Published on 12, July, 2020
A few days ago, though my GP surgery officially only has the '8 o'clock phone lottery' method of getting an appointment, I sent an email to my GP surgery describing my worsening bowel problems (in great detail). Yesterday, the surgery phoned me offering an appointment next week. I strikes me that, once you have informed a surgery of a medical condition, that they have to respond. Because otherwise, if a patient developed a serious, or life-threatening, illness, they would be open to NHS disciplinary procedures, or to being sued for negligence. It may be worth others trying a similar approach; if it is generally applicable, it will make access to medical care much easier for autistics.
There should be an acknowledgement that that is how we will communicate.
I've done similar in the past, but it's taken weeks for that to get past the admin and onto the GP's desk.
They don't get why we can't do the 8 o'clock scramble and speak to a receptionist like everyone else.
Hi Dawn, I had my referral meeting with my gp and my contact preferences are now on my records. I often get text messages from the surgery, it’s much easier for me to process a text and have time to answer. Surgeries seem to be a lottery, there is no reason why some surgeries aren’t doing face to face appointments. I use the app, the appointment will normally be 2-3 weeks away, if it’s urgent then my wife phones for me, normally have then been seen on the same day. You are right, our preferences should be taken into account. I’ve used the message part of the app, as soon as I mention it’s a mental health problem, they reply very swiftly.