment for that afternoon and had a full examination by my named GP. It negates the lengthy telephone wait. I've just had an issue with my Airmid (online GP account) and the IT manager took ages helping me get it sorted. Our receptionists are wonderful too!

Our surgery is pretty good. Yesterday I sent an engage consult message at 7.30 am - it wasn’t urgent but I needed to check a couple of things. My GP rang before 9 am. We had a good talk and she promised to email me the required information. She did within half an hour. All appointments are same day so if she had wanted to see me, it would have been the same day.

A few downsides are that eyes and ears aren’t dealt there anymore. We either go to an optician, eye hospital or ENT.

Also, one or two people I know aren’t happy with having to use a computer so have to telephone.