I needed to ring the doctor’s surgery this morning and was dismayed to find that I was number 17 in the queue but I persevered and was able to talk to the receptionist after almost 45 minutes. This afternoon I had a telephone appointment with the doctor and she has booked a home visit for my husband this coming Wednesday after giving advice and checking his hospital notes as we talked.
After all the bad press about GP appointments I was pleasantly surprised that I was offered the phone appointment and then the home visit - the 45 minutes waiting was worth it in this case.
I know it isn’t the same in all surgeries but I thought I would give credit where credit is due here.
Well its good that you got an appointment with your GP Margaret, but I first contacted my GP after being 30 in the queue and 15 weeks have gone by and I still haven’t seen him yet, I don’t even know what he looks like, I did get one phone call 7 days late.
I’m sorry to read that @susiejaeger it must be such a worry for you. I didn’t hold out much hope of seeing our GP when I rang but was really pleased by her response. I think much depends on the surgery they do seem to operate under their own rules.
Our surgery isn’t doing the boosters although they did the earlier vaccinations Ted. They do the flu jab on Saturdays. I would think that frees them up for appointments, either in person or by phone. Sadly my husband cannot get to the surgery for an appointment at the moment so I am glad he was offered a home visit.
Our local minor injuries unit (Mon to Fri) opens Saturdays now for C-19 vaccinations. Its not a full 2 miles away next to the ambulance hub and I’m hoping we can receive our boosters there this coming Saturday. We house a pair of nurse practitioners who run a team each there and if they cant wangle us a jab each, then we’ll just have to wrangle with the over stretched system.
Oh good, I’m glad you got an appointment in the end and it shows the system works at your surgery, sort of!
Ours has been brilliant all through the epidemic, you either phone in the morning or ask on AskmyGP and the doctor calls you back and arranges a face to face appointment if you need one
I’ve never not been seen or phoned back on the same day I contacted them and yes, the lines are busy in the morning but I’ve never had to hang on more than 20 minutes. I really appreciate them and I’m grateful
But it does seem to be very much luck of the draw and if your surgery is a good one. I’ve heard some awful stories and it must be very scary
My doc is the same except I’ve found that if I send an e-mail the night before, it is read before the surgery opens it’s phone lines at 8:30 and usually by 9-9:30 I’ve received an app time for a call back during the same afternoon, and during that call an assessment is made where if needed a face-to-face usually follows during that same week.
If your doc will not freely give you the surgery e-address, your area GP’s care commissioning group will. NHS England » CCG directory
I have now got a phone app but while waiting it’s says you can do it online if you have the app .
I have the app so went on it .
Needs a text code had to find the phone got code .
Put in text code
App opens
App gets stuck on opening page .
Look up what to do on Google
Reset
Open NHS app
Gets stuck on loading page again
I HATE technology
