Eglu Cube Coop For Sale

[Old Speckled Hen]

Appointments have to be made on the day. There is NO pre-booking. The surgery opens at 8.30 but the switchboard is jammed from 8 am. When after fifty attempts you finally get through you are placed in a queue. When you eventually get to the head of this queue all the appointments have gone and you are told to phone tomorrow. This can't be right surely? This is what is happening every day at my daughter's doctor. She needs to have a consultation with some urgency but it is not at the moment an emergency. I despair

[Cooks]

do they ahve a system where you can go online to make appointments??? mine do, although it wasn't widely publiscised. It is so hard getting appointments these days.

[Redwing]

its not right no. I chose my doctors surgery based on their appointment booking process which is excellent

[Cinnamon]

Gosh,thats terrible

 

At mine you can pre book (what if the Doc says come back & see me in 10 days & you can't book it up while you are there?), & you can also phone for emergency slots on the day.

 

Tell them that someone needs to come out & see her if she can't get to see someone - that'll get them to release a slot,I bet.

[bluekarin]

Don't get me started on appointments. ED had a MRI scan and to see her consultant at the hospital to discuss the scans before even deciding what course of treatment to do (bearing in mind she has had this problem for a whole year) we were told the soonest was 2 months away!!! However, they did tell me to phone later in the week and see if there were any cancellations, and luckily there were, so we only had a two week wait in the end.

 

With my GP surgery, you need to phone early, same as you, but you can phone and speak to the duty doctor, who if he/she deems it necessary will make an appointment for you. Maybe see if yours offers this.

[quickcluck]

If it's for a child and she needs to be seen, the next time you call if you get the same unhelpful answer ask to speak the the practice manager, explain your predicament and ask her how she can solve it for you!!

[Happy chickens!]

As well as our gp (who we can book in advance, as well as get appointments on the day with) we have a drop in centre based at our local hospital which is quite useful if you forgot to ring up first thing. It is nurse led, but quite efficient and if you have one worth trying? Def spead to the practice manager too - don't they have customer satisfaction surveys?!

[Seagazer]

Thats terrible, you should be able to make an appointment. Can your daughter not go down in person early and make an appointment. We do this for our doctor's so called walk in clinics, held 3 times a week. They give you a time to come back later on. We are lucky that we can book for normal appointments too though.

[chelsea]

That is quite harsh for a doctor's surgery - I thought they were improving over the UK?...

 

We are rural and have an excellent service here, our surgery is only open for a few hours 4 days a week and if you can't get an appointment with a doctor a "duty doctor" will call you back with advice or you can see a nurse practioner.

 

It's the receptionists that annoy me (apologies to any nice receptionists on here - I appreciate it's not all receptionists! )

[Jules.]

I thought that the current govt ruling is that everyone can see a doctor within 48 hours if necessary?

[abwsco]

We can see a doctor on the same day if it's an emergency, Monday to Friday as long as you are on the phone for 8.30am on the dot BUT if you want to make a regular appointment you have to ring at 8.30am on Monday morning to try and get an appointment for that week. The chance of getting an appointment, let alone for the doctor you want to see are very slim from my experience as they also have people waiting for them to open the surgery at 8.30am and make appointments at the desk.

[Chucky Mama]

How ridiculous I can't book in advance but that is only because if I do I get my GP who is rubbish so I have to wait until the last minute as I can then get to see someone else

[Becka]

I had similar issues when trying to make an appointment for my husband to see a doctor regarding an ongoing medical problem and results from a MRI. He works away from home during the week but needed to see his doctor so he arranged to take a holiday to fit in the appointment. Could I persuade them to book an appointment for the following week? Certainly not because the lady in charge couldn't re-write the rule book just for me. Imagine the audacity, expecting to book an appointment to see a doctor in a surgery that you're registered with and where the results of your MRI are being sent? I eventually phoned the woman back and insisted upon an appointment being booked and when she refused I insisted upon a telephone appointment with the doctor for my husband. During the course of the telephone appointment, his doctor insisted that he made an appointment for the following week which is what we'd been trying to do from the outset. What a tremendous waste of time and money. My dad's a GP and his surgery which is a couple of miles away have a far more fluid and efficient booking system, even though I say so myself! Apparently the booking system differs vastly between surgeries with some surgeries appearing to be blissfully unaware that it's stressful enough being ill or requiring treatment without having the added pressure of verbal armed combat on the end of a phone! Happily he's moved to another surgery where the staff are delightful while still running an efficient and effective booking system.

[Guest]

Hi

 

When you do get through ask to speak to the practice manager/practice nurse on duty and you dont have to tell the receptionist why you need to see the doctor.Its private.

When you see the doctor take a letter of complaint and give them and the practice manager a copy.

 

This really makes me cross as people end up having to pretend they have an emergency just to see the doctor.

Ask them how & when you can get to see the GP, if need be just turn up and refuse to leave(you may have to wait a long time, but do this)

Could you make an appointment to see a practice nurse instead??

good luck keep trying, but do complain

 

indie

[Old Speckled Hen]

Thanks everybody.

The answer apparently is to be at the surgery at 8.30 but by then my daughter is on her way to lectures.

She has found a breast lump and is very scared. She took herself off to casualty last night and was told off,despite her tears, by a very unsympathetic doctor, ( a woman, for heaven's sake!) for not going to her GP. The suggestion, in the end was that she go to the practice nearest her college and sign on as a temporary resident and they will refer her. Apparently A and E couldn't refer her

I shall go down and spend a few days with her.

[Chucky Mama]

Poor girl, she must be very worried. I thought that there was a very quick turnaround for breast lump exams but I suppose that is scuppered if she can't even get into the system.

[Seagazer]

Oh goodness, there is no way she should have had to of gone through all of that. I would really write a letter of complaint. A lump is not to be ignored and she should get an appointment as soon as possible. I know how scary it is, I've had lumps and you really just want it seen to there and then.

 

Shame on the A&E doctor and your daughter's surgery.

[Couperwife]

oh, the poor girl i hope everything is ok, or sorted quickly (((hugs)))

 

re: the doctors - i agree with talking to the practice manager - or change doctors - with a letter explaining why you are changing - addressed to the doctor.

we have a new "drop in" centre opened up here - they promise you can see a doctor that day, you can either go as a temporary patient or register - it seems like a good place

 

cathy

x

[A chickychickychick-ENN!!]

It's totally worth missing a lecture to ensure she can get an appointment for that. It is frustrating, but there does seem to be a stupid amount of strain on some surgeries. I had a similar scare last year, and once you do get to see the doctor, the hospital appointments process does move quickly. I hope all goes well and that she is reassured soon.

[Janty]

Our doctors used to operate this system but they stopped. I'm sure that there was a big hoo-hah a few years back when it became public knowledge that doctors were doing this and they were told not to. However I can't find anything to back this up.

 

I have found this article which refers to the hoo-hah!

 

http://offandon.penguinsegg.com/2005/10/booking_an_appo.html

 

It would be interesting to see what your primary care trust is reporting.

[foreveryoung]

hummm That's not gd at all. we choose ours as it has open surgery in the morning and appointments in the afternoon, we even moved house and stayed in the catchment area

xx

[Tiggy]

I've heard this before from my own patients,and had personal experiance of it myself when I need to see my own GP it can be very difficult to get appointments, I would have a chat with the practice manager. The shear volume of people now who contact the surgery is huge!!! many do not turn up for appointments & we had so many in the last month it equated to 2 whole weeks of a GPs time, wasted appointments we could have offered to someone else!!!!!!!. I agree we need to look at the systems we have in place, but people also need to behave responsibly and cancel appointments they no longer need. But when you or a family member are unwell and worried, I agree you dont really care about any of this you just want to be seen by someone who will listen to you. Have a chat with your practice manager or better still get an appointment with a GP and bring a letter with you

[ISCA]

There is no perfect appointment system in Primary Care, what suits one may not suit another. The surgeries I have worked in have always operated an appointment booking system with some "emergency" appointments that can be booked on the same day. That seems to work well I think.

 

Sadly some people do abuse the system and either fail to keep appointments or make appointments for problems that could be dealt with more efficiently by another member of the team eg. the practice nurse or on the telephone.

 

But as others have suggested, do mention it to the Practice Manager. Make an appointment to see them. If that does not give you satisfaction then you have the option to change Practice.

[Willow]

Our surgery operates the same system and it's awful. My GP told me the way around this when they tell you all the appointments have gone is to insist you must see a doctor today and just keep repeating it. They then have to fit you in somewhere.

I don't do that everytime but it is effective when you've been trying for days getting nowhere. The receptionist always asks what it's about and I just keep repeating I'll discuss it with the doctor. You don't have to tell them !!

[Seagazer]

I've been to my doctors today for a tetanus jab and on the wall it said that last month 112 people failed to turn up for appointments! That makes me cross as well as there are probably lots of people like your daughter who couldn't get an appointment when they needed it.