I was due for some sutures to be removed last week - tried for days to make an appointment at the surgery - without success. Asked the pharmacist in Sainsbury’s - he wouldn’t/couldn’t do it. Didn’t want to go down to A&E as our hospital is Covid ridden - again - so sterilised a scalpel and a pair of tweezers and took them out myself!
Am thinking of writing a book - “D.I.Y. Medical Treatment for the Bewildered” - do you think it would sell??
I think it would be a best seller .
As to removing sutures it rather depends on where they are located .
There were just a couple in the back of my right hand so not a problem. 
@Long Driver, BREXIT ??
Donkeyman! 
The head pharmacist insists that it’s nowt to do with Brexit and the blame has been squarely put upon the ferry problems and airport delays caused by staff shortages both at home (unloading) and aboard (loading) where rampant covid has been causing staff absences. I have no way of checking if this is true but it does sound feasible to me. Now that said, most of my meds are made and supplied from UK companies so I dunno for sure 
My doc told me that one drug wholesaler had to close last week due to all of the staff off with covid, so your guess is as good as mine.
Ours is the same, though I know for a fact that they are under pressure since the other pharmacy in the village/town/whatever closed down. So assuming that they do provide a delivery service, I’m happy to pop down and collect my goodies myself instead.
Good for you, ST. It isn’t difficult. I’ve done the same for Marge, though I use a pair of sharp-pointed scissors which can get under the stitches. Held under a flame beforehand, of course.
well done you, don’t think I would have faffed about with sterilisation, pair of nail scissors and teeth would have been fine, oh wait a minute I don’t have any teeth oh well tweezers it is. 
@LongDriver , You beat me to it LD, l was going to ask about why UK
couldn’t make its own medicines ?
So it seems a new covid wave is passing through the UK and Europe too
from what my Greek in-laws are saying !!
And people are self isolating at home ?l saw a report somewhere that said
that several items are now missing from supermarket shelves too?
Donkeyman!
To collect from my nominated pharmacy is almost impossible as it’s in a prominent position with double yellows both side of the road and too far from the nearest bus stop to walk loaded up with meds for me and my wife. I tried it once and ended up calling a cab to help me manage. We’re both listed for home deliveries so we use the service 
Thank goodness for ‘Pharmacy2U’ - my repeat medication just turns up through the post at regular intervals.
I have a lot of health issues 
but have never had any problems in getting an appointment. My husband phoned the surgery for an appointment for an issue which wasn’t really serious and he got an appointment the same day.
My experience of booking appointments at the GP Surgery has been a bit of a learning curve and I am still confused about how I can get to actually see a GP.
I rarely used to need to see a doctor before Covid and I used to be able to just pop to the GP surgery and make an appointment at the Reception Desk.
I knew the system all changed during lockdown but it seems to be getting more confusing instead of simpler in these recent post-lockdown months.
I was prescribed medication for a new health problem back in March 2020, following a telephone consultation with a GP. I got that consultation by booking a GP appointment online for a telephone consultation and she rang me at home.
She sent me to hospital to get a chest scan to rule out a few things but apart from that, I still have not had any physical examination or the breathing / lung capacity test she said I would need but couldn’t be done due to Covid restrictions nor have I had any face to face meeting with a GP or any health professional regarding my health problem.
I don’t even get to speak to a GP when I want to renew my repeat prescription - the GP said I shouldn’t take the medication for longer than 3 months and may need more investigation if the problem hadn’t cleared but after the initial 3 months and another online conversation with GP, she authorised the drugs for another 3 months. After that it was a pharmacist at the surgery who has been authorising Repeat prescriptions.
When I went to order my last Repeat prescription, it said I needed to make an appointment to review my medication, I was relieved that I would be able to talk to a GP at last because I have a lot of questions to ask. I was able to book the medication review online but after booking it, I see that my appointment is with a “Pharmacist Clinician” - which I think is the same person who has just been renewing my prescriptions for the last 18 months without any further investigation into my health problem.
Then I had to make two other appointments after receiving text messages telling me to book appointments for a couple of standard NHS Health check clinics.
It seems you can’t book appointments for those Nurses clinics online, the GP website says you have to telephone a number which connects you to a Virtual Receptionist.
I tried that - the phone rang for ages with no answer. Over the next couple of days, I tried ringing at a couple of different times in the day but never got an answer. The last time I tried, I persevered and left the phone ringing to see how long they would take to answer - it rang for half an hour then the call was cut off.
Sod that, I thought, so I put my shoes on and walked to the GP surgery, which is only a ten minute walk down the road.
There’s a confusing notice at the GP Surgery entrance door which suggests you can only make appointments by telephone but it was not worded clearly, so I feigned ignorance and went to the Reception desk to say I’d been notified I must make some appointments for these two clinics and could she do that for me.
To my amazement, she said Yes and offered me one appointment for the following week and one for the week after.
I told her I was pleased that I could now book appointments by visiting the surgery instead of doing it online or by telephone and she told me that you can only book telephone consultations online - she could only book appointments for the Nurse-led clinics at the Reception Desk.
If I want to book an appointment to see a GP, I must use the Virtual Receptionist telephone number, because she cannot book appointments with a GP. That’s the number that just rings and doesn’t get answered!
I left the Surgery feeling more confused than ever - what do you have to do to get to see a GP nowadays? -
My appointment is this Wednesday - I’ve looked at the appointment details online and it doesn’t say if it’s a telephone appt or not - it seems impossible to contact anyone to ask unless I go back to the surgery and try my luck with the Receptionist again.
I have decided just to go the surgery at the appointed time but take my mobile phone in case they ring me!
Whenever you read something like this, there is, usually a good chance that someone will pop up and say that it is no problem, where they are, and they can get and attend appointments pretty easily.
That, always make me wonder why there is such a difference!
It’s the same NHS, I think, that we’re all using.
The Surgeries are all set up & managed by the Doctors, I think.
So, I get left with the thought that some surgeries are not fit for purpose.
If that is the case, shouldn’t some authority be all over them, pressing to get it right?
To be honest, Ted, I would not have expected it to be such a problem where I live - all our other services are still brilliant, including the local NHS hospital.
When I saw all the complaints about GP surgeries, and some people saying they had no problems, I used to think that maybe the problems must be in the areas of high populations, like cities and metropolitan boroughs, but I live in a village at the edge of a quiet market town, so it’s not a case of over-population or high demand. I was surprised to find it so difficult to get to see a GP.
Our GP surgery was fine before 2020 - it was easy to make an appointment of any type by calling in at the surgery and you didn’t have to wait long.
When I called in at the surgery last week to make my appointments, the notices at the entrance seemed almost designed to confuse you and to put you off going in.
When I went in, I saw only one other patient in there, sitting on a chair in the waiting room, so I presume there was not many clinics or surgeries in progress.
I seem to get lots of messages urging me to make appointments for “preventative” tests and scans but if you actually have a health problem and it’s not an Accident & Emergency situation or something minor you can ask the pharmacist about, I have discovered over these last 2 years that it is difficult to find any health professional to talk to.
Here in SA, there’s the government health department and good luck to you if you cannot afford an alternative.
But, if you can afford it, then private health care is the best option.
I lost my GP to Covid and it took me a year to find another competent GP.
Of course, I pay good money for a visit to the GP but there’s no trouble getting an appointment.
I know health care workers including doctors died during lockdown so, could this be impacting the health care service offering in the UK?
@Minx , But what did these health care workers and even doctors die
of Minxy ? Surely not covid ?? Which cannot be classed as a deadly
disease unless it is accompanied by another more serious ailment ??
And surely the medical profession would be clear of any other medical
conditions wouldn’t they ?
Donkeyman! 
I haven’t a cooking clue DK. Covid related deaths?
Why would they ?
Medical staff are human too and subject to the same ailments as the rest of us .
