Tried booking appointment with my GP!!!
Discussion
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We have to phone up on the day. They pre-book so many appts. per week, but when you want one they are all booked by the geriatrics with nothing to do but go to the doctors.
Our surgery opens at 8am, and if you dont get through by 8.02 then they are booked. Then you have to go through the same thing at 13.00 to get an appt for the afternoon. It's ridiculous. And they don't work after 17.00 so you cant even pop in after work.
Took me 3 months to get an appt with a nurse for my Hepatitis injections. And had to have a day off work because the nurses didn't take bookings after 14.30. What they did from then until 17.00 home time is beyond me, other than drink tea and provide oral relief to the GPs.
Our surgery opens at 8am, and if you dont get through by 8.02 then they are booked. Then you have to go through the same thing at 13.00 to get an appt for the afternoon. It's ridiculous. And they don't work after 17.00 so you cant even pop in after work.
Took me 3 months to get an appt with a nurse for my Hepatitis injections. And had to have a day off work because the nurses didn't take bookings after 14.30. What they did from then until 17.00 home time is beyond me, other than drink tea and provide oral relief to the GPs.
All this talk of s
tty NHS services makes me want to return to the UK less and less.
Ever since moving abroad, I've had nothing but exemplary health care. I can go to any doctor I chose since the entire national medical database is shared and you are identified with a special smart card which you hand over at the doctors.
I also don't have to book an appointment and treatment is immediate.
For example, I damaged my elbow after a rather daft accident while skiing so after the pain failed to go away, I visited the doctor in the morning. By late morning I was down at an X-Ray clinic, and then by the afternoon I was having an ultra-sound scan and by mid-afternoon I had been referred to a physiotherapist. (Of course I had a choice of about 10 local places that I could visit).
I went the next day and treatment started right away. Medication which was some special deep heat cream cost me just €4.
I've also been hospitalised as I caught a rather nasty virus and again treatment was immediate with no waiting and no further costs.
The national health service here is frankly....superb.
tty NHS services makes me want to return to the UK less and less.Ever since moving abroad, I've had nothing but exemplary health care. I can go to any doctor I chose since the entire national medical database is shared and you are identified with a special smart card which you hand over at the doctors.
I also don't have to book an appointment and treatment is immediate.
For example, I damaged my elbow after a rather daft accident while skiing so after the pain failed to go away, I visited the doctor in the morning. By late morning I was down at an X-Ray clinic, and then by the afternoon I was having an ultra-sound scan and by mid-afternoon I had been referred to a physiotherapist. (Of course I had a choice of about 10 local places that I could visit).
I went the next day and treatment started right away. Medication which was some special deep heat cream cost me just €4.
I've also been hospitalised as I caught a rather nasty virus and again treatment was immediate with no waiting and no further costs.
The national health service here is frankly....superb.
gti tim said:
stuff
Similar to ours, have to book first thing in the morning. They don't answer the phones until about 9am though, so all the people who've gone in at 8am get all the appointments. If you phone and try to pre-book one for the next day, or few days time you get refused, although I've seen some OAPs getting advance ones over the counter. Guess it means if you've only got a minor ailment you don't bother with the hassle, and the system forces the ones with more serious stuff into overloaded A&E's instead. And if you're in that middle ground between the two - like needing jabs for holidays or something, then tough. You rush to the 8am queue and wait your turn.
69 coupe said:
As above, earliest appointment 6 days away.
Is it an 'emergency' or priority issue that you have?There are a lot of sick people around at the moment, lots of flu and chest infections. Without knowing what your 'ailmant' is its hard to say wehter or not you should be 'upset' about the system being overly busy at this time...
If your medical problem is serious then you tell them you want an emergency appointment. If they dont play ball tell them you'll be phoning for an ambulance. Usually gets their attention.
cj_eds said:
Similar to ours, have to book first thing in the morning. They don't answer the phones until about 9am though, so all the people who've gone in at 8am get all the appointments. If you phone and try to pre-book one for the next day, or few days time you get refused, although I've seen some OAPs getting advance ones over the counter.
Guess it means if you've only got a minor ailment you don't bother with the hassle, and the system forces the ones with more serious stuff into overloaded A&E's instead. And if you're in that middle ground between the two - like needing jabs for holidays or something, then tough. You rush to the 8am queue and wait your turn.
I now resort to saying the appt. is for my boy. They have legally to provide a same-day appt. for kids under 1. When i did it, iu went in, tried to book on with their fancy computer, then when it doesn't work i say you have booked the appt. for my son, not me. They get arsey, but can't argue as the appt. is there and i am there to take it! More than one way to skin a cat, or to see a GP in this case.Guess it means if you've only got a minor ailment you don't bother with the hassle, and the system forces the ones with more serious stuff into overloaded A&E's instead. And if you're in that middle ground between the two - like needing jabs for holidays or something, then tough. You rush to the 8am queue and wait your turn.
Great isnt it.... our wonderful NHS hitting targets yet again. As long as they hit targets, then the politicos can say that its improving... manipulation of the real issue, for political purposes... hateful people.
My surgery recently changed to the appointment on the day system. It works well on the basis that the majority of appointments are simply for treatments that are not available over the counter in pharmacies. So its pretty prompt and easy to use.
However, they cannot and will not allow future bookings. Tried to book an appointment for a couple of weeks time. It was a farcical conversation about being not being an emergency. You know Bird and Fortune couldn't have written a better script.
Shocking, and hardly surprising that more and more people are going private for GP appointments or using the drop-in centres from the NHS at 25 quid a go. Value for money? Easy access to the services we need? Phah....
My surgery recently changed to the appointment on the day system. It works well on the basis that the majority of appointments are simply for treatments that are not available over the counter in pharmacies. So its pretty prompt and easy to use.
However, they cannot and will not allow future bookings. Tried to book an appointment for a couple of weeks time. It was a farcical conversation about being not being an emergency. You know Bird and Fortune couldn't have written a better script.
Shocking, and hardly surprising that more and more people are going private for GP appointments or using the drop-in centres from the NHS at 25 quid a go. Value for money? Easy access to the services we need? Phah....
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