Fabioso

Phoned up my local surgery yesterday as I wanted to make an appointment to see my doctor. Next available appointment is the 11th April? I said in that case I don't mind I'll see any doctor at the surgery. The next available appointment for any doctor is 11th April she said.

Do other people have this kind of waiting time at their surgery? it never used to be that bad may be 2 weeks tops.

Apparently unprecedented demand....nothing to do with the recent merger of 2 surgeries into 1.....oh no.........

Turbohot

That's awful. By then you might even recover by yourself. Honestly, that is terrible, Fabiaso.

We have some surgeries here that tell their patients that if they ring in at 8am, they may have chance to get an appointment on the same day. What a great idea. I hear from the people with the personal experience of that that their GP surgery's telephone line is always clogged due to everyone ringing in at 8am. Sucks, man!

I think we need more frontline services; more GPs being one of them. But NHS are cutting down on expenses instead, and they can't really afford enough GPs to fulfil the patients' demand.

john banks

We see patients the same day if they request it and have enough phone lines and staff for people to get through (whilst about a third of our call back attempts fail even minutes after the patient called), but we are independent contractors so I cannot vouch for how other contractors perform.

From what I hear, some areas are under great staffing and financial pressures combined with increasing demand which is effectively making some areas experience the difficulties you describe. Here is the RCGP's campaign on the issues: http://www.rcgp.org.uk/campaign-home.aspx

Some feel that there are efforts to break the service to result in privatisation. Some wish politicians would state clearly if this is their intention. Whatever, this halfway house in some areas where primary care is being choked deliberately or by neglect is unsatisfactory and sometimes unsafe. Free at the point of use has turned into free at the point of abuse, and many feel that charging will have to be brought in to put brakes on demand and medicalization of non medical problems.

Snooky

At my surgery come 8am phone lines are busy till 9/930am! An appointment for same day is very rare! I wait till it shuts and lay on thick to the front desk/ reception as the docs hang around a hour or so after close and get an emergency drop in after close of day! It is terrible service, 1 phone line once it's in use your screwed! Your not the only 1 who is suffering from bad gp practices!!

RA Dunk

I've had similar up to a few weeks for an appointment but not as long as this, what boils my pi$$ is the waiting room is full of single mothers with smelly little brats with snot running down their chins and foreigners.

Turbohot

My GP surgery is ok. The receptionist would fit you in, if you are dying, like. Otherwise, you have to wait at least a week. Sometimes a week and a half. When it's out of hours emergency, we still ring our doc, but then we get connected to the little hospital in our county. A person from there says that the duty nurse will call us back. Then she talks to us, and tell us whether we're worth bothering out of hour doc or not. Sometimes she's not right in putting us off in her most condescending ways, but we just have to put up with it. I put the likes of her straight a couple of times, like.

cster

At my GP if you show up between 7 and 8 am, they will see you there and then.
Obviously this involves getting out of bed in the morning, so may not suit everyone.
For some reason they don't seem to like making appointments - perhaps because some people like making appointments and not showing up?
I think it would be good if you could maybe pay a £20 deposit to make an appointment at a convenient time and then get it back when you attend - but the do-gooders would never have it.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Hmmm looks like I'm not the only one; Ring 8:00am (opening time) engaged. Engaged all teh way to 9:00am, then I get an answer....slots for today is fully booked, next free apointment is 2 weeks...WTF!

Last time I was in there (stitches out) I was the youngest person in there by at least 30 years, and I'm 34!

Saving grace is I now I'm registered to book in on-line; No constant engaged tones anymore!

I'd love to be able to skip the GP to see the relevent specialist without referral.

hodgy0_2

If it is free - take two

Snooky

I have just come out of hospital ( 9 days in a bed) due to no appointments! Took myself to a&e and ended up with fluid around the hart/ lungs . Infection in chest and a blood clot in lung! They were surprised I was left so long! Gp said it was fine to wait a week for the appointment! Have just finished home anti biotics I was given and now on hart blockers and blood thinners! Scary at the age of 25! Am in process of changing gp practises at the moment! But by the looks of it they are all the same!!!

thenewgalaxy

It seems to me that the bean counters realise that most people have self limiting conditions and that the problem will go away before they gain access to the GP's surgery.

People with a chronic issue will eventually get in and if the issue is serious enough they might wander down to A&E. Or call an ambulance. Or just get bored and not seek treatment at all.

Primary healthcare provided by general medical and dental practitioners has already gone partially (in some cases totally) private or self-funded. That is a good thing for the system as it means they have to pay out less to keep it running. In my opinion the system is more interested in preserving itself than preserving patients and the clinicians that treat them.

Turbohot

Goes to show that at your age you shouldn't be needing a doctor that much. Fair enough, that time you had to go in to get your stitches out, but you seem to be now booking your appts. on line a bit as well. Well, unless you Skype your doc and he can prescribe you on line, I can't see how you can stop encountering old people in abundance at your surgery.

Anyway, be a young brave man, and just get on with it without needing to see your doc every time you sneeze. Just get on SN, chuck your feather light weight about and ban a few people while you're irritated with a cold or some allergy. You'll feel better in no time. Best medicine predicted for you.

Scoobydoo Ste

iTrader: (3)

Don't get me started on this subject!

Our local surgery is shockingly bad too - they also prefer you to ring first thing in the morning around 8.30am to make an appointment for some time that day and you're lucky if you can get through.

They did however reluctantly make an appointment to see my son a week later for which, we still had to wait in there for an hour before being seen.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Actually I am one of those has to be dragged to the docs kicking and screaming. I've lost my trust in them for many reasons, one is that they failed to realise I had "grew out" of my child hood asthma. Or to be more precise never followed up on referals for diagnosing the triggers (pet related allergins mostly - diagnosed by myself - hence the OCD on vacuum cleaners). I should have had allergy tests, I should have been re-assessed, somebody should have looked at my records and asked why is this teenager still taking steroid inhalers that they were prescribed to take when they were 3 years old without any form of formal review.

This has now led to an individual who asks and researches everything and does not take anything a doctor says in blind faith.

Another time I was in there was infected dermatitis....it wasn't going to get better on its own, I needed an antibiotic/steroid cream. I had no choice as its prescription only medication. Just now I know what they should prescribe me before I actually see them. Pity it took another two weeks of enduring it due to waiting for the appointment slot. Its annoying, we have a NHS, but its not really there when we need it (A&E excepting). If I could just buy what I needed without a prescription, I woud have, it would be so much quicker and less hassle.

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

Not quite that bad, but can be a good couple of weeks. Maybe it is demand, otherwise it can only be that they hope you will get better by that time, or die, either way, you don't take up a slot.

It doesn't help that my surgery, they keep changing the 'rules' so unless you are a regular visitor, you don't know where you're at. At one time, you could only make an appointment up to one week ahead, and they reserved some slots as book on the day, along with emergency appointments. Then they changed so you could book ahead as far as the system allowed (4 weeks, I think) but book on the day appointments were scrapped completely and emergency appointments were changed to a phone call when they had the chance, and then they'd decide whether they would see you. I've no idea what system they have now.

dpb

Same day or tomorrow here, call for appointment 8-9

Don't care which person I see

Chip

We're seemingly very luck then in that if we need to see a doc we just go down, give your name and wait to see the doc, same day. You may have to wait an hour or so but will always get to see someone.

If that wasn't the case then yes, if I was ill I would pay to see a GP privately. We have a private GP surgery not far from where we live in Cardiff. I can see more of these places popping up in the future as well.

http://theindependentgeneralpractice...p-service.html

Turbohot

Lucky you.

I do.

It's only in emergency situations I'll see any doctor. I'm not keen on my main doc Dr. M.. He's a sweet talker, but he doesn't investigate the problems well enough, dismisses the illness and puts it down as minor discomfort until it flares up to more serious level. Let's face it if I needed a sweet-talk medicine, I'd go to a shrink, not him. he, as a doc, should stick to giving right pills for right diseases.

I preferred Dr. J. who started to part-time at his place. He paid attention to some detail, at least.

Now we have my main doc's daughter as a part-timer there. I'd rather see her than her dad. Her dad did start to get a bit more detailed of late, but I haven't taken him seriously for years since he made a few ***** with his diagnoses for my family members. The daughter is quite clued up, and checks you out well.

Whenever I call their reception for an appointment, receptionist asks me if I'd like to see Dr. M.. I say- "Miss K., actually". I bet most patients from his surgery don't want to see him that much any more. Recently she threw one diagnosis of her father out of the window in my case. She got my blood tested, and said with the evidence that the reason for my discomfort is something different to what her dad had always maintained previously. That was mildly amusing for the patient one.