Is missed appointments really an issue? I Arrive early for my appointment yet have to wait 20 minutes surely if you don't go to the doctor's the doctors are not sat widdling their thumbs for 15minutes. I imagine if you don't check in at reception you lose your appointment so theirfore time is not wasted. So losing £££ millions every year is a myth which is perpetuated by the GP's to try and get a new revenue stream .
What's making it difficult to see a GP these days?
- Thread starter Pawnless Endgame
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The most common complaint people have is that they cannot get an appointment.
The appointment that someone missed could have gone to someone who really needed it........
This also applies to secondary care. Where resources are allocated for a clinic. If people don't turn up money has been wasted.
Soldato
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Yeah I couldn't agree more. The best partnerships are incredibly hard to get into here. We've also had quite few partners leave to go into salaried and locum work as it's just not worth the hassle. Heard a few stories of full time salaried earning more than full time partners! In our first 5 group (newly qualifieds) there is, however, a general feeling that most would eventually like to be partner but they're very selective and most biding their time at present. Personally the challenge of partnership does appeal to me maybe in about 5 years time.
Soldato
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I would estimate that I have at least 2 patients missing appointments each day, often it's worse than that. This is fairly typical in our surgery and adds up to around 10 per day from just missed appointments with doctors, nevermind the HCA and nurses; almost equivalent to a half day of wasted GP time but also 10 slots where someone else could've been seen.
So what happens if their is a missed appointment? Does the doctor fill in the crossword while he waits on the next patient? I doubt it I reckon he already has the next person sat their ready for him.
Had to go to the doc in Dec, first time in about 2 years or so. got an appointment for 9:20, got there 9:15, got seen 9:40 - and no one came out the room before me >:-/
i have this anger at the dentist's too; all over the waiting room are notices about having to pay/wait till end of day etc if you're not on time for your appointment, yet they seem incapable of getting me in at the agreed time and there's no come back or penalties for them. this has even happened when i was the 2nd appointment of the day, ffs; was fifteen mins late, i had a go at them cos yet again there was a huge wait between someone coming out before me and me being called, and i ended up waiting longer than i was in for the actual check up.
i have this anger at the dentist's too; all over the waiting room are notices about having to pay/wait till end of day etc if you're not on time for your appointment, yet they seem incapable of getting me in at the agreed time and there's no come back or penalties for them. this has even happened when i was the 2nd appointment of the day, ffs; was fifteen mins late, i had a go at them cos yet again there was a huge wait between someone coming out before me and me being called, and i ended up waiting longer than i was in for the actual check up.
Doctors don't control what walks through the door. It could be a broken nail or heart attack. Often people also come with multiple problems which takes the doctor beyond the ridiculous 10 minute appt time.
When the patient leaves there's some time in typing up the notes. Sending off samples. Reading YOUR notes. They might have been interrupted by a nurse/hospital phone call/ urgent blood results.
What advantage does the doctor have in running late aside from going home late?
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Soldato
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Sure. If the next patient has arrived then they may be called in early otherwise as buddy has mentioned there is always the admin to do. Referall letters to specialists, reviewing letters that have arrived back, dealing with urgent queries, reviewing patients bloods tests and scan results, triaging home visit, repeat prescribing. It's pretty much endless. As for that missed appointment, it's now gone and its meant that someone who could have been seen hasn't.
Less than full time work in surgery is still actively discouraged and frowned upon despite there being a recruitment crisis in just about every specialty. The attitude is almost prehistoric.
We should be encouraging flexible working, in fact we should be encouraging any kind of work.
The main issue in my mind is the expanding, aging and increasingly medically complex population without expanding healthcare provision.
I'm in this situation at the moment with my father. He developed a bacterial infection in his ear last January/February. Got to see a GP and they couldn't find anything wrong. A booking into hospital in June to then be told another booking later in January 2019. It got so bad it affected his breathing that bacteria started filling up one lung that he could barely breath (GP came out to the house on Monday, lots of things cleared and checked to their diagnosis) and developed thrush through his mouth and chest then collapsed this morning face first. He also hadn't eaten in a week due to all this as it kept causing him to vomit. Ambulance came out this morning about 8am to then take him to hospital. Ambulance crew were awesome though!
Getting appointments is extremely hard and long it seems these days.
Caporegime
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phoned yesterday got an appointment on the 14th
so 11 day wait currently.
so 11 day wait currently.
Used that NHS checker someone posted a while back, my practice has 16,000 registered patients. I'd say that i'm lucky to have never waited more than 6 hours to see a GP. As long as I phone between 8-8:30 in the morning, I can get an appointment before mid afternoon. Just screwed if I realise I need a GP appointment after this time.
My surgery has 4,042 patients according to that link posted above and as I said it has no appointment system outside of turning up at opening time and you will get to see a GP/Nurse. That is not the lowest in our area and I know of other local surgeries with less patients (one is half) who have waiting lists with waits of days. I think at lot of it must come down to demographics too, not just the number of patients. A small surgery in a less well to do community compared to a small country practice will have different demands.
all appointments are released at my gps at 8am it a farce the phone lines are chocca time you get through they have all gone, called in the day before asked to see a particular gp the following day no they wont do it phone at 8am next day. but if i want a appointment in 12 weeks time they will book one 
then they introduced online booking i thought great they have finally left the 80s but no it's for telephone appointments only,
another thing they have stated doing is relegating some duties too staff that clearly aren't qualified BP checks the woman was clueless when i asked a question about medication she got some book out too look it up lol i would be better off googling it myself.
i ended up being on some medication that was not suitable for me luckily that was picked up by a locum gp who i spoke to on the phone and changed it to something else.
then they introduced online booking i thought great they have finally left the 80s but no it's for telephone appointments only,
another thing they have stated doing is relegating some duties too staff that clearly aren't qualified BP checks the woman was clueless when i asked a question about medication she got some book out too look it up lol i would be better off googling it myself.
i ended up being on some medication that was not suitable for me luckily that was picked up by a locum gp who i spoke to on the phone and changed it to something else.
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If I need to be seen on the day at my GP I'll go down have receive an "emergency appointment" where generally 2 GPs are assigned each day to deal with patients who turn up with no appointment. If you're time wasting you don't get seen at all and it's to discuss 1 matter only.
I've been going to the same GP all my life and assumed this was the same everywhere else. If I was deaf and couldn't hear anything I'd certainly be down my GP for an emergency appointment.
I've been going to the same GP all my life and assumed this was the same everywhere else. If I was deaf and couldn't hear anything I'd certainly be down my GP for an emergency appointment.