WAITING Times for GP andNurse Appointments

My doctors in North Devon is pretty good and I can usually get an appointment to see my own doctor within a couple of weeks but they do have a same day team as well

Goodness after reading these posts I realise how fortunate I am with my GP practice. Biggest issue is their only point of contact is via phone and it’s continually engaged. However if you manage to get through that and still within that days allocated patient numbers , the GP’s themselves are excellent. Always get same day phone contact and then if necessary GP will arrange to see face to face or if more appropriate deal with it over the phone.

I rang this morning and managed to get through quite quickly. GP rang back within ten minutes. Had an appointment for lunchtime and was seen very quickly.

It’s awful how so many people are receiving less than optimal care. I also can’t understand how it’s possible to get a private face to face appointment but GP’s still aren’t seeing patients.

I've worked out how to access the system at both my GP and my daughters.

I use their online system to register the problem and give LONG and detailed descriptions.

If I'm not happy with the response (been fobbed off a couple of times) I reply each time, again in detail.

I haven't actually been able to see a GP, but I've seen a nurse practitioner and DGS was able to have a video appointment and get the prescription he needed.

111 is not much better. A few weeks ago we thought my DGS had drunk something poisonous but DD was on hold to 111 for almost an hour. We drove to the nearest walk-in centre to us (7 miles away) and they referred us straight to A&E.

I think it's a case of working out what works in your area. AND being able to access online contact with your surgery, know how to use video calling, even basics, like having a car to drive to the walk-in centre. It shouldn't be that hard and lots of people are cut out of the system because it is so hard.

I can't understand it either. If a GP can phone you and discuss your problem for ten minutes (this has happened twice with my dh) then why can they not see you face to face for ten minutes? If it is because they are scared of getting covid, then wear masks, leave windows open etc, just as our dentist does.
To rub salt into the wound, our surgery is holding a two hour information afternoon later this month where we can 'meet the members of our health care team to see how they can help us'. Really? They can help us by returning to the decentish service they offered pre-covid.

I think the service must depend on the post code lottery. For us it’s easy to call the surgery and a doctor will call back, usually same day. My husband has had 3 calls and three appointments, one with the diabetic nurse.

I feel so sorry for those with surgeries that will not engage with their patients. Often a short conversation is all that is needed but some need urgent face to face appointments and these should be available.

What a sorry state for our once good health service.

Triage is here to stay. I don’t think GP services will ever return to the way they operated pre-covid because the pressure on surgeries was unsustainable, largely due to inappropriate use by the public. Young doctors don’t want to go into primary care now because of those pressures, and experienced doctors are retiring early or going to work abroad. Imagine sitting in your surgery all day, with a stream of people coming in, the majority of whom don’t actually need medical care, but use the GP as their sounding board/backstop - one every 10 minutes for 7 hours a day in a typical day. There is a shortage of doctors in nearly every surgery throughout the UK, I don’t under- estimate what a very difficult job it is being a GP. Covid is slowing the system down because of the need to clean rooms between patients and all the other infection control requirements - many people are anxious about attending a healthcare premise.
Huge efforts are being made to redirect people to other professionals who can help them, which will free up capacity for those who have genuine medical issues. I don’t know how else they can determine who really needs medical help other than a triage system. It sounds like some surgeries have really not got the triage right yet, and I feel very sorry for those whose genuine medical issues are not dealt with in a timely way.

Hmmm, I’m upset today about my surgery although I’m not trying to get an appointment. I phoned to find out what was happening about a referral made by my optician to ophthalmology and cardiology after my eye test showed sight loss possibly caused bi a TIA. The surgery deny receiving the referral even though I saw the optician make it online. So I’ve now lost a week waiting to hear from the hospital and it’s supposed to be a two week protocol like cancer referrals.

I do not need to see my doctor, there is nothing he could see as it needed a 3D scan of my eye to see the damage. I have now collected a paper copy of the referral from the optician together with copies of the scans and took it round to the surgery myself. I’m going to chase it up on Monday and if needs be demand to speak to a doctor.

I feel on edge and worried about having a stroke while in the house on my own!

Our GP practice is a nightmare. 40+ minutes to get through and then there’s never any appointments so I have to go through the whole rigmarole the next day.

My daughter has been blessed with a brilliant surgery. Every time she's needed an appointment for her or the boys, she's managed to get one.

Mine on the other hand is the total opposite.

I've given up. I'm not well but I just can't be bothered phoning, waiting, being on hold for half an hour, explaining my problem to a frazzled receptionist. I've phoned 23 times in the last 18 months. I do tend to get a phone appointment which would be great for many things but I need a face to face appointment but I can't get one.

And so I stagger on

My son came home from work today having cut his leg on rusty barbed wire. I told him to ring the surgery to check when he last had a tetanus. To be honest I wasn’t optimistic about him getting through but within a short time he found that he would need a booster and has an appointment at 8.00 tomorrow morning. So am really pleased and relieved that the surgery have acted so quickly and we didn’t need to go to A&E. It’s pleasing to report good service when we receive it.

That's great, Gwyneth. How it should be. I know that up to 1000 surgeries have been told they need to start seeing patients again so maybe things will soon improve.

Redhead56

Our Drs call system is now almost virtual and it’s difficult to speak to “someone” regarding medications and tests etc. This must be awkward for people not familiar with computers or technology.
My husband was waiting over a week for a Drs telephone call and two weeks to speak to the nurse. It was stressful for him because he had changed medication and wasn’t well.
We have young neighbours with small children who had eventually been directed to the local walk in centres. On two separate occasions only to be told to go to A&E then being told the problems were trivial. That the walk-in centres should have sorted the problems out. There is a distinct lack of communication between department's which seems illogical.

Redhead’s post tells us much about what’s happening. Her husband had difficulties getting to speak to his GP, meanwhile their neighbours have wasted the time of their walk in centre twice and wasted the time of A+E with problems described by health professionals as ‘trivial.’ Why were these people wasting the time of medics on several occasions with trivial problems? I guess the answer is because they can!

I think that Redheads neighbours went to A&E because they were told to by local walls in centres.

It's not up to people to say that something is trivial. It may well be but just. today a young girl has been told she is dying from an inoperable brain tumour. She'd been to her GPs and were told her migraines were trivial.

My son who has a PhD and does research and treats pancreatic cancer was admonished by his GP when he presented with symptoms similar to those of appendicitis. Eventually the chemist took one look at him when he went to purchase his GP prescribed Ibuprofen and called an ambulance for him. He had appendicitis and was operated on immediately. My son sees lots of patients who have come to A&E in desperation when a GP has called something trivial It isn't always trivial

GPs can and do make mistakes. There are some brilliant ones out there. There are also not so brilliant ones.

How worrying for you Teacheranne
I hope you manage to get an answer on Monday.

maddyone

Redhead56

Our Drs call system is now almost virtual and it’s difficult to speak to “someone” regarding medications and tests etc. This must be awkward for people not familiar with computers or technology.
My husband was waiting over a week for a Drs telephone call and two weeks to speak to the nurse. It was stressful for him because he had changed medication and wasn’t well.
We have young neighbours with small children who had eventually been directed to the local walk in centres. On two separate occasions only to be told to go to A&E then being told the problems were trivial. That the walk-in centres should have sorted the problems out. There is a distinct lack of communication between department's which seems illogical.

Redhead’s post tells us much about what’s happening. Her husband had difficulties getting to speak to his GP, meanwhile their neighbours have wasted the time of their walk in centre twice and wasted the time of A+E with problems described by health professionals as ‘trivial.’ Why were these people wasting the time of medics on several occasions with trivial problems? I guess the answer is because they can!

No, because they'd been directed to A & E by walk in centres, who should have sorted them out. It's not the neighbour's fault that their concerns turned out to be "trivial". They're not trained medics.

My neighbours time had been wasted by the staff at walk-in centres. They are young parents stressed about their little ones. They are not trained medics so took the advice they were given. They are caring intelligent people not time wasters.
The point I was making was there is obviously a lack of communication within departments of NHS. The A&E addressed the problems as trivial enough for walk-in centre to deal with. They didn't understand why my neighbours were advised to go to A&E.

Yes Redhead there must be better communication between NHS depts otherwise it is a complete waste of time for both staff and patients. On an aside, although I am very happy that more money will be available for health and social care re the rise in National Insurance we most certainly need assurance from the NHS that this money will not be wasted. I think the scenario with the walk in centre and A&E is one such example. This additional taxation must be used wisely and the government has a responsibility to ensure that this is so. Thank you Zoejory my son is at the surgery as I write!

Gwyneth Privatisation and outsourcing of the NHS is unlikely to have that outcome. Each part of the service is seen as a profit centre and is accountable for costs. It's very tempting to offload problems on to somebody else.

We have had at least 5 new housing estates built in and within 3 miles of our GP practice and more are being built, it was difficult to get an appointment pre Covid , now it’s almost impossible. Although I had my annual Health Review 2 weeks ago with no problem but booked 3 weeks prior to the appointment after being emailed by the Practice.
I was told (after being in a telephone queue for 25 minutes) that I can’t have my Asthma review because there are no Vials available for blood, unless they have changed their protocol I don’t usually have blood taken for this review, but the receptionist was adamant that I can’t have the appointment.
When I told her of my other problem she said ‘goodness we can’t have you wandering around with that’ and I had a call back from a GP within the hour. So go figure!
So, at least we now have a new telephone system that tells you what number you are in the queue ( I was no.25 when I rang at 8.30) but I suspect that it’s down to the Receptionist, so tell all of your worries to her and you might get a quick phone call.
Or not.
But until we get more GPS, which is unlikely and our existing GPS are full time ( most of our GPs in our Surgery are part time now) we will never get back to normal. I too wonder why they are part time and some are still working from home, maybe they have been pinged?

Thank you growstuff but surely communication is possible between the different departments?

I rang my GP surgery in mid July after having suffered a horrendous pain in my upper abdomen. I had a phone appointment with a GP who suspected that I have gallstones. She said she would make me an appointment for blood tests and an ultrasound scan. She also prescribed 2 months of Lansoprazole. They ran out at the beginning of this week. I phoned the surgery for another prescription and mentioned that I haven't yet had the blood taken or the scan.
The receptionist made an appointment for me to have blood taken on 29th Sept. but this morning the hospital rang to offer me a scan next week.
I wonder if anything would have happened had I not needed more Lansoprazole.

I really like the online form/field that can be filled in with details of the complaint. I do know it doesn't work for everyone, but the ability to describe the problem in graphic detail (and I mean graphic, colour of pus etc) usually results in a response within a reasonable time frame.

Gwyneth

Thank you growstuff but surely communication is possible between the different departments?

Yes, it should be possible, but it's not just different departments. Although they often bear the NHS logo, the NHS is actually loads of completely different organisations with their own systems, etc.

Gagajo this form has been ‘withdrawn at the current time and we regret that we do not know when it will be available again’ from our Surgery's webpage!
Hopefully it will be back soon.

My GP practice seems to be working pretty well. If I think I need to see a GP, I go to AskmyGP on my laptop that morning, type in the reason I am making this request. Will receive an email notification pretty quickly and then (if I have requested to talk to a Doctor), one of the GP's there will ring me back within an hour or two. Discussion with them as to whether or not I need a face-to-face meeting. If it is really urgent usually are given a time the same day.
For the nurses, well - I have never actually had to make an appointment to see them for regular check ups. The surgery contacts me as and when these are due to make an appropriate appointment for that.