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GP Appointments

DrewDoug

Silly question I suppose because I already know the answer. But I'll pose it as a question because it doesn't seem so much of a rant.

Who else finds the new standard normal for making a GP appointment an absolutely horrendous experience, with zero consideration for Autism?

I get up at 07:30. Which by itself makes me ill. I go along only to find out the walk-in clinic is now permanently closed. I thought, well I'm here now, I'll make an appointment. No, I have to phone in. I'm standing in the GP surgery speaking to the receptionist who's telling me they can't make an appointment. I need to phone in to make an appointment.

I ran out of credit that very morning. So I have to walk back home, top up my phone and call back. I'm waiting for 35 minutes to get through only for them to tell me there are no appointments.

I say, well what about tomorrow, next week, next month? Anything? I'm not fussy!

No. Only same day appointments are available!

I have to call in at 8am every morning in the hope they might have an appointment that same day. If they don't. Tough titty. Phone in again tomorrow.

Better yet, even if I do get an appointment. I say, great, when will someone call me back? Oh any time in the next 10 hours.... ANY RANDOM TIME IN THE NEXT 10 HOURS!!!

Okay so I have to sit and stare at my phone, not eat, not drink, soil my pants, not answer the door, not watch tv, not listen to music. Not do anything else whatsoever, for the next 10 hours!  (Because that's called "AUTISM"!)

What the hell am I supposed to do?

I feel like I can't, and I do mean CAN'T deal with that system at all!

Can I request special adjustments given Autism? Is there any point? I find it difficult to believe that there is absolutely no possible way they can book me a GP appointment in advance.

I feel like I'd be better off calling the out of hours GP at night than dealing with that crap!

Parents

  • I like what my current GP is doing. They've got rid of making appointments by phone so no more 07.30am rush. Instead they have an online form where you log in via NHS ID and then write some short text of what the issue is and how you would like to be contacted.

    They generally get back to you within a few hours. Sometimes a GP might ask follow up questions and you can respond by following a link in a text message. Sometimes a receptionist might advise that you need to see a GP, and they'll give you a link in the text which lets you select a time and a doctor over the next couple of weeks.

    It's worked very well for me. I used to find it completely impossible to see a doctor, the phoning up was so hard, and they had a 5-6 week backlog and I generally just thought what's the point and didn't bother.

    Now I have been seen quickly if it was urgent or been able to book a routine appointment without having to use the phone. I think it's allowing them to filter things out more without holding up phone lines, because lots of people can put in the requests at the same time and then the receptionists can go through them or have multiple people going through them.

    With everyone phoning up it has to operate in serial rather than in parallel, so one request at a time and first come first serve.

    Also not being time limited makes a massive difference. Instead of only being able to get an appointment if you call in the first 5 minutes, now you can use the text/website based approach at any time of the day, so I can just request the night before and then I'll receive a text response the next day.

  • in reply to Paper

    That sounds like the system ours use but but only part of it. A lot of time is still wasted with phone calls. Hopefully more surgeries will use it as efficiently as that one day.

  • in reply to Homebird

    I am pretty sure that my GP’s phone based system is designed to prevent people getting face to face appointments. I spoke to one of the practice’s own nurses last year and she was scathing about the GP’s, saying they don’t pull their weight and don’t want to see patients.

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