GP's, why can't I get an appointment ?

Hi Lovinglife,
I'm sorry getting an appointment is so difficult
Are there any better drs near you, that you could change to.
Take care

This will be an interesting program tonight, my GP surgery’s a two week wait and sometimes it stretches to three, even when it’s an online appointment as well, and every flipping week they have around 50 patients DONT turn up to their appointments agghh

lovinglife said:

My GP. Appointment system went from fabulous to diabolical in one swoop - now you have to call between 8.30 and 9 am on a Monday for an appointment the following Monday - not any other day I you need app on Tuesday you have to call on a Tuesday.

This makes it almost impossible for me as I have to book carers etc. it took me 5 weeks to get an app after the nurse said GP wanted to see me after my last results. When I finally got there it was a mix up - didn't need to see me at all, nurse had read too far back in the notes! At £14 an hr for a carer and because of transport and never getting your app on time £42 totally wasted

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Almost the same except two weeks ahead. Released at 2pm only. (Same time as results and afternoon urgent list starts too,) Usually all gone by the time you get the phone answered as a result or to the front of the physical line that forms at the desk. So it can be weeks to actually get an appointment let alone be seen. That’s a big gap between urgent and routine in timescales.

They’ve also tried 9am releases and one week ahead and just booking into the future but stopped that when it got to over a month ahead. No double appointments possible.

On the plus side there is an e-consult online form that gets some sort of response (advice, prescriptions or appointments) within 48hrs (was 24). Not ideal for everyone and limited to one issue so if you have multiple symptoms that may be linked it’s impossible to get them reviewed in context.

There’s a new video appointment system with a gp one day a week and an out of hours service evening and weekends nearby booking a week or two ahead usually. There are also a couple of nurse practitioners doing triage and seeing some patients and filtering the most needy through to the drs.

You never see the same dr twice and it’s almost always a locum/cover dr as there’s only a couple of regulars.

lovinglife said:

My GP. Appointment system went from fabulous to diabolical in one swoop - now you have to call between 8.30 and 9 am on a Monday for an appointment the following Monday - not any other day I you need app on Tuesday you have to call on a Tuesday.

This makes it almost impossible for me as I have to book carers etc. it took me 5 weeks to get an app after the nurse said GP wanted to see me after my last results. When I finally got there it was a mix up - didn't need to see me at all, nurse had read too far back in the notes! At £14 an hr for a carer and because of transport and never getting your app on time £42 totally wasted

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That is shocking!

No doubt there will be a fair bit of patient blaming on the programme.

I spent the best part of last week on the phone to my surgery for an interim appointment with D/N and still haven't got one been on the list waiting since thursday for them to ring me back with an apointment, Yet they could get me in in twenty minutes to take blood for a HbA1c test!????

Our practice was excellent. It has won awards. I could never fault it. We don't have a shortage of GPs at all. There are 8 GPs and 4 assistant GPs (also doctors). Our problem has not been lack of staff, it is all down to our town being subjected to huge new housing developments that have increased the population by what seems like zillions. The practice is in the health centre, with another practice. They are having to split, with one of the practices looking for a new building or land on which to build, all because of lack of space in the health centre due to the massive increase in population. This HC is not an old crumbling one, it is modern with a treatment room that has its own theatre for minor ops. A few years or so ago they built a second storey but can't go any higher. They are forced to use an annex for certain nurse appointments, which is further along the road in a Victorian house they bought. I don't know how this can be solved.

I normally use my crystal ball. That way I have a rough idea of when I am going to be ill. Then I book my appointment well in advance. It works like a dream.

My surgery has a phlebotomist for blood tests - so very little waiting time for appointment. We have a triage nurse who will ring back to see if we ned to see a GP. We have a GP who does telephone appointments too. And 4 full time GPs as well. They are all great in an emergency, or if anyone needs urgent help/med on the day.

It does fall down if something goes wrong with routine repeat prescriptions or tests. I have to be proactive for any regular appointments like seeing the DN, they dont recall people. There is no online anything either. And seeing a named GP can take 3 weeks.

The BMJ flagged up a chronic shortage of GPS in February this year:
https://www.bmj.com/bmj/section-pdf/992037?path=/bmj/364/8187/This_Week.full.pdf
And it’s reported on the BBC that this year has seen the ‘first sustained fall in 50 years’.
I think that before we blame the doctors and the surgeries we need to look closely at the policies, or lack of them, and the working conditions and population changes that have given rise to this worrying situation.
And thank you, @Robinredbreast, for telling us about the BBC programme.

I wonder if the BBC will differentiate between the amount of hours worked. It seems that all GPs are being counted as a GP, even if they work part time. Replacing fulltime GPs with part time ones is exacerbating the problem and needs highlighting. A part time GP is net equal to a full time one when addressing how many there are.

lucylocket61 said:

I wonder if the BBC will differentiate between the amount of hours worked. It seems that all GPs are being counted as a GP, even if they work part time. Replacing fulltime GPs with part time ones is exacerbating the problem and needs highlighting. A part time GP is net equal to a full time one when addressing how many there are.

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Our next door neighbour is a part time GP. She combines work and family and as a feminist issue I suppose both she and her husband should have gone half time to raise small people.
She does a good job. She works hard when she’s at the surgery. And she confessed the other day that she despairs that people don’t always take advice.

Well, I take it back, no patient blaming at all.

Fairygodmother said:

Our next door neighbour is a part time GP. She combines work and family and as a feminist issue I suppose both she and her husband should have gone half time to raise small people.
She does a good job. She works hard when she’s at the surgery. And she confessed the other day that she despairs that people don’t always take advice.

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I have no issue with GPs working part time. I didnt say i had an issue with that at all.

My point is that counting 2 part time GPs as a practice having two GPs when they only equal 1 GP full time is wrong and misleading. It creates the impression that there are more GP hours available than is true. The calculation should be on GP hours, not the number of GPs per head of population.

Fairygodmother said:

Our next door neighbour is a part time GP

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Part time GPs are part of the problem as it costs the NHS the same to train a part time GP as a full time GP. There is the same issue with on going training.

Surely a paramedic is suited to triage in general practice? I envision them saying 'You will need to see the GP for a further consult' quite a bit thus a further kerfuffle to make another appointment.

There seems to be only one answer, stop this chronic underfunding.