No available appointments this week!

sheriff2

Tried to book an appointment for our little fella (14 months) and was told there are no available appointments this week.

Is this the norm - seems a joke. If your sick your sick, not many people can book a doctor a week in advance.

Mrs OBumble

sheriff2 wrote: »

Tried to book an appointment for our little fella (14 months) and was told there are no available appointments this week.

Is this the norm - seems a joke. If your sick your sick, not many people can book a doctor a week in advance.

Increasingly. Some appointments can be booked weeks in advance (eg contraception reviews, driving license medicals, well-child checks). Even if not too many of these are booked, all remaining appointments can fill up very quickly.

Options:

1) Ask if there's a waiting list for cancellations.

2) if he's very sick, or you're very concerned, say "Ok, can I have a referral to A&E please" - they'll either give it (so the hospital won't charge) or will find a slot. Tedious 'cos you'll have to face A&E, but it's the way to see a doctor today.

3) Ring after the surgery is closed, and get the number for their after-hours group. Ring that - you should get an appointment with someone tonight. But it will cost more.

Vorsprung

I’d echo those suggestions.

I hope this doesn’t sound too crass but you need to complain to your local TDs.

Years of primary care mismanagement has led to a situation where there aren’t enough GPs to cover our population, and in many towns, and in the entire county of Monaghan, GPs are unable to take on new patients due to workload.