Getting GP appointment (not a medical thread!)

It seems the norm these days - called to make an appointment Monday gone and was told that the next available one was mid November!
 
Switch surgeries and register to one that's less busy maybe?

http://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/GP/LocationSearch/4

My old surgery had over 9000 patients registered and a 2 star rating and I often had to wait 2 weeks for an appointment. The receptionists were extremely rude as well.

My new surgery now has about 5000 registered patients and a 4 star rating. I can get appointments same/next day usually and the staff are lovely :)
 
the NHS is broken. patients don't know how to use it appropriately and abuse it. government aren't willing to fund it to the consumerist level that they want to talk it up to. There are only so many people your GP can see in 1 day, and they are likely already seeing more than they feel comfortable and safe with doing so.
 
Mine is very good. I don't think they take any advance booking unless its a referral or whatever so they just deal with who ever phones up on the day. I've shown up at 8:30 when they open without an appointment I've been seen and out the door by 09:30.
 
My local surgery, you call them in the morning then a doctor or nurse calls you back to triage your problem, then you get an on the day appointment.
I've never failed to get one on the same day.
 
This is pretty shocking. Had no idea it was so bad. Is it just like that for certain doctors, or is it a problem for whole areas?

I don't often use the doctors myself, and when I do I book in advance to fit around work. But Mrs Cheesyboy regularly has to use the docs for her or the kids and just phones up in the morning for an appointment - or even at lunchtime for later that afternoon, as it was a week or so ago for the cheesylass. I don't recall it being any different when we were in Bristol either.
 
I've heard this from quite a few friends about this ridiculous booking system. Luckily my GP's have always been first come first serve which I think is a little fairer, ring at 8am and you should get an appoint that day, however ring at 9:30 you've got no chance (unless there's a cancellation)
 
Unfortunately mines getting the same. There's just too many people in an area and the amount of GPs seem to be diminishing (round here anyway).

Doesn't help once I finally get in the waiting room is full of people with what seems like a cold so I assume they're waiting for antibiotics rather than waiting it out. However I guess it's better they waste the GPs time rather than A&Es.
 
Our practice from what I understand works a system where they release appointments every day (I think at 8am) which you can book online, or on the phone, and they release some "same day" some "next day" and some "up to two weeks in advance".
They also do a walk in clinic from something like 9am-12 where if you turn up you'll get seen but there is no guarantee what doctor you'll see and it could be a long wait if you arrive at the tail end.
They also do walk in for things like blood tests 3 days a week, so if the Doc tells you to get a blood test rather than book an appointment you just turn up in the morning (8-10)and they'll do it, I've had to use it, as has my mother in the last couple of weeks and it's about a 5 minute wait (unless you get some idiot who faints after Dr Acular takes her fill).

It's not perfect but there is never a real problem or long delay for urgent stuff, however it is now quite a large practice with about 6-8 named GP's, usually a trainee or two and a bunch of nurses.
 
When I was younger I'd be sent for any old reason, now I don't go unless there's something serious, I have too many cases of waiting a week or two, deciding "yup this is long enough" book an appointment for it to go away on the same day. That's a cure in itself it seems!
But for me it's always same day appointment, I guess pros of living on Jersey - very few of those!

But I also hate having to pay £40 to walk in, say I'm worried I have another hernia, for him to do a check that takes 60 seconds and be on my way, in fact when he said no the conversation after took longer, I was literally trying to get out the door like "yep, yep, got it, I understand there isn't one that's all I need to know you don't need to keep me here any longer serve your other patients." He was waffling on about things that didn't have anything to do with why I was there.

It's the only thing I'm really worried about, I've had two and I work out a lot now and worried whenever I get a bit of a twinge in my abdomen/groin area :( £40 for peace of mind each time? Ffffff. I'll just wait until something pops or not and be careful :(

Ace Modder said:
The NHS service is gettiong worse and worse, in the summer I booked an appointment with my GP for hayfever. 6 weeks I had to wait.
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I'm ignorant on this point but why go for hay fever?
Don't they always just give you over the counter recommendation or are there prescription only/better stuff you need a GP for?

Again, I really don't know!
 
Our GP service doesn't have a walk-in on the day service other than for 'emergency appointments'...

I had a bit of a tiff with some of the receptionists as I called something like 4 days on the trot to try and get an appointment and all they could say was 'you need to phone for on the day appointments', to which I argued that I worked 30 miles away and I can't simply just up and leave randomly throughout the day.

The only way I can get appointments now is booking via online, even then it's usually a two week wait.
 
savagesam117 said:
I always majorly over exaggerate the problem and usually get seen that day!
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This sort of advice is what breaks any usable system. if everyone does that to get their same day appointment for convenience then there is never enough time in a day so more appointments get turned into emergency slots rather than routine slots to try and cope with demand and the upshot is that there are so few routine appointments set aside it takes 2w to be seen. We frequently have people booked into emergency slots who have exaggerated their problem to get in and they really often don't need anything much doing or have self limiting problems, but if you lie we have no way to tell until we see you.

We never turn people away if they really feel need to be seen but in doing so it breaks us. I sometimes see/telephone 50 patients in a day, I then need to do admin tasks for anything that these appointments generate. my standard day is 12 hours and I do many hours on my days off from home to keep systems running
 
We can see a GP the same day almost without exception (Public holidays can be trickier), and for our kids within 2 hours of our call. This is without resorting to using our medical cover.

We did have similar but not quite so good times in Glasgow in in the late 2000's so it's always an eye opener to hear of people talking in several days or even weeks. That must be just awful.
 
i had to wait 6 weeks to be seen, which is crazy.

The problem is there are a lot of time wasters who go there just for a cold or something menial that they can sorted at the pharmacy quite easily.

Some OAPs also use the GP as an excuse to see someone and have a chat - its a bit sad but "back in the day" the GP was more of a community figure and so it's probably a bit more normal to them.

Regardless, a 6 week wait is a joke. I'm not blaming the GPs but instead the poor management of the NHS which has allowed this to happen in the first place.

If someone develops a lump which could potentially be serious, but then waits 6 weeks to get it seen then it may have already moved past the treatable stage. "If we'd caught it earlier...." etc. I know that if people are really worried then they may push harder, but some people just plain won't know or will not want to impose because its likely nothing and just wait the 6 weeks before they actually get treated.

As soon as i can afford it I'm going private. Jeremy hunt has succeeded in slowly but surely pressuring the nhs into a barely viable state, and as much as I hate the man i'd rather have prompt healthcare than stand on principle and continue to use this system.

I just hope he's remembered in history as the utter **** he is.
 
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