Off work at the moment with a back injury (which I got in work), so self cert for but no better. Rang the docs hoping to get an appointment.. The gatekeepers/receptionists say that appointments are now only taken 2 weeks in advance. Can’t get a sick note from A&E, only hope is to try for an appointment on the day which is bloody
impossible….aarrrrgghh. 😐
Is this common practice or does everyone struggle to get appointments these days (as you can tell, I don’t use the doctors much)

I can nearly always get one on the day. You need to be on the phone at 8am though.

be on their doorstep at 8:30 (or whenever they unlock) and get one of the appts they release on the day. It’s a pain but it’s more reliable than trying to phone in.

Don’t they have a same day surgery – at ours we can ring from 8am onwards (read that as ‘ring on the stroke of 8am to stand a hope in hell of getting one) and get a same day appointment with the duty doctor(s)

Sick notes ?

It’s all about the Fit notes these days 🙂

Apparently they used to have a same day/turn up in the morning surgery from 0830-1000, but this was recently scrapped. Only option is to ring on he day 🙁

sounds the same as our surgery. If you want an appt that day, you have to have fast fingers and cal the second the lines open. bloody ridiculous

Same as our surgery – currently signed off with anxiety and depression, GP signed me off for 3 weeks and prescribed me some medication. “Come back and see me in 3 weeks for a review of medication and sick note”

Out the consulting room, up to the desk. “I need to make an appointment to see Dr X again in 3 weeks.”

Receptionist: “I’m sorry, she has nothing free that week, it will have to be the week after”

Me: “But my sick note and medication will run out in 3 weeks”

Receptionist: “You’ll have to ring up at 8am that morning and another GP will see you to sort that out”

I wasn’t in a good place to argue about it, frankly.

I understand the time constraints and targets etc etc, but if a GP says “I need to see you on this date”, there should be some means of the GP making sure it happens, rather than being over-ruled by the receptionist. Seems to be a case of the tail wagging the dog.

Trying not to blame the individuals, I understand that it is the systems.

btw – last time I started a thread on this self same subject, local BBC News reporter emailed me a few weeks later from the details in my profile, as they were making a report on the problem. I declined my 15 minutes of fame, mainly as I was scared of retribution from the receptionists!

I keep thinking that in order to see the doc I will need to enter a room, complete a challenge of some description and obtain a crystal. Then if, and only if I have enough crystals I can exchange them for 5 minutes with a GP. 😕

Some surgeries now have an online booking system, which is handy for the more tech-savvy patients, might be worth enquiring. (The one at my surgery is not well advertised)

We have the online option – MrsMC tried it, still a 3 week wait, apparently.

last time I started a thread on this self same subject, local BBC News reporter emailed me a few weeks later from the details in my profile, as they were making a report on the problem.

Am I the only one who’s incredulous that the BBC are trawling this forum for material for news stories?

I can nearly always get one on the day. You need to be on the phone at 8am though.

Even when I get through at 8am it is usually another 2 day wait. Which means if you ring on a Friday, you are going to get a Tuesday appointment, so that’s 4 days till anyone will see you!

Last couple of times my kids have been sick, we’ve found it almost impossible to get an appointment.

Last time this happened we then phoned the GP surgery after it has closed – you then get put through to the ‘out of hours’ GP at the local hospital.
A nurse phones you back, you talk through the symptoms and they ask you to come up and see a doctor.
After a short wait we were straight in, and out 5 mins later with a prescription.

We changed doctors for this very reason, 20min walk away but appointments every time we phone.

As above wait until 6:30pm tonight dial 111 and give your symptoms. You will get triaged, the process isn’t grate. Explain that you are in pain, your doctor can’t see you for 2 weeks and you don’t want to have to go to A&E.

You should be able to get scheduled for a non urgent appointment in the Out of Hours Service. To be honest the OOH GP’s I know currently accept that people can’t get appointments and OOH is the only option.

Am I the only one who’s incredulous that the BBC are trawling this forum for material for news stories?

Google pretty much anything and a thread on this forum is likely to appear

Google pretty much anything and a thread on this forum is likely to appear

only because google knows you frequent here.

Joins in thread and moans about GPs’ time being wasted by a stupid system:

Patient sees Consultant who recommends an op and is put on waiting list. Patient moves out of area so wishes to be put on waiting list for hospital in new area.

Nope, pooter says no.

Patient needs a phone appointment with GP whom they’ve never met to request to be put on another waiting list.

Waste of GP’s time cos I’m not actually ill!

Any GPs care to comment, are you there DrP?

monkeysfeet… try just turning up at 07:50 (if the phones open at 08:00)… obviously you won’t get seen at 08:00 – it might be 3pm, or it might be “sit over there for 3 hrs and we’ll get to you” but in my limited experience it helps. If you are reasonably close, you can also tell them you can be there in “20 minutes” so they can give you any cancellations.

I understand the time constraints and targets etc etc, but if a GP says “I need to see you on this date”, there should be some means of the GP making sure it happens, rather than being over-ruled by the receptionist. Seems to be a case of the tail wagging the dog.

To me, the problem there is actually the GP. My GP has access to his surgery’s booking system. So when he says “I want to see you in X week” he has his calendar open on the screen, can see when he’s free, and actually puts the appointment in when it suits medically and logistically.

I am currently on light duties at work due to an operation carried out mid december. I am not allowed to drive.

My surgery consultant is on trauma duties this week so cant see me. I called the doctors today and was told the earliest appt was MARCH. WTF?

If i call first thing in the morning i might get one of the daily slots but as others have found its a lottery.

I just want to be able to do my job (And drive) again. Why is it so difficult?

I’ll join in…

6 year old daughter has been having stomach pains since before Christmas and has been to the doc’s several times and they have tried various things, all of which didn’t work so two weeks ago they said they would refer her to a specialist.

A full week later they sent the letter. A bloody week FFS. And now we can’t get an actual appointment with the specialist until March!

Ohh, and when we went again last week (now with bouts of diarrhoea on top of the stomach pains) the doctor said he’d have words to get an earlier appointment as they could do that, they have connections. So basically what he was saying was ‘we thought you were wasting our time before and really couldn’t be arsed. Now I just don’t know what is wrong with your daughter but hey, it might actually be serious’…

We have an online system- appointments get released about 2am for that day, followed by a round for telephone users at 8am.
They’ve also tweaked the system whereby if you can’t get an appointment then a doctor will call you back within 2 hours, make a phone assessment and give you a same day appointment if necessary.
Works better than the last system where the receptionist performed a first assessment, determining whether you needed an appointment or not…

No online system unfortunately .

About 2 weeks for a “routine” appointment here, which appears to be faster than most. I’ve never had any problem getting an appointment on the day when I’ve phoned up at 8am (or even as late as 9am once) – I often get the impression that I’m getting a cancellation. I don’t think I’ve ever needed to see a doctor the same day and feeling a bit embarrassed at taking up an emergency appointment, but need sooner than 2 weeks – one time I was in they had survey forms, so I put a suggestion that they have something between routine and emergency appointments with slots kept open for those who need to see a doctor in the next 2 or 3 days, though I’m not sure if that would work.

A lot of experience of this recently, as I’ve probably had more GP appointments for one reason or another in the last 2 years than in the whole of the rest of my life – most recently I’ve just finished my 3rd course of antibiotics for an op wound which won’t finish healing, hence the need not to wait 2 weeks – though my last appointment I anticipated when I’d want to see the GP again and made it in advance (which reminds me, if it’s still not cleared up in a couple of weeks I’ll probably want to see him again, let’s see what’s available online…)

They are all off spending the vast pots of cash they get for working little or no hours. That’s why you can’t see anyone.
It’s mad, isn’t it? Then instead of seeing a GP or Nurse Practicioner people just go to either the ED or walk in centres. They then struggle to see the people that they should be seeing. Not really the patients fault in most cases, inappropriate attendance as they can’t get to see the person they should be.
Ends up like today, where my ENP wife is now in hour 10 of her shift but rather than working as an ENP she is running triage in the main ED, getting rid of anything that isn’t suitable for Majors because they are so full they are almost ineffective. She managed to text me at 3 when she got out for a break, her first one since 7. All that with a knackered knee that needs surgery to remove lots of debris from behind her patella, but she can’t get a date for an op as they keep having to cancel lists due to the hospital being in black alert.
How much worse will the situation get if Hunt wins his crusade?

25th Feb, which is a tad more than 2 weeks (I could have got one on the 23rd, but not with the GP I prefer seeing). I even get an automatic export to my calendar with the online system, which is neat.

Interestingly though, we are actually working with a group of GPs right now (speccing up a local online system) and some of the anecdotal stories of dreadful wastes of time by patients make me realise that they do have their hands full for much of the time.

I work at a GP’s surgery part time completing admin work and have a number of friends who are GP’s or practice nurses so I have a small insight into the other side of the process. The following is not meant as an excuse for long waiting times to see your prefered doctor but may shed some light.

The first thing to say is it is as frustrating and stressful to all staff in a surgery as it is to the patients to have such problems in getting appointments.

It is a complex set of circumstances that is causing the delay in getting appointments in many practices as far as I can see.
The principle one is the ageing population and their increasingly complex set of problems which takes up far more clinical time for both doctors and practice nurses than even ten years ago would have been the case. Twenty years ago it would not be uncommon for a GP to have time to take a lunch break and finish at 6.30 pm and still have the energy to do one night in four or six out of hours. Not now.
Pressure on A&E and other hospital departments has led to a trickle down of services and expectations by secondary care into primary care. A lot is in the media about A&E being full because of people having difficulty getting GP appointments which is undoubtedly true, but there is some traffic the other way particularly when patients are sent home with complex issues still are not completely resolved. These patients are often seen urgently by GP’s and sent straight back into hospital.
A number of local community services such as health visitors and and district nurse teams are seriously underfunded and inevitably this places more strain on the practices that used to rely on their support.
Whilst the government has indicated that they wish to have 5000 more GP’s in post, in practice the number of trainees who express an interest is dropping off a cliff, and so as older GP’s leave they are not being replaced by partners in the way that used to happen. Many practices advertise for new partners and get no applicants at all, so fill in with salaried GP’s or more commonly locum staff and the latter inevitably has an impact on continuity of care.
Many stressed GP’s are attempting to manage their increasing workload by working more part time and using triage systems which doesn’t necessarily suit the modern patient’s expectations at all times. Those new GP’s who are recruited into practices tend not to have the same approach to general practice as we were used to years ago as it becomes increasingly unsustainable.

Having said all of the above, both at the practice I work in and the different practice that I am registered to as a patient, patient need still comes first and people work their butts off trying to do the best they can.

They are all off spending the vast pots of cash they get for working little or no hours. That’s why you can’t see anyone.

This is simply not true

I was making a bad joke, as I’d have thought the rest of my post would have made clearer. Should have used a 😉

Sorry Mattbee, I think I must have had an irony bypass last week. 🙂

No worries. How long did you have to wait for that particular operation? 😉

Well, I don’t think they met the 18 week target

jimw – Member
The first thing to say is it is as frustrating and stressful to all staff in a surgery as it is to the patients to have such problems in getting appointments.

Therein lies the problem. Its really not – and there are people “IN” the system who think that turning away patients is as stressful as being unable to get medical advice…

It is a complex set of circumstances that is causing the delay in getting appointments in many practices as far as I can see.
The principle one is the ageing population and their increasingly complex set of problems which takes up far more clinical time for both doctors and practice nurses than even ten years ago would have been the case.

I don’t really buy that. I don’t doubt that various factors mean that demand outstrips supply – but I can’t rationalise that against the ability to supply appointments today, or in 3 weeks but not tomorrow even though you know that some of the people you give appointments to tomorrow at 8am will be the people who didn’t get one today at 0820. You don’t need to be EasyJet to device a scheme that lets you realise 100% of todays appointments today, 40% of tomorrows appointments today, 25% of the next days, and 10% of the day after… (obviously the optimum ratios will vary with practice, demographics, etc – and learning from the no-show rates; and quite possibly applying some sort of urgency filter).

Many stressed GP’s are attempting to manage their increasing workload by working more part time and using triage systems which doesn’t necessarily suit the modern patient’s expectations at all times. Those new GP’s who are recruited into practices tend not to have the same approach to general practice as we were used to years ago as it becomes increasingly unsustainable.

Those are probably contributing factors. On top of that is the fact that GP practices are (1) private businesses* and (2) are run by Dr’s who should be the clinical experts not running small businesses they’ve had little or no training for.

* don’t kid yourself on that the NHS is state owned – the bit we probably interact with most is, and always has been a private business with contracts from the NHS that are target driven and financially rewarded for meeting certain criteria! Whilst I’m not suggesting that Dr’s are “rolling in it” – the reality is that hiring another Dr to work 1 extra session a week, or paying a practice nurse to see patients who can’t get an appointment with a Dr would come out of the practice “profit”. They COULD choose to do it; the patients would like it; but the partners would earn less.

Of course if its something you value and are prepared to pay for there are private options like: https://www.pushdoctor.co.uk/ (I think you can get a sick note from them for £13.50 at the moment).

are GP’s not ment to see you within 3 days?

My GP surgery is great. little girl was sick over the xmas holidays, phoned at 8.30 got an appointment for 10.50. Was a hot irish FY2 as well 🙂

Therein lies the problem. Its really not – and there are people “IN” the system who think that turning away patients is as stressful as being unable to get medical advice…

I should perhaps have said “as frustrated” about the system.

There are other places to get medical advice other than the GP’s surgery, for example pharmacists, NHS 111 etc.

I don’t really buy that.

Patient demand often can’t be anticipated in the way you suggest

If a patient comes in and the 10 minute consultation requires an extension into 20 or 30 minutes because of the issues raised appointments set aside for catchup and seeing patients on the day disappear, then inevitably that has a knock on effect.

4 weeks for a non urgent appointment with my worse than useless GP. As for the receptionists; first against my wall come the revolution.

I don’t doubt that various factors mean that demand outstrips supply – but I can’t rationalise that against the ability to supply appointments today, or in 3 weeks but not tomorrow even though you know that some of the people you give appointments to tomorrow at 8am will be the people who didn’t get one today at 0820.

That may well be true, but there are also some people who will react differently to not getting an appointment. Either they’ll give up / decide they’ve got something better to do / go to A&E rather than try and jump through the same hoops the following day.

I should perhaps have said “as frustrated” about the system.

There are other places to get medical advice other than the GP’s surgery, for example pharmacists, NHS 111 etc.
I completely accept that – and possibly the face of the practice could do more to promote that (inevitably at 8am with 10 calls queued you can’t), but unfortunately there are aspects of the service such as the OP is seeking that can only be performed by a Dr. But those “innovations” (nurse practitioners, pharmacist prescribing, NHS24/111, are all relatively new so *should* be helping not making things worse!). Perhaps rather than booking appointments and creating that 0800 rush an approach where an appropriately trained person calls back later and to prioritise the appointment would be worthwhile. People don’t mind having to book 3 weeks in advance for genuinely routine / mundane stuff.

Patient demand often can’t be anticipated in the way you suggest

I’m pretty certain it largely can – perhaps not as oversimplified as I suggested, but it will be possible to come up with an optimised model that accounts for day of the week, time of the year, staff availability etc. I’m guessing (based on the system my Dr’s seem to use) that you don’t even know (1) How many “failed” calls people make at 0801; (2) What the end destination is for those you turn away; (3) How many times people call day after day; (4) Whether cancelled appointments are more like when booked far in advance (and the optimum); (5) Likewise for no-shows; (6) If people who don’t get an appointment quickly actually progress to more complex conditions that require more Dr time. Even without that if you could tell me each day for the last 3 years (a) how many people asked for an appointment (b) how many got an appointment today (c) how many people got an appointment in X weeks time (d) the staff availability on each day, – I could probably design you a model that would work better that what you have now. Then we’d learn from where the bottlenecks are in that model to refine it. Its what every other industry with complex supply-demand issues does — not try to wing it on the day.

If a patient comes in and the 10 minute consultation requires an extension into 20 or 30 minutes because of the issues raised appointments set aside for catchup and seeing patients on the day disappear, then inevitably that has a knock on effect.

those sort of issues happen in every profession, good management finds ways to deal with them (redirecting workload to the other Dr who had a smoother day, having the nurse screen the patients who are kept waiting, not immediately extending the 10 minute appointment but re-visiting that patient later in the day – or even booking them in tomorrow). Of course fitting the OP in for a (probably) simple appointment is another way to catch up time. A clever booking system would know that XYZ is a difficult patient who always takes more time and is in every 2 weeks, and ABC is in once every 5 yrs and is in and out; and so you book them appropriate appointments.

That may well be true, but there are also some people who will react differently to not getting an appointment. Either they’ll give up / decide they’ve got something better to do / go to A&E rather than try and jump through the same hoops the following day.

True, I suppose a few will die off too from their untreated condition – which solves the problem!