How does your local Doctors appointment system work?

Something like this:

1. Book next day off work
2. Phone up at 8.30 am
3. Get engaged tone
4. Increment time by 1 minute
5. Repeat steps 2-4 until you speak to someone, then goto step 6.
6. Be told that all the appointments are gone and you'll have to ring again tomorrow.
7. Repeat steps 1-6 until you get fired/die of your illness.

Workarounds:

A) Plan to get ill 7-14 days in advance and pre-book an appointment
B) Skip the doctors and go straight to A&E/walk-in centre

****ing useless. :rolleyes:
 
lowrider007 said:
Since when has seeing a doctor become a 'near' emergency only process?
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Since morons started going to the doctor when they don't need to. "Oh doc I need antibiotics, I need this, I need that, WebMD says I am dying"

Mine just gives you a slot to go in, mind you I'll only go to the doctors for something very serious. Don't see the need to go there if I've got general aches and pains and ailments - that's all part of life, does you good to fight off an infection or take a knock.
 
ring up, pick a slot turn up to a normally half empty doctors.

I moved into derby but kept my old doctors in Uttoxeter as you can still get in, all the doctors in derby are horrendous for getting an appointment
 
pitchfork said:
Since morons started going to the doctor when they don't need to. "Oh doc I need antibiotics, I need this, I need that, WebMD says I am dying"
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It's not predominantly about just worried well people that fill up the clinics. The country has an increasingly aged population and an increased amount of time is spent looking after patients with multiple complex problems. The government is also requesting more and more assessments and reviews of people and if these aren't done then the money doesn't come into primary care. The workload in primary care has increased massively over the last 10 years or so and there just isn't the required number of doctors or funding to be able to pay for them even if there were. It's a perfect storm of increased workload with massively reduced investment in the service provided. I wish I could say that I am positive about future changes, but I think these issues will get worse not better
 
Ring doctors, any time of day, get asked by receptionist "Is it urgent?". If I say yes, I'll get an appointment the same day, if no, normally an appointment at the very latest a couple of days later. If in the unlikely event it is urgent and I still can't get an appointment I'd head up to the out of hours service at our local hospital after the surgery closes. Waiting times for out of hours is normally akin to A&E though, around 3-4 hours on a bad day.

As for repeat prescriptions, I can ring up, order it and my local chemist will pick it up, fill the prescription and I can pick it up the next day. If I'm feeling particularly lazy I could get them to deliver it!
 
My local doctors have just switched to the system described in the OP, completely pathetic and inconvenient for anyone who you know has a job...

Worst thing is they called this a 'modern and convenient booking system' when it was replacing online booking where you could book your appointment whenever and see the doctors available... welcome back to the 20th century, what's that internet thing I've heard about again?
 
heeeed said:
It's not predominantly about just worried well people that fill up the clinics. The country has an increasingly aged population and an increased amount of time is spent looking after patients with multiple complex problems. The government is also requesting more and more assessments and reviews of people and if these aren't done then the money doesn't come into primary care. The workload in primary care has increased massively over the last 10 years or so and there just isn't the required number of doctors or funding to be able to pay for them even if there were. It's a perfect storm of increased workload with massively reduced investment in the service provided. I wish I could say that I am positive about future changes, but I think these issues will get worse not better
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It's these tory *******s, trying to ruin the NHS and then claim it was labour so they can privatise it...
 
Rang for phone consultation today (details don't matter) i asked for one asap ok sir Thursday 25th sept is quickest we can do...and that's just to ask the doctor to get a occupational therapist to come and see me :(
Guess its the same BS everywhere
 
Thankfully my gp just gives you an appointment on the day. If you don't get one tough.

I didn't know fraud was the issue but I'm still able to get repeats over the phone.

To be fair they seem to check how often you go in and if it's barely at all they probook you for the next day. Last time I saw a doctor was 2011 until last week. My sister the hypochondraact never gets offered to book for the next day.
 
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Sliver said:
I can only make an appointment on the day I want see the Doctor. The Surgery phone line opens at 8am and is always rammed by loads of people all trying to get through at the same time. It can take up to an hour to get through and on the worst days, if you don't manage to get through in time, you're screwed because all the slots have gone which means you have to wait till the next day.

Absolute farce to be honest. :mad:
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Same here.
The most irritating thing for me is when I need a medication review. This is not time critical but has to happen every 3 months. I can't book an appointment to do it at a convenient time, so I just have to keep on phoning every morning until I get an appointment. Possibly taking a slot from someone who actually needs to see a doctor on that day.

It also makes things difficult with work as I have to potentially block out an entire day as I never know exactly what time the appointment will be until I manage to get through on the phone.

I know why they do it though. Its so that they can say that they see 100% of patients within 12 hours of them making an appointment.
 
Phone up at opening time and they tell you to phone at 2pm, then you wait 2-3 weeks on average for a routine appointment. I noticed they have an online system now.
 
Ours allow you to book online which shows all the available slots for the next 2 weeks. If you need to phone up you need to do so before 8.30 or al, the slots are gone for the day.
 
For same-day appointments you have to call in when the surgery first opens and you have to go through the "triage" call back first, otherwise it's a ~1 week wait and you can book appointments online too.
 
Does anyone else have to argue with the receptionist every damn time you want to book an appointment with your GP?

Me: I'd like to make an appointment with Dr. X

Receptionist: What's wrong with you?

Me: If I knew that, I wouldn't need to see the ******* doctor, would I?
 
Last Wednesday I rang for a Doctors appointment and got one for October 28th.

However if you turn up at 8am they will prise you in but you can have up to a 4 hour wait.
 
lowrider007 said:
Recently our local Doctors surgery has changed it's appointment system so that the only way you can see a Doctor now is you have to ring up first and tell them what the problem is, then the Nurse will tell you a Doctor will ring you back within so many hours (not a specific time) for a telephone assessment, and then he/she during that assessment will decide if it's worth coming in or it.

****ing pathetic.

Since when has seeing a doctor become a 'near' emergency only process?

Is this becoming the norn now?
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phone up ask for an appointment get one usually a week or so times so most small problems are gone by then :/

I seriously wouldn't be comfortable discussing my medical issues with the receptionist though :/
 
Ring up / call in at 8am for an emergency appointment, later that day.

If it's not an emergency, then you may leave a message and the GP will call back within a few hours (typically 1-2hrs) to run through symptoms and discuss making an appointment in the future.

If you're waiting for test results you have to call back after 3pm.

To be honest, I feel it works well enough, with one minor complaint. That is, if you ring later than 8:15 you won't get an appointment before 3pm that day, which us frustrating if you want to call in before work / want to start later without taking time off. I'm sure the phone lines get hammered by OAPs looking for appointments like some kind of social club, because there's almost no one in the practice whenever I arrive and it can be difficult to even get through to someone before 8:15 :(

Also, the receptionists act like God, which is irritating. On the flip side, there is a funky self-check in machine now, so when I needed a blood test a few weeks ago, I simply walked in, checked-in and sat down. Must to the annoyance and bewilderment of people waiting in the queue to speak to aforementioned receptionist :D
 
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1 to 2 week wait for a normal appointment but they have sit and wait clinics daily and if urgent, an actual real problem or sick child, you can generally get a callback from the doctor or an appointment.
 
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