Finally. Getting hold of a bored receptionist first thing in the morning is the bane of my existence.
I have chronic hypertension. Being without meds sends me to hospital within couple of weeks.
I recently changed practice and receptionist claims I don’t have hypertension and don’t need appointment or meds….
I now have a private GP.
Fighting every month for life saving medication just brings too much stress and isn’t worth it.
It’s beyond ridiculous now.
Thank fuck. I work 3rd shift and if I ‘miss’ getting an appointment at any point, I have to wait until those 3 weeks cycle back around. If I miss it again? Yeah, ad infinitum.
Having to tell the receptionist you’re basically dying to get an appointment
Great. It’s always seemed bizarre to have a survival of the fittest competition for a fricking _doctors appointment_!
Already done where we are. You fill in a form online and they triage everyone and let you know if you are getting an appointment or sent to the pharmacy or whatever. Still have to get online pretty much at 8am but no phone redialling frantically and battling the endless busy tone.
I rang in at 8:34am the other day as i was having worrying seizures. The phone answered to an automatic voice saying “sorry all our appointment slots are full for today! ” and “you are number 15 in the queue”. ie, theyve already filled their available slots within the first hour of the day, and have a long list of folks still calling in need of help.
I got through to someone in the end, luckily, but that ain’t good
There are plenty of GPs out of work or underemployed at the moment, the government can’t afford to pay them. That’s why there are no appointments. Whoever wrote this article lives in a dream world. Sauce, I’m a Gp
Bringing in ticket master and stubhub to manage access.
A receptionist once made me cry after I told her I was feeling sucidal and she said she couldnt give me an appointment for another 4 weeks. The night before I stopped myself from jumping off a bridge. I changed doctors the next day and was seen straight away without them waiting for my files.
We have doctors?!
It’s not the 8am scramble it’s the 3 week waiting time to actually have face to face time with the doctor and in the meantime you suffer pain and discomfort…
About time. Sorry to any NHS workers that don’t fit the stereotype but every experience I have had booking an appointment with a GP has been miserable because of the disinterested power tripping cunt on the other end of the line acting like a gatekeeping ogre.
Why should I have to explain my very personal and uncomfortable situation with someone who has no substantial medical training just to see a doctor.
They actually did online…till the password was lost. So much easier up until then.
08:02 is actually the golden time to call.
Who remembers NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT)? An absolute disaster that costs billions and delivered not very much.
I thought this was already supposed to have been fixed? Or was that just more Tory bullshi-
..
Ah, I see…
Bugger the 8am nonsense, i want to be able to book an appointment, on line, for a week on Tuesday like i used to before Covid! I’m a Type 2 Diabetic and since moving to where i currently live over 5 years ago, i’ve never been allowed near a doctor! Prior to that, my diabetic reviews were always with a real, genuine doctor.
I’ve been given the wrong medication twice now at the fault of the receptionist. When I ring up they scroll through my past notes and ask me which I put on the form…
I can only imagine what happens when they do this to old people who maybe aren’t as aware, trust their doctor and just take the meds.
This is weird. What I do is fill in the form, it gets looked at that day, and if it’s urgent I might get a phone call that day, or just a prescription, or an appointment for bloods ors referral or whatever. If it’s not urgent I might get an appointment for a few days time, or just a telephone consultation.
It’s so much easier and quicker than the old rigmarole of phoning up and queueing and all that crap. Most of the time you don’t actually need to physically sit in front of a doctor anyway. Personally I prefer not to sit in an enclosed waiting room with a bunch of sick people anyway.
“groundbreaking new tools over the next two years to support GPs”
So Windows XP is incoming then, at which point a good number of those struggling to get appointments now will be in a more serious condition or dead.
Why do we have to call a number to get an appointment anyway… Why can’t we just book appointments over the NHS app?
There should also be a somewhat hefty cancellation fee if it’s less than 48 hours etc so people don’t abuse it.
I’ve recently had to (try to) contact my GP after being diagnosed with a heart condition.
I knew they’d adopted this “total triage” thing but I thought that since I wasn’t immediately in need of being seen the same day that I could just ring up and book an appointment whenever a slot was available.
How wrong I was.
First of all I was told that there weren’t any appointments available that day so I said I wasn’t too worried about getting in on the same day as it was just to discuss the next steps in dealing with this situation.
I was told that I had to go online between the hours of 7:30am and 11am and enter my reasons for wanting an appointment. The GP’s at the surgery would then review these requests and “book their own appointments” according to who needed them the most.
If the number of appointments ran out, I wouldn’t be seen and would have to try again the next day.
So it kind of feels like the 8am scramble might have just been turned in to an early morning scramble, but only if you can get online. I’m lucky that I can but I shudder to think what would happen if somebody who wasn’t particularly computer literate needed help.
And no, I didn’t get an appointment today either 🙂
GP admin here
We introduced an “a.i” (it’s actually just check boxes and then a bit of code that rates your urgency based on your response. Which, technically, is low grade artificial intelligence) triage system at our surgery.
Our friends and family rating dropped from 95% to 70% that month. (As in from those who responded on the survey ~300 people we went from 95% responding 5/5 to 70%).
It’s been 3 months and we’re climbing up now. Patients really quite like it and it feels like we’re filling our appointments way more efficiently. Alot of minor illnesses are now directed to the pharmacy or are answered immediately if they don’t need an appt.
There’s a separate admin query triage that is faster and is for those who just need some admin done. Which goes to a separate team and doesn’t take up the 8am reception rush.
Overall as part of the admin team I prefer it. It’s massively boosted staff morale too for the reception team, they don’t actually dread coming in the morning and dealing with the non stop rush of trying to get the appointments in. They’re still just as fast, but no longer feel pressured because there’s someone on the other side breathing down the phone
Does this make us a bit more isolated? Kinda. We still accept calls for those unable to do the triage (old, no smart phone/pc) and have a tablet in surgery to help teach people with. But still I think it’s a benefit.
So. They’re going to train more doctors as part of that
I don’t see any mention of actually increasing funding for GPs to encourage them to actually take a role and not go somewhere where the pay is better.
I saw on a sub a year or two ago that GPs get an annual payment for each patient on their books. Doesn’t matter how often or how little they need to be seen. Just a flat figure.
Of something like £145 per year.
And they need to use that to pay for all staff and equipment.
So there isn’t much choice other than to sign up as many people as possible and try to ensure enough income to hire doctors and reception staff to cope with demand.
I don’t see anything in that article that indicates that will change.
Of course, this is all based on conversations I read a while ago so feel free to tell me if it’s complete bollocks.
Who is getting all the appointments i.e. not having to queue at 8am?
Go back to the old days where you could walk in and wait to be seen. It could take a while but you knew the Dr would get to you eventually, probably would take less time than continuously ringing the receptionist.
Took that long for the lame gov to do that?
I remember the days when you could just walk into your doctor’s surgery without an appointment and there would be a handful of people there. You would have a short wait then be seen. Admittedly it was many years ago.
Didn’t they say this before and within a week it was back to the scramble? After enduring this hell for 6 years at this point I’ve given in to the corpos, I’m going private.
for every person that can be bothered to ring this ‘scramble’ the bigger issue is the 10 people who cannot be bothered with it and just go walking around carrying on with potentially serious illnesses. I rang up with chest pain they said come back in a week… dental fillings fell out, come back in two weeks. I will try saying a little prayer before bed and report back on my findings.
30 comments
Finally. Getting hold of a bored receptionist first thing in the morning is the bane of my existence.
I have chronic hypertension. Being without meds sends me to hospital within couple of weeks.
I recently changed practice and receptionist claims I don’t have hypertension and don’t need appointment or meds….
I now have a private GP.
Fighting every month for life saving medication just brings too much stress and isn’t worth it.
It’s beyond ridiculous now.
Thank fuck. I work 3rd shift and if I ‘miss’ getting an appointment at any point, I have to wait until those 3 weeks cycle back around. If I miss it again? Yeah, ad infinitum.
Having to tell the receptionist you’re basically dying to get an appointment
Great. It’s always seemed bizarre to have a survival of the fittest competition for a fricking _doctors appointment_!
Already done where we are. You fill in a form online and they triage everyone and let you know if you are getting an appointment or sent to the pharmacy or whatever. Still have to get online pretty much at 8am but no phone redialling frantically and battling the endless busy tone.
I rang in at 8:34am the other day as i was having worrying seizures. The phone answered to an automatic voice saying “sorry all our appointment slots are full for today! ” and “you are number 15 in the queue”. ie, theyve already filled their available slots within the first hour of the day, and have a long list of folks still calling in need of help.
I got through to someone in the end, luckily, but that ain’t good
There are plenty of GPs out of work or underemployed at the moment, the government can’t afford to pay them. That’s why there are no appointments. Whoever wrote this article lives in a dream world. Sauce, I’m a Gp
Bringing in ticket master and stubhub to manage access.
A receptionist once made me cry after I told her I was feeling sucidal and she said she couldnt give me an appointment for another 4 weeks. The night before I stopped myself from jumping off a bridge. I changed doctors the next day and was seen straight away without them waiting for my files.
We have doctors?!
It’s not the 8am scramble it’s the 3 week waiting time to actually have face to face time with the doctor and in the meantime you suffer pain and discomfort…
About time. Sorry to any NHS workers that don’t fit the stereotype but every experience I have had booking an appointment with a GP has been miserable because of the disinterested power tripping cunt on the other end of the line acting like a gatekeeping ogre.
Why should I have to explain my very personal and uncomfortable situation with someone who has no substantial medical training just to see a doctor.
They actually did online…till the password was lost. So much easier up until then.
08:02 is actually the golden time to call.
Who remembers NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT)? An absolute disaster that costs billions and delivered not very much.
I thought this was already supposed to have been fixed? Or was that just more Tory bullshi-
..
Ah, I see…
Bugger the 8am nonsense, i want to be able to book an appointment, on line, for a week on Tuesday like i used to before Covid! I’m a Type 2 Diabetic and since moving to where i currently live over 5 years ago, i’ve never been allowed near a doctor! Prior to that, my diabetic reviews were always with a real, genuine doctor.
I’ve been given the wrong medication twice now at the fault of the receptionist. When I ring up they scroll through my past notes and ask me which I put on the form…
I can only imagine what happens when they do this to old people who maybe aren’t as aware, trust their doctor and just take the meds.
This is weird. What I do is fill in the form, it gets looked at that day, and if it’s urgent I might get a phone call that day, or just a prescription, or an appointment for bloods ors referral or whatever. If it’s not urgent I might get an appointment for a few days time, or just a telephone consultation.
It’s so much easier and quicker than the old rigmarole of phoning up and queueing and all that crap. Most of the time you don’t actually need to physically sit in front of a doctor anyway. Personally I prefer not to sit in an enclosed waiting room with a bunch of sick people anyway.
“groundbreaking new tools over the next two years to support GPs”
So Windows XP is incoming then, at which point a good number of those struggling to get appointments now will be in a more serious condition or dead.
Why do we have to call a number to get an appointment anyway… Why can’t we just book appointments over the NHS app?
There should also be a somewhat hefty cancellation fee if it’s less than 48 hours etc so people don’t abuse it.
I’ve recently had to (try to) contact my GP after being diagnosed with a heart condition.
I knew they’d adopted this “total triage” thing but I thought that since I wasn’t immediately in need of being seen the same day that I could just ring up and book an appointment whenever a slot was available.
How wrong I was.
First of all I was told that there weren’t any appointments available that day so I said I wasn’t too worried about getting in on the same day as it was just to discuss the next steps in dealing with this situation.
I was told that I had to go online between the hours of 7:30am and 11am and enter my reasons for wanting an appointment. The GP’s at the surgery would then review these requests and “book their own appointments” according to who needed them the most.
If the number of appointments ran out, I wouldn’t be seen and would have to try again the next day.
So it kind of feels like the 8am scramble might have just been turned in to an early morning scramble, but only if you can get online. I’m lucky that I can but I shudder to think what would happen if somebody who wasn’t particularly computer literate needed help.
And no, I didn’t get an appointment today either 🙂
GP admin here
We introduced an “a.i” (it’s actually just check boxes and then a bit of code that rates your urgency based on your response. Which, technically, is low grade artificial intelligence) triage system at our surgery.
Our friends and family rating dropped from 95% to 70% that month. (As in from those who responded on the survey ~300 people we went from 95% responding 5/5 to 70%).
It’s been 3 months and we’re climbing up now. Patients really quite like it and it feels like we’re filling our appointments way more efficiently. Alot of minor illnesses are now directed to the pharmacy or are answered immediately if they don’t need an appt.
There’s a separate admin query triage that is faster and is for those who just need some admin done. Which goes to a separate team and doesn’t take up the 8am reception rush.
Overall as part of the admin team I prefer it. It’s massively boosted staff morale too for the reception team, they don’t actually dread coming in the morning and dealing with the non stop rush of trying to get the appointments in. They’re still just as fast, but no longer feel pressured because there’s someone on the other side breathing down the phone
Does this make us a bit more isolated? Kinda. We still accept calls for those unable to do the triage (old, no smart phone/pc) and have a tablet in surgery to help teach people with. But still I think it’s a benefit.
So. They’re going to train more doctors as part of that
I don’t see any mention of actually increasing funding for GPs to encourage them to actually take a role and not go somewhere where the pay is better.
I saw on a sub a year or two ago that GPs get an annual payment for each patient on their books. Doesn’t matter how often or how little they need to be seen. Just a flat figure.
Of something like £145 per year.
And they need to use that to pay for all staff and equipment.
So there isn’t much choice other than to sign up as many people as possible and try to ensure enough income to hire doctors and reception staff to cope with demand.
I don’t see anything in that article that indicates that will change.
Of course, this is all based on conversations I read a while ago so feel free to tell me if it’s complete bollocks.
Who is getting all the appointments i.e. not having to queue at 8am?
Go back to the old days where you could walk in and wait to be seen. It could take a while but you knew the Dr would get to you eventually, probably would take less time than continuously ringing the receptionist.
Took that long for the lame gov to do that?
I remember the days when you could just walk into your doctor’s surgery without an appointment and there would be a handful of people there. You would have a short wait then be seen. Admittedly it was many years ago.
Didn’t they say this before and within a week it was back to the scramble? After enduring this hell for 6 years at this point I’ve given in to the corpos, I’m going private.
for every person that can be bothered to ring this ‘scramble’ the bigger issue is the 10 people who cannot be bothered with it and just go walking around carrying on with potentially serious illnesses. I rang up with chest pain they said come back in a week… dental fillings fell out, come back in two weeks. I will try saying a little prayer before bed and report back on my findings.
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