I’ve been 1st once by timing my call so I would hit the queue right when the clock ticked over to 8am. It still rang for ages until someone picked up though.
dont bother trying over call, just walk in you get a same day appointment or atleast i do with mine
Throw you passport away and jump in the channel and you’ll receive a 4 star hotel, a new phone (your choice between new iPhone or Samsung) and weekly checkups at the hotel from the NHS and dental services, all free of charge 👌 plus £70 in cash too while you await your Universl credit with no requirements to work 👍
Too true. It pains me to see it’s still like this in 2025 no less. Phone appointments like it’s 1995. Utterly ridiculous.
Lmfao
Tell me you don’t understand the system
I had an 8:30 am (opening time) appointment once. Got seen 9:15
My GP journey has been… bizarre.
**Stage 1:** You had to call at exactly 8:30 for a morning appointment, or 12:30 for the afternoon. Miss it by half an hour—say 9:00 or 13:00—and you were out of luck. Oddly enough, it worked. If you really needed to see the GP, you *made a plan*.
**Stage 2:** Then came the merger with another practice. Suddenly, you could submit a form online. Depending on your issue, the doctor would either call you back or book you in. Once, I even sent in a picture of a dodgy rash and got antibiotics—no face-to-face needed. Honestly, that felt like the *golden age*.
**Stage 3:** But of course, something went wrong. The system changed again. Now, you can only submit an online ticket—but only during these awkward windows: 8:30–10:00 in the morning or 12:30–14:00 in the afternoon with no guarantee of a reply…..So…..progress??
It’s an important calling to be paid to ignore people, eat biscuits and chat.
I asked the receptionist at my GP about this once (not criticising or anything, just out of curiosity). They said they always make a call to it as soon as they open the line to make sure calls are working after they had a fault with getting calls from mobiles once (so they got calls, but only from landlines, they had no clue mobile users couldn’t reach them for a couple of hours).
Can’t say I blame them for still testing that. Sod’s Law, the day they don’t do it will be the day it happens again 😂
I remember being able to call any time from 8.30 to 5 pm to schedule an appointment that week.
The pot-luck phone system is so damn antiquated, most practices don’t even have a call queue. You either get through to a phone or not, and if not then you have to ring again.
I was sceptical when my GP transitioned to using an online form via NHS Patchs, but it works and takes away the stress of calling first thing. And it can be done out of hours for the following day.
Well this week coming there is a new contract starting with NHS GPs, you can call anytime to get an appointment, no longer the early scramble. They are also expected to stay open till 1830, so those working usual working hours should be able to get an appointment.
I have never been 1st in the queue because I have always been able to book an appointment straight away regardless of when I called 🤷♂️
14 comments
I’ve been 1st once by timing my call so I would hit the queue right when the clock ticked over to 8am. It still rang for ages until someone picked up though.
dont bother trying over call, just walk in you get a same day appointment or atleast i do with mine
Throw you passport away and jump in the channel and you’ll receive a 4 star hotel, a new phone (your choice between new iPhone or Samsung) and weekly checkups at the hotel from the NHS and dental services, all free of charge 👌 plus £70 in cash too while you await your Universl credit with no requirements to work 👍
Too true. It pains me to see it’s still like this in 2025 no less. Phone appointments like it’s 1995. Utterly ridiculous.
Lmfao
Tell me you don’t understand the system
I had an 8:30 am (opening time) appointment once. Got seen 9:15
My GP journey has been… bizarre.
**Stage 1:** You had to call at exactly 8:30 for a morning appointment, or 12:30 for the afternoon. Miss it by half an hour—say 9:00 or 13:00—and you were out of luck. Oddly enough, it worked. If you really needed to see the GP, you *made a plan*.
**Stage 2:** Then came the merger with another practice. Suddenly, you could submit a form online. Depending on your issue, the doctor would either call you back or book you in. Once, I even sent in a picture of a dodgy rash and got antibiotics—no face-to-face needed. Honestly, that felt like the *golden age*.
**Stage 3:** But of course, something went wrong. The system changed again. Now, you can only submit an online ticket—but only during these awkward windows: 8:30–10:00 in the morning or 12:30–14:00 in the afternoon with no guarantee of a reply…..So…..progress??
It’s an important calling to be paid to ignore people, eat biscuits and chat.
I asked the receptionist at my GP about this once (not criticising or anything, just out of curiosity). They said they always make a call to it as soon as they open the line to make sure calls are working after they had a fault with getting calls from mobiles once (so they got calls, but only from landlines, they had no clue mobile users couldn’t reach them for a couple of hours).
Can’t say I blame them for still testing that. Sod’s Law, the day they don’t do it will be the day it happens again 😂
I remember being able to call any time from 8.30 to 5 pm to schedule an appointment that week.
The pot-luck phone system is so damn antiquated, most practices don’t even have a call queue. You either get through to a phone or not, and if not then you have to ring again.
I was sceptical when my GP transitioned to using an online form via NHS Patchs, but it works and takes away the stress of calling first thing. And it can be done out of hours for the following day.
Well this week coming there is a new contract starting with NHS GPs, you can call anytime to get an appointment, no longer the early scramble. They are also expected to stay open till 1830, so those working usual working hours should be able to get an appointment.
I have never been 1st in the queue because I have always been able to book an appointment straight away regardless of when I called 🤷♂️
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