The NHS advises not to delay to get certain things checked out with your doctor. Not urgent, not a 999 or 111 case, so I ring up at 11am. I can get to see another doctor at my surgery in 3 weeks time but not my doctor (whom I particular like). The best suggestion the receptionist can give me is to ring at 8am when new appointments open.
I can just about guarantee that all lines will be engaged at 8am. Pre-covid I could go on-line and book a non-urgent appointment maybe 4 or 5 weeks ahead.
Where is the efficiency and sense in this current approach? What's wrong with booking me in a slot that must be free in 4/5 weeks time?
The way that doctors book appointments is utterly patient-hostile. What patients want is to be able to make one phone call and be offered the next available appointment: maybe it will be today, maybe it will be tomorrow, maybe it will be next week. But you phone now and you get it booked. No need to keep phoning every day, hoping you'll be lucky in the "appointment luck-of-the-draw contest". But they seem to release additional appointments which are only bookable on the day. Why can they not offer those when people ring on previous days? Not everyone wants to get up at the crack of dawn and wait ages in a queue to see if they can make an appointment.
When we moved to a new area, I went round several GP surgeries checking their appointment system. I rejected one very quickly (and told the practice manager why!) because their appointments were really weird: if you phoned today, you could book an appointment for today, a week today or a fortnight today. If there were no "today" appointments left, you had to phone tomorrow, in which case you would be offered tomorrow, a week/fortnight tomorrow. And so on. You could very easily find that you never managed to see the doctor quickly, because you phoned each day and kept being bumped to phone the following day, ad infinitum. I asked "why can;t I phone now and make a firm booking for the soonest slot, even if it may be in three days' time" and was told "that's not what our patients want". Eh? I bet they were never even asked for their preference...
I've not yet had a need to see my doctor (just annual review with a nurse practitioner of ongoing medication, and occasional vaccinations) but my wife has found that she's almost always been able to make a same-day appointment, after a telephone triage with her GP in the practice.
Our practice no longer makes any future appointments it phone up on the day and take your chances. SWAMBO tried the other day hit the ring button at precisely 8:00am only to find she was 43rd in the queue. Fortunately she at least got a phone consultation for later that morning. The thing I dislike is that the receptionist seems to acting as a gatekeeper deciding on whether you get a face to face or not depending on you providing personal information. The practice says receptionists can be trusted but I am uneasy divulging info to someone not bound by the Hippocratic oath.
Yes. This sort of nonsense is what everybody had to endure 50 years ago when you turned up at the quack's for evening surgery. The receptionist would ask you what you wanted to see the doctor about - in front of everybody else who was waiting. I thought we were done with this rubbish - you phone up and get an appointment for when it's available, job done. That should be what happens.
It seems to be a side effect of putting in place targets for response times to these things. Gov say all patients must be able to book an appointment with x days. So the GPs then just limit the maximum tine into the future that they will take an appointment for to x-1. That way they are meeting their target - look all our appointments are within the target, now where is our bonus payment?
Are you new to the UK? It has been like this for ages and just about all GP surgeries in the country. You're actually lucky that you were given an appointment in the future, as my surgery won't even allow this.
Does your surgery give you the option to book a telephone appointment via an external app, such as MyGP or PatientAccess? If so, you can at least speak to a GP and then they will be able to book an appointment bypassing reception.
formatting link
formatting link
Call reception again and for a "Linkage Key" and your NHS number to be sent to you via email. You need that to be able to book an appointment.
Otherwise, call 111, tell them you can't get through to your GP and they can liaise. I had to go though this route when my meds expired and no GP was available to renew them.
At 2.15pm this afternoon I rang about a suspected ear infection. "Can you come down at five to four?". "Yes". I'm on my way.
I must absolutely stress that this is not typical. The usual reaction is the same as everybody else's. I assume they have a spare nurse wielding an otoscope or whatever.
There seems to be a huge difference between practices. Ours is first rate. I rang up a few months back with an ear problem and was seen the same day. In a recent National survey, the practice came out near the top. I forget the detail but something like 98% of appointments face to face within a day or so. There are only 2 GPs - both excellent- and a couple of Nurses who deal with some things. The practice provides a flu vaccination service and annual check ups for those eligible ( age or the medical conditions). They’ve always been good- we’ve been with the practice 40 years or so.
No I'm not new and as I said in my post pre-Covid I could go on-line and book even if a few weeks ahead. I only needed to ring if urgent, and indeed last week I did have an urgent issue and was seen by the surgery quite quickly.
My private dentist is so busy that I can only book appointments in six week's time :)
My mother who has a NHS dentist has to wait approx 12 weeks - but can still make an appointment now for 3 months time.
My Doctors surgery has the same problem as described by the OP. Ring anytime in the morning and you will be on hold for an hour before being cut off. The automated message suggests phoning up between 2:30pm and
4pm when the lines are less busy. The on-line appointment booking was suspended for 2+ years during Covid but although recently re-installed the booking is only for a couple of days ahead and with zero appointments available.
The surgery has an email facility where they will reply within 2 working days. Sods law: I used this facility to try an book a very non urgent appointment, for a check-up, with one of the practice nurses and got a reply within 10 minutes giving me an appointment the next day :)
Someone gets through, it could be you - they should have several appointments available, because they've been refusing everyone. Our doctors use the same system, it's a pain but it's not that hard to get through, you just have to be quick on the redial.
I'd expect a significant number of no-shows after several weeks waiting, and I think that's a major problem for GPs
You are very fortunate my doctor's surgery won't see anyone for ear complaints they direct patients to a private clinic even giving out it's phone number.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.