Official exemption card

[Seacrow]

Do you have online access to your blood test results etc? I can book appointments online through the same link although there isn't the same amount of choice online as on the phone.
Also is your fear of phones a phobia of the actual apparatus or of the person at the other end of the line? I sometimes struggle with telephone calls but am OK with automated phone appointments, I am OK with 'pressing 1 to accept or 2 to continue to hear available appointments' etc For me it's an extension of agoraphobia which personally comes down to a fear of people (which, like your phobia is down to events as a child.)

A lot of my blood tests are done at the hospital, which sends results to my GP by letter. The letter is then scanned in, but the actual numbers aren't transferred to the system. So if I want results from my GP I have to make an appointment to see my GP because only doctors can look at my detailed medical records. Unsurprisingly, I choose to get my results by letter and email from the hospital.
The surgery used to do prescriptions, appointments and general queries over the internet, but apparently COVID means they can't do this anymore. No estimated time of restart, either.

The phobia is probably both. I have vastly improved from when the telephone ring used to make me run and hide, but there's still no way I'm even touching a mobile phone.

 

[Oldvatr]

Might be useful if the reception computer system held a flag for exempt people.

I know, wishful thinking, would require changes which cost money etc.

Old style card index with declaration by patient that they have an exemption countersigned by clinical staff might work, though.

Is the flag for them to wave, or to converse via semaphore through the window?

Maybe incorporate something into the QR code on the new Covid passport?

What if your appointment with GP is to discuss and apply for medical exemption in the first place?

I think spectacle wearers should be exempt. I had an accident on my mobility scooter where I was facing into the sun, was fogged up, and didn;t see the edge of the pavement, and I ended up spreadeagled on a busy main road with the buggy on top of me. I survived that unharmed in case anyone is wondering. Took a while to gather my shopping up afterwards, and it was not quite so lucky.

 

[Oldvatr]

I silently call our GP receptionist Cerberus. I tried to get a telecon appointment and according to said Cerberus, the nearest available appointment was in the last week of May. My annual diabetic review has been postponed indefinitely, My Heart team have also cancelled all reviews until further notice since the hospital has cancelled routine procedures etc. My 3 monthly review is now one year and growing more distant daily. I am halfway through a meds change but cannot get the necessary blood test from my GP surgery since my GP is not involved in my CVD issues until Hospital discharge me back into Primary Care.

It now takes nearly 2 weeks for a prescription to be issued and delivered, but I am not allowed to ask for my next dosette box until 3 days before I am due to run out. Consequently, I have a gap of about 1 week in my heart and BP meds every month. Bureaucracy has many ways of raising BP levels. They used to do the repeat prescriptions automatically, but now I have to initiate the process each time. I must have a flag on the record that says This Patient changes his mind too often.

 

[NicoleC1971]

We've all worked so hard to save the NHS after all its not supposed to be actually used by patients it would seem.

 

[Seacrow]

So, took option two. Wrote a letter asking for GP appointment. Got an extremely rapid reply - appointment next day, BY TELEPHONE. Husband is growing annoyed, so takes a day off work, talks to doctor - result. But... I need bloods taking, to be organized, yep, by telephone. Someone's having a laugh.

So, when I go to the surgery for the phlebotomist, I'm taking two bananas. I plan on handing one to the receptionist and saying 'pretend this is a telephone'. I will then ring her up on my banana, and try to make (yet another) appointment to see my GP, actually in person.

My husband says he is taking all bananas in the house with him to work that morning.