Most of the surgeries around here still have notices up and on their websites saying “Please do not visit the surgery unless absolutely essential.”
Just to add to my confusion, I received a Reminder by email of my appointment tomorrow
“Appt reminder on 04 May 2022 15:25 with Pharmacist - ****
You can cancel appts by calling ******
DO NOT turn up for this appointment unless specifically told that it is face to face.”
Well, I haven’t specifically been told that it is face to face
, so maybe it is a telephone appointment? … but when I booked it, I wasn’t asked to confirm a telephone contact number and when I look at the appointment details online, it shows the “appointment location” as the GP Surgery address.
So, I am still none the wiser - it’s a bit like a “magical mystery tour” and there is nobody to explain what these cryptic messages mean. 
I’m fairly relaxed about waiting to see what happens tomorrow but it’s no wonder folk get confused with this lack of clarity from their GPs. 
Boot,
My local surgery has a Pharmacist working in there.
She seems to be part of the Practice and handles all sorts of things about prescriptions, etc.
Oddly, I do notice a slight edginess between the Surgery Pharmacist and the ones at the Chemist.
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My husband needs to see a GP and rang the surgery. he was asked whether he wanted a face to face appointment or a phonecall. He asked what the wait times were and she said “3 WEEKS for a phone appointment.” So he asked about a face to face and was told he can see a Doctor on Friday!!
You honestly could not make it up!! 
Our surgery is now so bad it’s 10 days wait for a repeat prescription and people were reporting they queued outside today for 1 hr 40 minutes and were then told it wasn’t ready and to go back tomorrow! The local MP has got involved but they are telling him a load of rubbish.
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What the heck? 3 weeks for a phone appointment? Oh my goodness this is very worrying and scarey
I had to visit my local GP practice yesterday for a rather lengthy consultation and the first thing I noticed was I was the only patient there in the waiting room at 1pm.
I also noticed that there seem to be a mixture of COVID rules in place, some GP’s had full scrubs and super duper masks, others their own clothes and far simpler face coverings, a couple of the office girls wore masks covering their mouths only.
Me I did not wear a mask as although it is advisory now in Scotland it is not the law to do so anymore.
Still no other patient’s when I left the surgery a half hour later, so where have they all gone?
Far more worry this is the same situation at the cancer centre waiting room at a hospital, no patients and that used to be busy so where are they?
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I hope that you got on well at your surgery practice.
The cancer patients might be going somewhere else to get treatment to shorten the waiting list.
The problem of getting medication is down to Brexit, it’s all waiting at the ports to be processed.
Can’t we make our own medication ?
Sorry but it is the main cancer centre for much of the south east of Scotland there is no other place to go.
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It can only get worse as more and more migrants roll up on our shores and register with GPS
Five hundred boat people came over in two days last week .
I’ve been having some back pain on my right side lower back for almost 2 weeks. I’ve been taking painkillers but last week when I had to see the doctor regarding an unrelated problem I mentioned the back pain but she didn’t seem at all concerned or even interested. I had taken a urine sample in as it feels like the kidney area so wondered if it was a UTI but it came back ok except that I was dehydrated which I didn’t understand because I drink plenty, but anyway. I came away and carried on taking painkillers.
A week later I’m still bothered by this pain and sometimes the pain moves to the other side and up a little into my middle back but the most pain is in the right side lower back. I’ve just come back from the doctors and still she is fobbing me off tell me to take painkillers which I already am! So she said, take 2 paracetamol at 8am and codeine 2 hours later and so on like that during the day.
But isn’t this just masking the pain?
Had my old doctor not retired I know he would have at least sent me for a blood test to make sure nothing is going on and I;ve come away totally deflated and feel like she wasn’t listening to me.
Had the pain only been there a couple of days I wouldn’t have been so bothered but its been there almost 2 weeks and not going away.
Yes, surgeries AND doctors are most definately getting worse!!
Me, having a moan huff
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I have decided enough is enough, my GP called me into the surgery and suggested that a neurologist might be worth seeng as i am having balance issues but i have declined as i an sick and tired of being poked and prodded, having cameras inserted into various orifices, gallons of blood syphoned off and stuffed into noisy whirring machines.
And given that I have absolutely no idea what is going on with my throat cancer diagnosis nearly 9 months ago I will not be going back to the oncologist after my next appointment.
So apart from any pain relief needed and not the opiate stuff I mistakenly took yesterday resulting in a sleepless night I am staying away from the medical profession. 
After reading posts here, I feel so sorry for some of you folks.
I don’t doubt for a moment these complaints are justified, because so many have the same complaint - we don’t feel listened to any more. We just feel fobbed off.
We are sent for tests sometimes, but that is often where it stops. We still get no answers or diagnosis.
So many people saying the same, so we can’t all be wrong.
It’s what to do about these GP’s that bothers me. Some need reminding of their duties, and the reasons they chose to become doctors!
I do hope you get the correct help and support soon.
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Hi Lion Queen
I had the same problem which worsened in January .Called in to the surgery to make an appointment with the Acute pain clinic and was seen in 15 minutes. Put up with it using gel for pain until last week when I had a job to walk and again was seen that morning and prescribed muscle relaxants and an app .made to see a consultant physio which is booked for June 1st.
I have peripheral neuropathy which could be the cause so will be seeing a G.P tomorrow for further investigations .
Just moved here 6 months ago so well pleased with the Surgery on my doorstep.
Good luck with getting it sorted.
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Just as an update to my previous posts - my appointment on 4th May did turn out to be face to face after all, so it’s a good thing I went along to the surgery, just in case!
I did tell the pharmacist clinician how unclear and confusing the online booking system and appointment confirmation messages are, leaving patients unsure whether the appt is by telephone or if they should come to the GP surgery.
She said she would feed that back to those in charge.
She also made me a face-to-face appt with a nurse, for 6th May and now I have another face-to-face appt with GP in 10 days time - Wow!
These face-to-face appointments are like buses - I’ve been waiting over two years for one to come along - now 3 of ‘em have come along all together! 
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Chiropractor is who you need to see. Mine is a marvel
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Yes. I’ll second that, Rox.
If a McTimoney practitioner is nearby, so much the better.
Queenie, put your postcode in and have a look what’s available in your area:
Much better than living on pills!
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Thanks Mups & Rox,
When I put my postcode in it came up with nothing.
I’m not taking the codeine phospate, they are addictive, my niece ended up addicted on them bad, she was in a terrible state for a while. She’s off them now thankfully.
As it happens I’m having a good day today, the pain isn’t so bad yippee
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@MrFraggle67 , Me too Mr F! l was supposed to go to Liecester Royal
over two years ago for a six monthly appointment to do another eye check
up, this after attending a series of these six monthly check ups which also
involved two brain scans. It seemed to me that l was making no progress
as regards getting a diagnosis, allthough it was confirmed that l had a lower
left blind spot, which was getting slowly larger !
I had also reported that l was getting sporadic attacks of what appeared
to be geometric visions which started in the lower left field of vision, which
then grew untill they covered almost half of my field of vision for about
5mins before gradually disappearing again ? The specialist showed little
interest in this phenomenon ?
At this time the pandemic came along , so l decided l couldn’t face all the
bother of trekking all the way to Liecester just to do the same tests over
again for no result!! I have now decided not to go for my fourth covid jab
for the same reasons,( having to travel outside of my area?)
Good luck!!
PS. My sight is now much worse .
Donkeyman! 