GP appointment times and delays

TenLeftFingers

I don't go to a GP often - maybe once every two years. Recently I've had to go twice and the appointed time seems to mean very little with most people in the waiting room waiting 30 minutes or more past that to be seen. They say they're "running behind". Is this common in Ireland or should I change to somewhere that runs their operation better?

ballsymchugh

GPs don't tend to know what is wrong with people until they walk into the surgery. some people take longer than the appointment time to deal with and so things run late.
there may be a time where you're the patient that takes more time than usual, and you wouldn't want to be rushed out the door so he/she can run more punctually.

DundalkDuffman

Top tip. Ask for the first appointment of the morning or afternoon where available.

TenLeftFingers

ballsymchugh wrote: »

GPs don't tend to know what is wrong with people until they walk into the surgery. some people take longer than the appointment time to deal with and so things run late.
there may be a time where you're the patient that takes more time than usual, and you wouldn't want to be rushed out the door so he/she can run more punctually.

I never said I wanted to rush or cut an appointment short on anybody. I'm asking if its common, which I think you're saying it is.

TenLeftFingers

DundalkDuffman wrote: »

Top tip. Ask for the first appointment of the morning or afternoon where available.

Ill remember that, thanks DundalkDuffman.

ballsymchugh

TenLeftFingers wrote: »

I never said I wanted to rush or cut an appointment short on anybody. I'm asking if its common, which I think you're saying it is.

i don't know. every day is different. i work in an appointment based area too. sometimes i run over and keep people waiting a lot longer than 30 mins, but shít happens, and most people realise that it's not going to happen all the time.

Mizuno Man

I lived in the UK for a while and had to visit a GP once or twice. The first time, the only appointment left was 4:50pm. I thought to myself how irritating it is going to be to get there at 4:45 and wait around for an hour or two because they are running behind like at home!!

I got there at 4:45, registered, and heard my name called out 5 minutes later. I could not believe it! Same thing second time around after that.

In Ireland I have had an appointment at 9:30 for a surgery that opened at 9:00 and had to wait till about 10:15 after being told they were running behind. How do you get to an 45 mins behind when you are only open for 30 minutes at that stage!??!

Worst I have ever had was a 5pm appointment and I left the surgery at 8:15.

In my own, uneducated and entirely ignorant opinion, it seems that the difference is that in Ireland the GP makes more money if they can see more patients (or should it be patience?). In the UK my understanding was that they get the same amount for the days work as everything is covered/subsidised by the NHS.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Yeah, its common here, and brutal.

L1011

Mizuno Man wrote: »

In my own, uneducated and entirely ignorant opinion, it seems that the difference is that in Ireland the GP makes more money if they can see more patients (or should it be patience?).

Only if they're private patients.

echo beach

Mizuno Man wrote: »

In my own, uneducated and entirely ignorant opinion, it seems that the difference is that in Ireland the GP makes more money if they can see more patients (or should it be patience?). In the UK my understanding was that they get the same amount for the days work as everything is covered/subsidised by the NHS.

From my limited experience of GP services here and in NI, it seems that in the UK General Practice is much better resourced in terms of practice nurses, receptionists, etc to make things run more smoothly but it is a much less 'personal' service. They may run on time but once your time is up you are out, often passed to a nurse or a a Health Care Assistant, who as far as I can gather has very little formal training.
Here the more popular GPs, the ones everybody wants to see and don't mind waiting for, always seem to be hours behind because they are looking at the patient, not at a stopwatch.

sam34

Mizuno Man wrote: »

In Ireland I have had an appointment at 9:30 for a surgery that opened at 9:00 and had to wait till about 10:15 after being told they were running behind. How do you get to an 45 mins behind when you are only open for 30 minutes at that stage!??.

maybe because the GP had to do an urgent home visit before the surgery, or a nursing home call. or perhaps the Garda station called about someone in custody who had become unwell. or perhaps the GP was on the phone to hospital, taking an urgent call. or maybe trying to arrange an involuntary admission under the mental health act. maybe the patient who was first in to see the doctor was seriously unwell and needed longer than the allotted time. maybe they did a home visit to certify the death of an elderly person and spent some time with the grieving family. maybe they were trying to track down a patient after having gotten blood results that needed to be followed up urgently.

or else they were having coffee, playing sudoku and ignoring the people in the waiting room.

TenLeftFingers

I went back today and was waiting an hour. As Mizuno Man said, on both occasions the appointments were given to me only an hour in advance so how they managed to be so off I don't know. I was very irritated when I was called but the doc apologised and said that some of the cases he had today "grew legs". He was very attentive and gave me a lot of time to talk about history of symptoms with other family members and to ask him questions. I couldn't have been happier with him once I actually got in.

dissed doc

Mizuno Man wrote: »

In my own, uneducated and entirely ignorant opinion, it seems that the difference is that in Ireland the GP makes more money if they can see more patients (or should it be patience?). In the UK my understanding was that they get the same amount for the days work as everything is covered/subsidised by the NHS.

What is actually happening is that the Irish GP can make up the cost of the medical card holders by seeing more patients who pay cash (i.e., the regular taxpayer who has no access to a medical card). The medical card patients are a net cost as the state pays too little.