Getting a GP appointment

[EBJ]

It's a merry go round that does not stop, you ring at 8am and there are 47 other people in front of you so how does that happen and when you op for a ring back they call and say not appointments ring again tomorrow and so the merry go round continues and you will never get an appointment. I have tried using the GP ap where you can make an appointment on line but our surgery does not support on line appointments, also phoned the local pharmacy as suggested as they now have extra powers re advice and medication but told MAKE A DOCTORS APPOINTMENT and so the merry go round goes on and you will never see a doctor again for the rest of your life unless you go by 999 to an A&E hospital.

[greenjack]

If you think it’s bad I’ve got news. It’s only going to get worse.

[twiglets]

If you provide a poor service, those with money will "buy" a better one- RIP the NHS
It seems they are forcing the issue- my wife rang up for an appointment for a particular ladies check- first you get a couple of minutes telling you to ring 999 if you are having a heart attack (like you're going to ring the doctors at this time)- you then get the spill "we are short of staff" (same message for a few years now not a one off)- we then place our bets on how far up the queue (its 1150 so not 0800) I go for 6,000,132 and she ended up at 3 (I wasn't that far off). Given a time for tomorrow lunchtime, so when you do get through there are humans that work there (that's unless they cancel tomorrow due to "unforeseen circumstances").

[Vera]

If you provide a poor service, those with money will "buy" a better one- RIP the NHS
It seems they are forcing the issue- my wife rang up for an appointment for a particular ladies check- first you get a couple of minutes telling you to ring 999 if you are having a heart attack (like you're going to ring the doctors at this time)- you then get the spill "we are short of staff" (same message for a few years now not a one off)- we then place our bets on how far up the queue (its 1150 so not 0800) I go for 6,000,132 and she ended up at 3 (I wasn't that far off). Given a time for tomorrow lunchtime, so when you do get through there are humans that work there (that's unless they cancel tomorrow due to "unforeseen circumstances").

Or staff training...

[Maverick]

If you are not getting the service then you should be able to opt out.

The whole National Insurance set up is a joke. You qualify for full state pension after contributing for 35 years. So take a woman for example who left school at 16 and was in continual employment with no breaks for child care, she would max out at 51. Yet when she started out on the employment road she would have originally retired at 60 but the state have upped it to 67. So thats working for 7 years longer and contributing for 16 additional years without benefit.

......and yet we put up with it.

[Vera]

If you are not getting the service then you should be able to opt out.

The whole National Insurance set up is a joke. You qualify for full state pension after contributing for 35 years. So take a woman for example who left school at 16 and was in continual employment with no breaks for child care, she would max out at 51. Yet when she started out on the employment road she would have originally retired at 60 but the state have upped it to 67. So thats working for 7 years longer and contributing for 16 additional years without benefit.

......and yet we put up with it.

My sister is one of the WASPI women. she thought she was cruising to retirement having more than paid her dues at 60 then all of a sudden, BAM! sorry it's now 67...

When I started work NI was a small proportion of my wage packet, now it's almost as much as income tax and the service provided is now vastly inferior from the NHS (no I do not blame the "workers" it's management and funding) and I have to work longer to get my pension which I have now paid up but must work for another 17 years extra with no additional benefit to me..

[Handyman]

"Short of staff" is a joke when it was recently announced that there are now 2 million working for the NHS, up 750,000 in 15 years. Maybe they need to employ people in the right areas.

I had to try and rearrange a medical appointment for my grandma a few months ago. Kept getting a message that the line was only manned 8:00-16:00 and it became apparent that it was not manned at all when I tried all day. Then they moan that people don't turn up for appointments/don't cancel if they can't make them.

[eebagum]

I must be lucky. If I ring today I'm almost certain I will get an appointment at some point today. Or use the online booking service. And if I can't make it always cancel it. Again no problems with a NHS dentist appointment for 6 months check up or for a emergency. Hopefully it will stay that way.

[Vera]

I must be lucky. If I ring today I'm almost certain I will get an appointment at some point today. Or use the online booking service. And if I can't make it always cancel it. Again no problems with a NHS dentist appointment for 6 months check up or for a emergency. Hopefully it will stay that way.

I'm guessing that you like Buffer are in more remote areas where the "economies of scale" have not caught up to you yet where they clump together doctors surgeries into Medical partnerships.

You are very lucky indeed to still have a doctors surgery which still works for the people that need it.

[Drone]

I was probably fortunate. I rang my GP surgery [ a week before the December C Word] at 08.30. I asked for appointment on the grounds that I had collapsed in the street the night before. By 10.15 that morning I was in the GP`s consulting room. I have nothing but praise for the care I have received at GP, hospital & community rehab level.