Even more fun if you have issues speaking/hearing. Can book online for a few weeks time. :/
Mine is round the corner from me, so when I need a same day appointment, I just walk round there and go in at 8am and skip the phone queue, always get an appointment.
Just book online. If you need something before 2 weeks then go A&E
Call 111. They’ll get you a quick appointment.
Ours has hanged to econsult: you search for what you have an issue with, fill out a form, and then officially you would hear back from the GP within 72 hours. But, reality is different, it takes a month and a half!! Or more!! And for regular things, such as a blood test, there’s no option to book it online, so you’ve got to call them. And it’s only on a Wednesday! Absolutely horrible.
Before this you used to have to book an appointment weeks in advance.
That’s because you life can depend on it, it took over 2 months to get appointment for an issue.
“Oh please phone again an 8am to get an appointment”
we’ve been phoning for 7 weeks straight and still can’t get one
” Unless it’s urgent please phone again at 8am tomorrow for appointment, we don’t offer same day appointments they need to booked in advance”
Who makes an appointment for an issue they don’t have yet? I understand scheduled check ups for people that have chronic illnesses or at risk people, or follow up appointments about prior issues, or medication related ones,
but outside of those circumstances why would you book appointment if you don’t have a problem?
Someone my mum used to know worked on the reception at our local drs. She would dish out appointments to her friends and family. Dreadful.
About 8 years ago I got cussed out when I finally had the courage after 6 years of not seeing a GP to call them and say I need some help.
It was only because the receptionist that recognised my voice mid call because she attended a therapy group we both attended at the time and she asked is that you …… her whole tone changed and we finally ended call with her saying you’ve been removed for moving area find another go and I’m mad about that and she went to the highest up.
I asked her why did you talk to me like that at start you know the score how that makes people feel and she rang me back later , cried and said they’re basically trained to be that way, they have pressure put on them to act that way to cut stuff out.
Diabolical.
Haven’t rang back since regardless of what’s going on because it’s so much pointless stress.
Thank god I’m fit and healthy because I can’t imagine being long term sick and elderly to have to put up daily navigating that 9th circle of hell.
Must be shit for the staff too, to prep for the onslaught at 8am
I imagine dealing with some of the public being pretty soul destroying
Got to be a better way, enhanced capabilities for the he 111 NHS line maybe?
A queue of 30+ people every morning at 8am, yet when I go to my GPs the waiting room is always empty.
Too many lazy ass GPs got used to the COVID way of working preferring to diagnose people over the phone. No wonder waiting lists are shocking.
Yup, the process is:
1. Get up early and wait, watching the clock on phone like it’s going to die suddenly if your look away.
2. At 8.30am precisely, hit that dial button. Go through the endless explanations of options, hoping that other fellow contestants are experiencing the same, lost inside the cyberwar for the doctors attention. Even though you know the menu inside out, you listen carefully in case something has changed (it hasn’t) and then the “For all other enquiries please hold” holy words to be said.
3. You are now in a queue. Your position in the queue is X. If X is higher than 30 then please press 1 and we will call you back as soon as you reach the front of the queue. If you are lucky it’s under 10 so you hold regardless, as if you are past 30 in the queue, unless you are coughing up blood, when they call you back all appointments will be gone.
4. Hold music with intermittent messages as to your position in the queue. It is now close to 9am and if you had anything else planned for the early morning, it is on hold like you are waiting to reach the front of the queue.
5. It Happens!!! The orgasmic feeling of hope surges through you as the voice of the reception person speaks. A human being at last. You blurt out your name and birthdate and they ask how they can help today? Grateful at being blessed with a miracle, like tears from a statue of the madonna at Lourdes, you explain your condition and HOPE it is serious enough to cross the threshold at which you will be given an audience with the inner circle of holy GPs.
6. The lovely lady tells you someone will call you back. Success !!! Today is a good day, you are almost there!
7. You watch your phone like a hawk, and when it finally rings, they offer you either a phone appointment or an in person appointment.
8. The joy is palpable, so much that you almost forget why you actually rang the doctors in the first place???
9. You get to see the doctor or get the phone call. Your problems are addressed and they are professional and wonderful people who check out your medical issues and provide brilliant care.
10. The NHS – it ain’t perfect and it can be comically frustrating BUT it is something I would fight to the last to support, and hopefully improve for everyone. It drives me mad but these people on the front line are doing their utter best to provide as good a service as they can for everyone in the UK. For all its faults, it is still universal, free and the only reason I am still alive today.
I live in a town with like 2000 people so there’s always space free 🙂
Why they don’t use a centralized booking system or App I will never know. Free up the phone lines, remove the waiting times.
I work third shift and my job causes all kinds of physical and mental damage. Out of every three weeks, there are only 5 days I can actually call them to get an appointment and if I can’t get it then, which happens more and more often, then I have to wait another two weeks. At one point it took me 3 months to get seen even though I repeatedly said I need to be actually seen because I had a lump that could have been cancer. It’s gotten to the point now where I don’t actually want to call them and try to put it off as long as possible because I just don’t need the added stress on top of an already stressful job.
Like your life depends on it? That’s exactly what healthcare is. Fixing things early stops it from getting worse. That’s the point of having GP’s separate to hospitals
Just use eConsult????
I phone 111 and they get me an appointment
I remember being in the waiting room at 8:30am, and an old man (about 70ish) walked in and asked for an appointment. The woman behind the desk told him that he couldn’t book an appointment on walk-in and needed to ring. He explained he couldn’t hear well, so is unable to talk on the phone…. she still declined and sent him on his way.
How difficult is it to just book an appointment in person? All so they can lower their waiting quotas… I’ve driven past my GP before and seen the waiting room empty on a weekday afternoon, when told it was fully booked…. absolute shower of shite.
Sometimes your life does depend in it!! 😂
We get everyone in the house to call until 1 goes through!
I also just walk in at 8am or 2pm and ask for an appointment…. Every time they tell me I need to ring to make an appointment I tell them I’m on pay as you go and have no credit…. Always works.
Until my GP started using an online portal, I just didn’t go to the doctor because I would be commuting at 8am. I’d have to either be late for work or wait until I had a day off to call the doctor, just to find I’m 14th in the queue the moment the clock turns to 8:00.
No, I’m not frustrated, why do you ask?
My GP started sending text messages with a link to book online but then there’s never any slots available to book online so you have to call them anyway.
My doctors have been amazing, I called at 12 the other day and I was booked into a specialist clinic at 1330
We now cannot get a face to face appointment without first having a phone consult and when you call you won’t go into a queue unless super lucky. You just cannot get through it’s engaged. You can phone 80 times until it rings then you are too late because all the appointments have gone 😞
ETA I do believe if it’s an emergency they will do their best to fit you in and you have to ring you cannot walk in and ask for an on the day appointment
GP’s are doing this on purpose and going full Goodhart’s Law.
First of all, it should be recognised for what it is: **a fraud** to make the numbers look better.
By stating that they no longer booking appointments beyond a day they squash GP wait times down to less than a day by force, which makes the practice look like it doesn’t have long waiting list times, when in fact, it may have longer wait times than it appears.
It also means that the government can lump the artificially short GP wait times into the “average wait time” to bring the numbers down for people “waiting for treatment”. So if you have booked something and have to wait a year, that number is being brought down by the GP wait time.
It also means that those who have to try three of more times over the span of 3 days to get the appointment their actual wait time is being ignored in the stats, they are being kicked out because the phone lines are not being tracked in the metrics.
It also means that early risers are proportionately more likely to get service, which often involves the elderly whilst also discriminating against men, as men already don’t like going to the doctor and will be more inclined to say “Fuck it, I tried” and go about their lives without treatment unless the case is so bad that they could just walk into A&E.
This coupled with the “Send us a picture” approach to medicine, is starting to become a strange form of negligence, where a person doesn’t actually see a GP but rather sends photos. Which could result in more unnecessary deaths.
This is not a meme
“I need an appointment to talk about the anxiety I got from booking this appointment”
Are you telling me theres GP’s you can still ring for an appointment. I/We have to use the NHS app exclusively at our surgery..
Don’t sleep on the NHS app like I did… Register with your GP for online services, then use the NHS app to request a consultation. There’s loads of space to describe the issue,how long it’s been going on for and what you would like as an outcome. GP will have a set number of slots for this a day so usually a good idea to do early.
I’ve been waiting for a hip scan for ages and finally had enough of painfully hobbling in to work twice a week and went online and requested help. GP called me within a couple of hours had a chat and then mailed me a 2 month sick note.
Yes you have to ring and book an appointment oh what an inconvenience! The doctor should just know you are ill and automatically visit you smh
Surprisingly, my surgery always has availability on NHS app. If it’s not a face-to-face appointment, then a telephone one. Got transferred there after my surgery closed 10 years ago. Had to actually see a doctor recently for the first time since then. Bloody brilliant. Except for 1 nurse who butchered my arm giving me an injection. But shit happens. Otherwise, no complaints.
On the other hand, my friend’s surgery removed his child from the records because he never needed their services. The kid is 6. Like wtf!
Most practices have an online system, such as Patchs or econsult, open in the morning so you can submit your request with lots of details/photos attached etc, then it’s triaged and you get a response quickly with an appointment or prescription or advice etc.
it’s far easier than waiting in a call queue. Check your practice website to see when it opens.
I need an appointment for a skin issue, pharmacist took one look and said “yeh, you need the GP before it spreads”.
That was 3 weeks ago, we can’t phone in, they require an online request which they triage, then they book you a call with a nurse, I have my call on Tuesday, no idea what time, and no, you can’t rebook it. So I’m having to take the whole day off work, in the hope I get a call from a nurse.
What was initially a small patch of dry reddish skin about the size of a 20p piece, now covers a palm sized area.
If I don’t get the call from the docs on Tuesday I’m going to a&e and bollocks to the wait times.
What really grates on me, is if I cancel the call for any reason, I have to start the process from the back of the queue.
If they cancel, I also go to the back of the queue, if they don’t call, it’s oops sorry, anyway, rebook online
You don’t have to call at 8am on the day. You could send a triage request online, be ignored for 3 weeks and then call back when you’re no longer sick or are dead.
Yes, Ring exactly at 0800: engaged. Redial
10 seconds later: ‘You are number 34 in the queue’
More than anything, the anxiety is having to deal with the incredibly unfriendly and stupid receptionist who firmly is of the belief you should know all of the intricacies of what the surgery’s esoteric procedures are.
Mine has an option while you’re in queue to save your space and have the receptionist call you back.
Far better than waiting on hold and got a call back at 9.30am after having originally been in queue at 8.15am.
It’s 2025 and people still can’t just book an appointment via an app.
Or at any other time during the day.
Or on weekends.
Or after 17:00.
Absolutely backwards country.
Totally this.
Also, you have to get past bloody receptionist, first. Gatekeepers of Mordor, who for some inexplicable reason, need to know my innermost thoughts on what ails me.
I called my GP last Friday and managed to both get first in a queue and book an appointment for Wednesday coming
Wasn’t expecting it to be that simple
I usually do an all nighter from the anxiety
I recently found out that my GP has an online consult, had to follow links through 3 separate websites to find it but it worked, got a call back the next day and was seen the day after.
They also told me they don’t use that online consult anymore and the website is gone now. Back to wasting my break at work sitting on hold to be told they have no appointments.
43 comments
Even more fun if you have issues speaking/hearing. Can book online for a few weeks time. :/
Mine is round the corner from me, so when I need a same day appointment, I just walk round there and go in at 8am and skip the phone queue, always get an appointment.
Just book online. If you need something before 2 weeks then go A&E
Call 111. They’ll get you a quick appointment.
Ours has hanged to econsult: you search for what you have an issue with, fill out a form, and then officially you would hear back from the GP within 72 hours. But, reality is different, it takes a month and a half!! Or more!! And for regular things, such as a blood test, there’s no option to book it online, so you’ve got to call them. And it’s only on a Wednesday! Absolutely horrible.
Before this you used to have to book an appointment weeks in advance.
That’s because you life can depend on it, it took over 2 months to get appointment for an issue.
“Oh please phone again an 8am to get an appointment”
we’ve been phoning for 7 weeks straight and still can’t get one
” Unless it’s urgent please phone again at 8am tomorrow for appointment, we don’t offer same day appointments they need to booked in advance”
Who makes an appointment for an issue they don’t have yet? I understand scheduled check ups for people that have chronic illnesses or at risk people, or follow up appointments about prior issues, or medication related ones,
but outside of those circumstances why would you book appointment if you don’t have a problem?
Someone my mum used to know worked on the reception at our local drs. She would dish out appointments to her friends and family. Dreadful.
About 8 years ago I got cussed out when I finally had the courage after 6 years of not seeing a GP to call them and say I need some help.
It was only because the receptionist that recognised my voice mid call because she attended a therapy group we both attended at the time and she asked is that you …… her whole tone changed and we finally ended call with her saying you’ve been removed for moving area find another go and I’m mad about that and she went to the highest up.
I asked her why did you talk to me like that at start you know the score how that makes people feel and she rang me back later , cried and said they’re basically trained to be that way, they have pressure put on them to act that way to cut stuff out.
Diabolical.
Haven’t rang back since regardless of what’s going on because it’s so much pointless stress.
Thank god I’m fit and healthy because I can’t imagine being long term sick and elderly to have to put up daily navigating that 9th circle of hell.
Must be shit for the staff too, to prep for the onslaught at 8am
I imagine dealing with some of the public being pretty soul destroying
Got to be a better way, enhanced capabilities for the he 111 NHS line maybe?
A queue of 30+ people every morning at 8am, yet when I go to my GPs the waiting room is always empty.
Too many lazy ass GPs got used to the COVID way of working preferring to diagnose people over the phone. No wonder waiting lists are shocking.
Yup, the process is:
1. Get up early and wait, watching the clock on phone like it’s going to die suddenly if your look away.
2. At 8.30am precisely, hit that dial button. Go through the endless explanations of options, hoping that other fellow contestants are experiencing the same, lost inside the cyberwar for the doctors attention. Even though you know the menu inside out, you listen carefully in case something has changed (it hasn’t) and then the “For all other enquiries please hold” holy words to be said.
3. You are now in a queue. Your position in the queue is X. If X is higher than 30 then please press 1 and we will call you back as soon as you reach the front of the queue. If you are lucky it’s under 10 so you hold regardless, as if you are past 30 in the queue, unless you are coughing up blood, when they call you back all appointments will be gone.
4. Hold music with intermittent messages as to your position in the queue. It is now close to 9am and if you had anything else planned for the early morning, it is on hold like you are waiting to reach the front of the queue.
5. It Happens!!! The orgasmic feeling of hope surges through you as the voice of the reception person speaks. A human being at last. You blurt out your name and birthdate and they ask how they can help today? Grateful at being blessed with a miracle, like tears from a statue of the madonna at Lourdes, you explain your condition and HOPE it is serious enough to cross the threshold at which you will be given an audience with the inner circle of holy GPs.
6. The lovely lady tells you someone will call you back. Success !!! Today is a good day, you are almost there!
7. You watch your phone like a hawk, and when it finally rings, they offer you either a phone appointment or an in person appointment.
8. The joy is palpable, so much that you almost forget why you actually rang the doctors in the first place???
9. You get to see the doctor or get the phone call. Your problems are addressed and they are professional and wonderful people who check out your medical issues and provide brilliant care.
10. The NHS – it ain’t perfect and it can be comically frustrating BUT it is something I would fight to the last to support, and hopefully improve for everyone. It drives me mad but these people on the front line are doing their utter best to provide as good a service as they can for everyone in the UK. For all its faults, it is still universal, free and the only reason I am still alive today.
I live in a town with like 2000 people so there’s always space free 🙂
Why they don’t use a centralized booking system or App I will never know. Free up the phone lines, remove the waiting times.
I work third shift and my job causes all kinds of physical and mental damage. Out of every three weeks, there are only 5 days I can actually call them to get an appointment and if I can’t get it then, which happens more and more often, then I have to wait another two weeks. At one point it took me 3 months to get seen even though I repeatedly said I need to be actually seen because I had a lump that could have been cancer. It’s gotten to the point now where I don’t actually want to call them and try to put it off as long as possible because I just don’t need the added stress on top of an already stressful job.
Like your life depends on it? That’s exactly what healthcare is. Fixing things early stops it from getting worse. That’s the point of having GP’s separate to hospitals
Just use eConsult????
I phone 111 and they get me an appointment
I remember being in the waiting room at 8:30am, and an old man (about 70ish) walked in and asked for an appointment. The woman behind the desk told him that he couldn’t book an appointment on walk-in and needed to ring. He explained he couldn’t hear well, so is unable to talk on the phone…. she still declined and sent him on his way.
How difficult is it to just book an appointment in person? All so they can lower their waiting quotas… I’ve driven past my GP before and seen the waiting room empty on a weekday afternoon, when told it was fully booked…. absolute shower of shite.
Sometimes your life does depend in it!! 😂
We get everyone in the house to call until 1 goes through!
I also just walk in at 8am or 2pm and ask for an appointment…. Every time they tell me I need to ring to make an appointment I tell them I’m on pay as you go and have no credit…. Always works.
Until my GP started using an online portal, I just didn’t go to the doctor because I would be commuting at 8am. I’d have to either be late for work or wait until I had a day off to call the doctor, just to find I’m 14th in the queue the moment the clock turns to 8:00.
No, I’m not frustrated, why do you ask?
My GP started sending text messages with a link to book online but then there’s never any slots available to book online so you have to call them anyway.
My doctors have been amazing, I called at 12 the other day and I was booked into a specialist clinic at 1330
We now cannot get a face to face appointment without first having a phone consult and when you call you won’t go into a queue unless super lucky. You just cannot get through it’s engaged. You can phone 80 times until it rings then you are too late because all the appointments have gone 😞
ETA I do believe if it’s an emergency they will do their best to fit you in and you have to ring you cannot walk in and ask for an on the day appointment
GP’s are doing this on purpose and going full Goodhart’s Law.
First of all, it should be recognised for what it is: **a fraud** to make the numbers look better.
By stating that they no longer booking appointments beyond a day they squash GP wait times down to less than a day by force, which makes the practice look like it doesn’t have long waiting list times, when in fact, it may have longer wait times than it appears.
It also means that the government can lump the artificially short GP wait times into the “average wait time” to bring the numbers down for people “waiting for treatment”. So if you have booked something and have to wait a year, that number is being brought down by the GP wait time.
It also means that those who have to try three of more times over the span of 3 days to get the appointment their actual wait time is being ignored in the stats, they are being kicked out because the phone lines are not being tracked in the metrics.
It also means that early risers are proportionately more likely to get service, which often involves the elderly whilst also discriminating against men, as men already don’t like going to the doctor and will be more inclined to say “Fuck it, I tried” and go about their lives without treatment unless the case is so bad that they could just walk into A&E.
This coupled with the “Send us a picture” approach to medicine, is starting to become a strange form of negligence, where a person doesn’t actually see a GP but rather sends photos. Which could result in more unnecessary deaths.
This is not a meme
“I need an appointment to talk about the anxiety I got from booking this appointment”
Are you telling me theres GP’s you can still ring for an appointment. I/We have to use the NHS app exclusively at our surgery..
Don’t sleep on the NHS app like I did… Register with your GP for online services, then use the NHS app to request a consultation. There’s loads of space to describe the issue,how long it’s been going on for and what you would like as an outcome. GP will have a set number of slots for this a day so usually a good idea to do early.
I’ve been waiting for a hip scan for ages and finally had enough of painfully hobbling in to work twice a week and went online and requested help. GP called me within a couple of hours had a chat and then mailed me a 2 month sick note.
Yes you have to ring and book an appointment oh what an inconvenience! The doctor should just know you are ill and automatically visit you smh
Surprisingly, my surgery always has availability on NHS app. If it’s not a face-to-face appointment, then a telephone one. Got transferred there after my surgery closed 10 years ago. Had to actually see a doctor recently for the first time since then. Bloody brilliant. Except for 1 nurse who butchered my arm giving me an injection. But shit happens. Otherwise, no complaints.
On the other hand, my friend’s surgery removed his child from the records because he never needed their services. The kid is 6. Like wtf!
Most practices have an online system, such as Patchs or econsult, open in the morning so you can submit your request with lots of details/photos attached etc, then it’s triaged and you get a response quickly with an appointment or prescription or advice etc.
it’s far easier than waiting in a call queue. Check your practice website to see when it opens.
I need an appointment for a skin issue, pharmacist took one look and said “yeh, you need the GP before it spreads”.
That was 3 weeks ago, we can’t phone in, they require an online request which they triage, then they book you a call with a nurse, I have my call on Tuesday, no idea what time, and no, you can’t rebook it. So I’m having to take the whole day off work, in the hope I get a call from a nurse.
What was initially a small patch of dry reddish skin about the size of a 20p piece, now covers a palm sized area.
If I don’t get the call from the docs on Tuesday I’m going to a&e and bollocks to the wait times.
What really grates on me, is if I cancel the call for any reason, I have to start the process from the back of the queue.
If they cancel, I also go to the back of the queue, if they don’t call, it’s oops sorry, anyway, rebook online
You don’t have to call at 8am on the day. You could send a triage request online, be ignored for 3 weeks and then call back when you’re no longer sick or are dead.
Yes, Ring exactly at 0800: engaged. Redial
10 seconds later: ‘You are number 34 in the queue’
More than anything, the anxiety is having to deal with the incredibly unfriendly and stupid receptionist who firmly is of the belief you should know all of the intricacies of what the surgery’s esoteric procedures are.
Mine has an option while you’re in queue to save your space and have the receptionist call you back.
Far better than waiting on hold and got a call back at 9.30am after having originally been in queue at 8.15am.
It’s 2025 and people still can’t just book an appointment via an app.
Or at any other time during the day.
Or on weekends.
Or after 17:00.
Absolutely backwards country.
Totally this.
Also, you have to get past bloody receptionist, first. Gatekeepers of Mordor, who for some inexplicable reason, need to know my innermost thoughts on what ails me.
I called my GP last Friday and managed to both get first in a queue and book an appointment for Wednesday coming
Wasn’t expecting it to be that simple
I usually do an all nighter from the anxiety
I recently found out that my GP has an online consult, had to follow links through 3 separate websites to find it but it worked, got a call back the next day and was seen the day after.
They also told me they don’t use that online consult anymore and the website is gone now. Back to wasting my break at work sitting on hold to be told they have no appointments.
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