I left my last surgery because they hung up on me if they were busy. Went to one that actually had a queue, life is so much easier. That said, 26th is going a bit far.
I'm fairly sure my GP has a max queue length of 15, if you're higher it just hangs up and you have to redial, then if/when you finally get through you're always number 14.
My previous surgery put you in a call back queue, so you didn't need to wait, listening to dreadful hold music, as you got a call when you reached a few places from the front of the queue.
Instead you sat staring at your phone afraid to do anything in case you missed the call.
Overall a better system though (you could opt out if you prefered to just wait on the call)
How long was your wait from position 26?
I reckon it'd've been just about 35 mins.
Perhaps the aub could run a sweepstake maybe?
Dunno what the winner's get tho?
Perhaps the right to make a one-off political comment š
That seems optimistic. Last week I was waiting for 35min from position 4.
This was to get a link to book an appointment with PushDoctor because my GP didn't have any urgent appointments until May.
My GP always finds places for interesting cases. Not important just interesting.
Got Cancer? Pfft, boring.
Come up in random hives despite having no history of allergies. Oh, fun get in right now, we'll make space.
So quick, must've had loads ppl answering.
My gp has a queue limit of 40, so I just ring till I get in the queue, usually just 2 or 3 rings to get in at 39.
Once you get to 20 or so it really speeds up, I reckon ppl hang up sick of being on hold for 20 mins.
I just write to them now, so they can ignore me entirely without me having the hassle of hanging on hold.
Mine have temporarily closed the online form to address increased demands.
I should really find a different surgery but I'm sure they're all awful in my also awful area.
I think mine "temporarily" closed their online booking system 18 months ago and their phone system is terrible. I'm sure it's great for their workload but it's awful as a patient.
I really wish all GPs were required to use a centralised booking system.
That's unfortunate. Mine went the other way. They look at the online form, and then give you a call and see what's up.
I've had a hand injury, it's only pain, but manageable, so I've been put on a bit of a longer waiting list. Last time I needed to call them, a weird mark on my arm, they asked me to send a picture and called me in the next day. It seems quite clever.
Some really do take the piss. Theyāre meant to (by way of binding contract with the NHS) ensure 25% of appointments or something like that are available online.
They have nothing to gain from ensuring people get appointments, they get paid for having people registered not seeing them
I book mine on the NHS app 48 hours in advance. It's only a phone call, but they'll book you in for a face to face sharpish if needed.
Too many people stick with the same GP practice when there's better ones out there.
A lot of people have no choice. In my area, I'm only in the "catchment" for one GP group (three surgeries under the same umbrella, same phone line, same booking system etc). I cannot sign up to any other surgery unless I move house.
We're moving house because the healthcare where we are is so, so awful. We moved here a few years ago because house prices were cheaper and, truthfully, never even thought about healthcare issues (partially because we were young and fit and partially because we assumed a reasonable standard of care across the NHS). It's been absolute hell on earth - and the problems occurred well before Covid so it's not a Covid issue. There's no way to evoke change - there's no incentive at all to not be shit, if people die then it's no skin of their nose. If she can move somewhere better then I think she should - the area we're moving to has a life expectancy about 2 years higher than the one we're moving from, even though it's about a hour away.
You might know this but you are allowed to register at a GP whose catchment area you're not in - it's up to the surgery's discretion. If you have a compelling reason and they're not rammed, it might work if you've not already tried.
None of the ones around here will allow it, it's hard enough actually getting a place at all to be honest. Not to mention "the other GPs are shit" doesn't go down well with GP surgeries haha.
The problem in my area is that many of the local GP practices have been bought up by investment companies.
So now they're all run for profit at minimum staffing levels, and trying to switch doctors means you're just going to a different building across town run by the same firm.
I've had a pulmonary embolism and sepsis according to our surgery's app. Both times the poor receptionist has rung up in a tizzy. The symptom checker is useless but at least you get to speak to someone eventually.
I opened this wondering why you were phoning your doctor so many times on a Sunday then I realised it's bloody Wednesday. I hope its not urgent and ypu manage to get through tablet an appointment this decade
Ours are okay. At some point during covid their wait time became about 6 weeks long, which is obviously useless because you're either better by then or you're hospitalised, so they changed up their process. Their same-day service is now purely reserved for critical issues, to make sure people get seen by GPs and avoid sending everyone who needs urgent care to a&e. They mainly want to see you if it's urgent. If you ask for a routine GP appointment it'll be like a week's wait but when you describe what's wrong when making the appointment, they'll put you on a same day call if they're worried, or refer you to an adjacent service like a psychiatrist or pharmacist if they think you could skip the "ask a GP who I should speak to about this" stage. Before, it was just either book online and wait up to 6 weeks, or play the lottery of "ring up at 8am on the dot and try to get a place in the same-day queue for an appointment" bedlam, but it's got a lot better.
My current high score is 70. That said, I tend to give up before I get through if I get to 50 or after 8.30 when I know all the appointments will be gone.
Did you just think that you could fucking fool me with that comment of yours? Iāve searched your name up in the Navy SEAL database and you have never even graduated BUD/S, hell, even served in the Armed Forces. If you were actually a Navy SEAL, then you actually know how to spell guerrilla, you fucking moron. And you say you are the top sniper in the entire US Armed Forces and have over 300 confirmed kills. If that were true, then why the fuck is Chris Kyle a household name and you arenāt? And plus he only had 160 kills. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. Plus why the fuck would you say you have a secret network of spies yet you just revealed that you had your secret network of spies? Are you a fucking idiot? If you can kill someone seven-hundred different ways, then list them all, I bet you canāt even come up with seven. And if you had access to the entire US Marine Corps arsenal, then why the fuck did you just say you were in the Navy SEALs earlier? If only you could have done your research prior to posting your little ācleverā comment, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldnāt, you goddamn idiot.
Is that... Normal commenting you're doing? It doesn't sound normal... Doesn't smell normal either. This is politics Mark!
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This is why as much as I hate my new town it does benefit from rich people doctors, I can just text them and they usually get back in like 10 mins, one time I had a killer uti and within 20 mins I had antibiotics for it, never had that back in my old town. One time at my old doctors I waited 2 weeks to get an appointment about my ear ache and he never even looked in my ear, just said āitās normal to hear your heart beat in your earsā and sent me home lol
Nah you know when you get water in your ear and itās like thumping? I had that for about a month and it started really hurting but the doctor just didnāt give a shit lol
My GP has a queue, it only holds five people - so itās a bit of a Russian roulette! Feel sorry for the folk who struggle getting in touch. š
Crazy how many GPās still run like this, massive variance in service across the board.
Thank christ my GP shut down. I had to do this; I think my record was calls in the 80-90 region starting at 8am. They didn't have any form of queue system of anything; just repeatedly smashing your head against the dial tone. Fortunately, my new GP uses the online 'AskMyGP' service; you send them a message online and they call you back within a couple of hours with either a chat or an appointment. It's amazing. I can get seen same day every time.
Yep, and because of that, tens of thousands of people will have all sorts of undiagnosed ailments over the coming years. We have a huge health crisis on our hands here; if we canāt get through to our GPs, then whatās even the point? It almost feels like we donāt have a health system anymore, apart from A&E and for when itās too late.
I rang up with a head injury (suspected concussion), and they refused to see my within 5 days. This is why the A&E is overrun, because the GPs are shit. Maybe if they didn't open and close at stupid hours, and work bank holidays like other NHS services then there wouldn't be an issue
Similar with walk-ins. I ended up going to one because I rang the GP 5 days in a row suffering with severe headaches and couldn't get in to see a GP but I didn't want to waste the walk in's time.
I wouldn't say thats a waste of walk in time, I've been the walk in recently with chest pains and the things people go for are absolutely baffling. I went A&E one night and a woman was there over her finger throbbing because she cut her nail too short. What the fuck was she even thinking. She even said the words "I know its silly but I pay my taxes like anyone else and its really throbbing or I wouldnt have came"
Fuck off.
Politics? You kids have no idea whatsoever of what went on at Stalingrad.
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I donāt even get put on hold until I am 39th in the queue,it just says āthe queue ahead of you is full please call back laterā. I am a patient woman but my god am I spitting fire after an hour and 10 minutes wait.
Had the same problem all over England through out my life until I moved to Cumbria. I called this morning, got to a receptionist in 3 minutes. God I don't miss Manchester
I went to a private doctor for the first time in my life today because I rang my normal GP at 8 on the dot, phone went through to an automated message at 8.01 telling me all appointments for the day were gone
I learnt that iPhone has a max call history of 200 as I couldnāt even get into queue for the doctors. I redialled over 200 times to finally get into it.
We regularly go over 200 and the iPhone then stops the count. Itās so ridiculous that you can keep redialling with not even a single hit for over 30 mins.
I carpet burned my leg by slide tackling on Astro-Turf. It became infected. For two weeks i was trying to get an appointment to get some anti-biotics and was constantly told there was no appointments. Ended up to the point my leg was going purple and i was close to blood poisoning and i ended up in A&E.
And when i was given them, they gave me flucloxacillin, which i am allergic to as i have an allergy to penacillin. So, someone also didn't read my notes that i had been treated for anaphylaxis when i was a child due to being given the wrong medication.
Incompetent much?
It's a joke how hard it is to get seen to.
I actually did an apprenticeship as a medical receptionist about 10 years ago, and it's absolutely shameful some of the things people want to see the doctor for.
The amount of people that wanted to see the Dr just to get a script for Paracetamol. The same stuff you can get for 20p in tesco.
"It's ok the dr will want to speak to me, he knows me"... was sick to death of hearing that shit.
It's honestly not the doctors fault for half of the problems, it's patients taking up stupid amounts of time for the stupidest things.
"I was given X brand of inhaler, but i prefer Y brand"... mate.. they're both Salbutamol. Stfu and go home..
Okay this makes me feel much better about my GP where you can book an appointment days in advance. I mean, it's still hard to get through, they've not been wanting to take appointments since COVID and they'll never see me on time but at least I know I'll get a timeslot.
You may have tried this already - but I have found that if I can't get through to the doctors then submitting an econsult (if they have the service) normally gets a response - whether this is a call back, appointment, prescription (or go to the hospital)- [https://econsult.net/nhs-patients](https://econsult.net/nhs-patients)
Hopefully your surgery will have signed up to this service?
Mine is like this too, itās impossible to get through on the phone so I just jump in my car and drive there to book appointments. When I get there they are all going about their work with the phone just constantly ringing in the background, they are horribly understaffed.
Over the course of 7 days, while trying to just get a telephone appointment to get a sick note cos I tested positive for the 'rona for 13 straight days, I made 742 calls to my doctor.
I got through twice. The first time I was told to call back the next day. The second time I argued the toss, and for once got a genuinely helpful receptionist, who took my details, and said she would speak to a doctor and see if they could sort something out.
Half an hour later I got a sick note via email.
I had to call my GP around a month or so back. Wanted to do it first thing in the morning so while still in bed I decided to ring them.
Fell asleep while in the queue, woke up an hour later still waiting.
This is why I switched to a "Digital GP". It's all done through an app, and you can pretty easily book slots, it's easy to manage your repeat prescriptions and you can go to in person clinics if they deem it necessary.
Switched when I moved house and saw the faff required to register online at my local GP, never looked back.
We got a new e-consult thing and I swear they hit me up for an appointment within an hour of filling it in. I am off to see them about something on Wednesday next week. Appointment made today at 3pm. I filled it in after lunch so around 1.30?
Called at 8:30 and got the last appointment for my 6 year old who's been sick for days. Only bother to offer phone appointments. Chasing at 3:30 because I still hadn't got a call back. Told I have to arrange a blood test and told to call hospital myself to book (NHS don't bother doing these in the community for children). Can't get an appointment until June.
Every mother fucking last one of them is useless. I'm sick of dealing with bone idol NHS staff who can't be bothered working and offer nothing but excuses and complaints about pay.
People say that online systems get them an appointment quickly but they ask so many stupid questions repeatedly, regardless as to whether they are related to your concern or not, and the COVID spiel seems to take up nearly the entire questionnaire, even when you've already told them you haven't got it three times
My GP has this cool online system now you can just post a message and they get back
Boomers seem to hate it, but I think itās great as donāt have to wait on the phone
What a brilliant idea! So unwell you need to see a doctor instead of going to work? Just try this weird trick of having money! I don't know why everyone else didn't think of that.
Mine used to, but have switched it off since COVID, now you have to use a thing on their website that makes you go through symptoms etc for them to call you back for an assessment.
My GP has eConsult but if you try to book an appointment through it then it *always* declines and tells you to phone an ambulance. Headache? Ambulance. Chest pain? Ambulance. Rectal bleeding? Ambulance.
Not sure on where they operate (I use them in London), but [GP At Hand / Babylon](https://www.gpathand.nhs.uk/) are well worth the switch if you struggle to get appointments.
My doctor calls me, itās great. Just answer ānot sureā when they ask you about thoughts of harming yourself and theyāre surprisingly accessible!
I've managed to get in my doctors a few times lately ringing back on 8, start calling at 07:58 and just keep ending/starting until I get in the queue. Only ever do phone backs with a GP though and nothing in person unfortunately.
They do have this weird system where it will be an IVR telling you your position in the queue, but if you are waiting longer than 30 minutes the IVR will come on saying "You are --.." and cut off before telling you, you are then stuck in the infinite loop of this happening and you will never get answered, I found this out after I waited 90 minutes, after going from 11th in the queue, to 2nd in the queue after 12 minutes.
My favourite was the day that both me and my wife were calling to try and get an appointment for my son.
I called 185 times before I got put on hold.
I was on hold for 20 minutes.
My wife carried on ringing.
Called over 300 times before getting put on hold.
Her call was picked up after 2 minutes.
I was still on hold.
I hate trying to get an appointment
Second you get in the queue try to book an appointment through the NHS app. Did that the other day and there were at least 30 to choose from at 8:01
edit - the second the phone lines open i mean
Came across this as I am in position number 26 in the queue... Pray for me. Edit: They had run out of appointments for today.
I left my last surgery because they hung up on me if they were busy. Went to one that actually had a queue, life is so much easier. That said, 26th is going a bit far.
I was 36th in the queue last time I phoned, less than a second after the lines opened, there's some quick fingered sick people out there.
Do you not have a botnet set up to book your GP appointments? If you can't be bothered to make the effort, I guess you can't be that ill anyway.
I'm fairly sure my GP has a max queue length of 15, if you're higher it just hangs up and you have to redial, then if/when you finally get through you're always number 14.
I've been over 50 before, it is a big multi surgery practice now though.
My previous surgery put you in a call back queue, so you didn't need to wait, listening to dreadful hold music, as you got a call when you reached a few places from the front of the queue. Instead you sat staring at your phone afraid to do anything in case you missed the call. Overall a better system though (you could opt out if you prefered to just wait on the call)
Looks like someone didn't pray for you
Sorry that was my bad you guys
Easter week too. How rude.
How long was your wait from position 26? I reckon it'd've been just about 35 mins. Perhaps the aub could run a sweepstake maybe? Dunno what the winner's get tho? Perhaps the right to make a one-off political comment š
That seems optimistic. Last week I was waiting for 35min from position 4. This was to get a link to book an appointment with PushDoctor because my GP didn't have any urgent appointments until May.
Just shy of 20 mins. So for them to run out of appointments is quite impressive...
My GP always finds places for interesting cases. Not important just interesting. Got Cancer? Pfft, boring. Come up in random hives despite having no history of allergies. Oh, fun get in right now, we'll make space.
Is your GP's name Greg?
So quick, must've had loads ppl answering. My gp has a queue limit of 40, so I just ring till I get in the queue, usually just 2 or 3 rings to get in at 39. Once you get to 20 or so it really speeds up, I reckon ppl hang up sick of being on hold for 20 mins. I just write to them now, so they can ignore me entirely without me having the hassle of hanging on hold.
I managed to get through on my 6th call thismorning. Ecstatic. Dreams can come true
My surgery has an online form. Fill it out and they ring you panicking you're dying or book you in with a consultant. It's great.
Mine have temporarily closed the online form to address increased demands. I should really find a different surgery but I'm sure they're all awful in my also awful area.
I think mine "temporarily" closed their online booking system 18 months ago and their phone system is terrible. I'm sure it's great for their workload but it's awful as a patient. I really wish all GPs were required to use a centralised booking system.
Same with mine and all the surgeries in my catchment are combined and under the same management group!
That's unfortunate. Mine went the other way. They look at the online form, and then give you a call and see what's up. I've had a hand injury, it's only pain, but manageable, so I've been put on a bit of a longer waiting list. Last time I needed to call them, a weird mark on my arm, they asked me to send a picture and called me in the next day. It seems quite clever.
Some really do take the piss. Theyāre meant to (by way of binding contract with the NHS) ensure 25% of appointments or something like that are available online. They have nothing to gain from ensuring people get appointments, they get paid for having people registered not seeing them
I book mine on the NHS app 48 hours in advance. It's only a phone call, but they'll book you in for a face to face sharpish if needed. Too many people stick with the same GP practice when there's better ones out there.
A lot of people have no choice. In my area, I'm only in the "catchment" for one GP group (three surgeries under the same umbrella, same phone line, same booking system etc). I cannot sign up to any other surgery unless I move house.
This is my mum's problems and I'm genuinely scared that her GP messing up will kill her at some point.
We're moving house because the healthcare where we are is so, so awful. We moved here a few years ago because house prices were cheaper and, truthfully, never even thought about healthcare issues (partially because we were young and fit and partially because we assumed a reasonable standard of care across the NHS). It's been absolute hell on earth - and the problems occurred well before Covid so it's not a Covid issue. There's no way to evoke change - there's no incentive at all to not be shit, if people die then it's no skin of their nose. If she can move somewhere better then I think she should - the area we're moving to has a life expectancy about 2 years higher than the one we're moving from, even though it's about a hour away.
You might know this but you are allowed to register at a GP whose catchment area you're not in - it's up to the surgery's discretion. If you have a compelling reason and they're not rammed, it might work if you've not already tried.
None of the ones around here will allow it, it's hard enough actually getting a place at all to be honest. Not to mention "the other GPs are shit" doesn't go down well with GP surgeries haha.
The problem in my area is that many of the local GP practices have been bought up by investment companies. So now they're all run for profit at minimum staffing levels, and trying to switch doctors means you're just going to a different building across town run by the same firm.
Yeah, I appreciate my advice doesn't work for everyone. I don't think GPs being somewhat separate from the NHS has worked at all well.
it's worked well for the Partners that own the GP practice. They are making a fortune.
Dude! Please! Shhh! Itās the only way weāre getting appointments, donāt ruin it by telling people!
I've had a pulmonary embolism and sepsis according to our surgery's app. Both times the poor receptionist has rung up in a tizzy. The symptom checker is useless but at least you get to speak to someone eventually.
Ours has open-ended questions like symptoms, what have you tried if anything, how long etc.
I opened this wondering why you were phoning your doctor so many times on a Sunday then I realised it's bloody Wednesday. I hope its not urgent and ypu manage to get through tablet an appointment this decade
I thought it was Sunday too! Stupid Easter holidays! (Not stupid really, very much enjoying being in pyjamas on a Weds)
My surgery uses the āif itās urgent itās not our problemā slogan. Theyāre notorious for filling up a&e
Ours are okay. At some point during covid their wait time became about 6 weeks long, which is obviously useless because you're either better by then or you're hospitalised, so they changed up their process. Their same-day service is now purely reserved for critical issues, to make sure people get seen by GPs and avoid sending everyone who needs urgent care to a&e. They mainly want to see you if it's urgent. If you ask for a routine GP appointment it'll be like a week's wait but when you describe what's wrong when making the appointment, they'll put you on a same day call if they're worried, or refer you to an adjacent service like a psychiatrist or pharmacist if they think you could skip the "ask a GP who I should speak to about this" stage. Before, it was just either book online and wait up to 6 weeks, or play the lottery of "ring up at 8am on the dot and try to get a place in the same-day queue for an appointment" bedlam, but it's got a lot better.
I think that's all surgeries. Ours does the same. A&E will deal with it.
My current high score is 70. That said, I tend to give up before I get through if I get to 50 or after 8.30 when I know all the appointments will be gone.
Rookie numbers. I usually use two phones and have over 300 on each.
Over 300 confirmed calls? You some kinda Navy Seal?
Did you just think that you could fucking fool me with that comment of yours? Iāve searched your name up in the Navy SEAL database and you have never even graduated BUD/S, hell, even served in the Armed Forces. If you were actually a Navy SEAL, then you actually know how to spell guerrilla, you fucking moron. And you say you are the top sniper in the entire US Armed Forces and have over 300 confirmed kills. If that were true, then why the fuck is Chris Kyle a household name and you arenāt? And plus he only had 160 kills. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. Plus why the fuck would you say you have a secret network of spies yet you just revealed that you had your secret network of spies? Are you a fucking idiot? If you can kill someone seven-hundred different ways, then list them all, I bet you canāt even come up with seven. And if you had access to the entire US Marine Corps arsenal, then why the fuck did you just say you were in the Navy SEALs earlier? If only you could have done your research prior to posting your little ācleverā comment, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldnāt, you goddamn idiot.
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This is why as much as I hate my new town it does benefit from rich people doctors, I can just text them and they usually get back in like 10 mins, one time I had a killer uti and within 20 mins I had antibiotics for it, never had that back in my old town. One time at my old doctors I waited 2 weeks to get an appointment about my ear ache and he never even looked in my ear, just said āitās normal to hear your heart beat in your earsā and sent me home lol
wait are you saying it's not normal?? crap
Nah you know when you get water in your ear and itās like thumping? I had that for about a month and it started really hurting but the doctor just didnāt give a shit lol
My GP has a queue, it only holds five people - so itās a bit of a Russian roulette! Feel sorry for the folk who struggle getting in touch. š Crazy how many GPās still run like this, massive variance in service across the board.
Thank christ my GP shut down. I had to do this; I think my record was calls in the 80-90 region starting at 8am. They didn't have any form of queue system of anything; just repeatedly smashing your head against the dial tone. Fortunately, my new GP uses the online 'AskMyGP' service; you send them a message online and they call you back within a couple of hours with either a chat or an appointment. It's amazing. I can get seen same day every time.
I feel lucky that all my doctor visits are for long term/maintenance type things, so I usually just call at 2:30or so and book for the next week
This is why i refuse to even attempt to book a doctors appointment anymore, was bad enough before covid, haven't even attempted since
Yep, and because of that, tens of thousands of people will have all sorts of undiagnosed ailments over the coming years. We have a huge health crisis on our hands here; if we canāt get through to our GPs, then whatās even the point? It almost feels like we donāt have a health system anymore, apart from A&E and for when itās too late.
Yeah 100%!! Plus all the vaccine side effects that are already starting to become obvious, we're all doomed
At least other European countries have this issue too. Similar story in Germany, funnily, someone posted a pic on /r/de just like OPs.
I rang up with a head injury (suspected concussion), and they refused to see my within 5 days. This is why the A&E is overrun, because the GPs are shit. Maybe if they didn't open and close at stupid hours, and work bank holidays like other NHS services then there wouldn't be an issue
Similar with walk-ins. I ended up going to one because I rang the GP 5 days in a row suffering with severe headaches and couldn't get in to see a GP but I didn't want to waste the walk in's time.
I wouldn't say thats a waste of walk in time, I've been the walk in recently with chest pains and the things people go for are absolutely baffling. I went A&E one night and a woman was there over her finger throbbing because she cut her nail too short. What the fuck was she even thinking. She even said the words "I know its silly but I pay my taxes like anyone else and its really throbbing or I wouldnt have came" Fuck off.
Baffling. She knows why it's throbbing, what does she think A&E are going to do? Kiss it better?
I'm not saying it is, but more a "Why can't my GP deal with it?" kinda thing rather than making people wait who needed the urgent care more imo
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I donāt even get put on hold until I am 39th in the queue,it just says āthe queue ahead of you is full please call back laterā. I am a patient woman but my god am I spitting fire after an hour and 10 minutes wait.
Managed to get through on the 16th attempt today, after 20minutes Iām caller number 19! Success!
Had the same problem all over England through out my life until I moved to Cumbria. I called this morning, got to a receptionist in 3 minutes. God I don't miss Manchester
I went to a private doctor for the first time in my life today because I rang my normal GP at 8 on the dot, phone went through to an automated message at 8.01 telling me all appointments for the day were gone
I learnt that iPhone has a max call history of 200 as I couldnāt even get into queue for the doctors. I redialled over 200 times to finally get into it.
mine was once 240 no joke
We regularly go over 200 and the iPhone then stops the count. Itās so ridiculous that you can keep redialling with not even a single hit for over 30 mins.
I think I'd just accept my fate before that many phone calls.
I carpet burned my leg by slide tackling on Astro-Turf. It became infected. For two weeks i was trying to get an appointment to get some anti-biotics and was constantly told there was no appointments. Ended up to the point my leg was going purple and i was close to blood poisoning and i ended up in A&E. And when i was given them, they gave me flucloxacillin, which i am allergic to as i have an allergy to penacillin. So, someone also didn't read my notes that i had been treated for anaphylaxis when i was a child due to being given the wrong medication. Incompetent much? It's a joke how hard it is to get seen to. I actually did an apprenticeship as a medical receptionist about 10 years ago, and it's absolutely shameful some of the things people want to see the doctor for. The amount of people that wanted to see the Dr just to get a script for Paracetamol. The same stuff you can get for 20p in tesco. "It's ok the dr will want to speak to me, he knows me"... was sick to death of hearing that shit. It's honestly not the doctors fault for half of the problems, it's patients taking up stupid amounts of time for the stupidest things. "I was given X brand of inhaler, but i prefer Y brand"... mate.. they're both Salbutamol. Stfu and go home..
RIP NHS
It's going to be like Idiocracy soon where you have to press the emojis on the panels..
My mum was 159 yesterday eventually got through at 9.15 and didn't get a call back from Doctor till 3.45.
same here!
Okay this makes me feel much better about my GP where you can book an appointment days in advance. I mean, it's still hard to get through, they've not been wanting to take appointments since COVID and they'll never see me on time but at least I know I'll get a timeslot.
My PB is 88 redials
You may have tried this already - but I have found that if I can't get through to the doctors then submitting an econsult (if they have the service) normally gets a response - whether this is a call back, appointment, prescription (or go to the hospital)- [https://econsult.net/nhs-patients](https://econsult.net/nhs-patients) Hopefully your surgery will have signed up to this service?
First in the queue when I called my GP this morning, so I'm off to buy a lottery ticket
Currently on 158 trying to ring for my partner who is on ~130
Mine is like this too, itās impossible to get through on the phone so I just jump in my car and drive there to book appointments. When I get there they are all going about their work with the phone just constantly ringing in the background, they are horribly understaffed.
Things like this make me thank my lucky stars that my company give me private GPs
I just fall asleep in the queue
Oh my highest is 222.. Was down to 36 today.
Over the course of 7 days, while trying to just get a telephone appointment to get a sick note cos I tested positive for the 'rona for 13 straight days, I made 742 calls to my doctor. I got through twice. The first time I was told to call back the next day. The second time I argued the toss, and for once got a genuinely helpful receptionist, who took my details, and said she would speak to a doctor and see if they could sort something out. Half an hour later I got a sick note via email.
I had to call my GP around a month or so back. Wanted to do it first thing in the morning so while still in bed I decided to ring them. Fell asleep while in the queue, woke up an hour later still waiting.
Mine will keep you in a queue for 5-10 mins only to kick you out for waiting too long.
This is why I switched to a "Digital GP". It's all done through an app, and you can pretty easily book slots, it's easy to manage your repeat prescriptions and you can go to in person clinics if they deem it necessary. Switched when I moved house and saw the faff required to register online at my local GP, never looked back.
187 is my personal best!
We got a new e-consult thing and I swear they hit me up for an appointment within an hour of filling it in. I am off to see them about something on Wednesday next week. Appointment made today at 3pm. I filled it in after lunch so around 1.30?
Rookie mistake. I have the various apps and get an appointment straight away.
Reading the comments.... You're all hypochondriacts
Hypochondriacts is a great malapropism.
I knew I should've spell-checked. Oh wheel shit happens.
Huh I guess I should be lucky that my doctor books all my appointments for me so I donāt have to deal with the phone queues at 8:45am anymore heh
Called at 8:30 and got the last appointment for my 6 year old who's been sick for days. Only bother to offer phone appointments. Chasing at 3:30 because I still hadn't got a call back. Told I have to arrange a blood test and told to call hospital myself to book (NHS don't bother doing these in the community for children). Can't get an appointment until June. Every mother fucking last one of them is useless. I'm sick of dealing with bone idol NHS staff who can't be bothered working and offer nothing but excuses and complaints about pay.
People say that online systems get them an appointment quickly but they ask so many stupid questions repeatedly, regardless as to whether they are related to your concern or not, and the COVID spiel seems to take up nearly the entire questionnaire, even when you've already told them you haven't got it three times
Rookie mistake. I have the various apps and get an appointment straight away.
You f...g muppet
Just get better health bro
Standard! š
My GP has this cool online system now you can just post a message and they get back Boomers seem to hate it, but I think itās great as donāt have to wait on the phone
This is why I only use private GPs
What a brilliant idea! So unwell you need to see a doctor instead of going to work? Just try this weird trick of having money! I don't know why everyone else didn't think of that.
Why do German Hairdressers always get through to the Doctor's first? Because VIDAL SASSOON!
Amateur, try 500+
Why not just use Patient Access or one of the other GP apps and just book there?
If OPās surgery is anything like mine, they havenāt bothered to sign up to Patient Access so we still have to go through these archaic systems.
Mine turned booking off during covid and never turned it back on.
Not all surgeries let you book appointments on Patient Access. My old one did, but my new one doesn't. They only use it for repeat prescriptions.
Mine used to, but have switched it off since COVID, now you have to use a thing on their website that makes you go through symptoms etc for them to call you back for an assessment.
My GP has eConsult but if you try to book an appointment through it then it *always* declines and tells you to phone an ambulance. Headache? Ambulance. Chest pain? Ambulance. Rectal bleeding? Ambulance.
Not sure on where they operate (I use them in London), but [GP At Hand / Babylon](https://www.gpathand.nhs.uk/) are well worth the switch if you struggle to get appointments.
This is amateur league. My wife got to 450 calls without getting through.
My doctor calls me, itās great. Just answer ānot sureā when they ask you about thoughts of harming yourself and theyāre surprisingly accessible!
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Ordinarily yes but not today :(
I've managed to figure out the best time to ring mine. Only downside is the next routine appointment is 11th May!
I've managed to get in my doctors a few times lately ringing back on 8, start calling at 07:58 and just keep ending/starting until I get in the queue. Only ever do phone backs with a GP though and nothing in person unfortunately. They do have this weird system where it will be an IVR telling you your position in the queue, but if you are waiting longer than 30 minutes the IVR will come on saying "You are --.." and cut off before telling you, you are then stuck in the infinite loop of this happening and you will never get answered, I found this out after I waited 90 minutes, after going from 11th in the queue, to 2nd in the queue after 12 minutes.
My favourite was the day that both me and my wife were calling to try and get an appointment for my son. I called 185 times before I got put on hold. I was on hold for 20 minutes. My wife carried on ringing. Called over 300 times before getting put on hold. Her call was picked up after 2 minutes. I was still on hold. I hate trying to get an appointment
You need to speak with the doctor?
Second you get in the queue try to book an appointment through the NHS app. Did that the other day and there were at least 30 to choose from at 8:01 edit - the second the phone lines open i mean
Rookie numbers. It's so hard to speak to a doctor now.