GP Wait Times - your experience please….

We can sometimes get same day appointments but it can be the next day, depending on when we phone in. It's a large practice in a large town, with three doctors and three nurses. If you were in urgent need they'll usually fit you in within a few hours.

Re a private women’s health clinic, last autumn I had a complex and very unusual situation, and approached the clinic, describing my situation in a detailed email. It was triaged by a gynae nurse specialist who got me quickly to see the consultant best suited to my predicament, and my goodness was he insightful and quickly told me the bad experience I had in a public hospital was due to their failure to perform an ultrasound ahead of a hysteroscopy, and he was able to see I had suffered a uterine perforation. I had just been discharged after an episode of peritonitis following hysteroscopy, the cause of which they had not explained to me. This is a very good example of a situation where a person with expert medical knowledge triaged me. I now attend this excellent, lovely, and very pro-patient consultant.

Only when you made that assertion, you didn't specifiy "in my GP practice".

So right back at you in regards to speaking with authority on any practice except your own, and there are plenty of posters here who are also experiencing long delays in accessing their GPs.

This thread went sideways, being pedantic is attacking the poster, I am still reviewing the rest of the thread

Grem

And I posted mine, which you somehow felt you were qualified to contradict.

Not misinformed at all. There have been plenty of accounts and more than one thread on the subject over the last few years.

In relation to my own GP surgery, their online reviews say it all, and the two most repeated comments are waiting times, and issues "getting past" the receptionists, to actually see a doctor.

I've been actively looking for a new GP for coming up to three years now. However, everywhere is full. Hopefully I won't fall seriously ill in the meantime. I wouldn't trust my GP's receptionist to think it serious enough to let me see a doctor.

This morning I requested a GP appointment within a week or so, specified it was non urgent, getting meds for travel & a few things like that. I was offered next Tuesday, perfect.

In a weird coincidence my GP practice rang me this morning shortly after posting the above, regarding BP readings I had collated & submitted. The nurse rang back and said the diastolic was a tad high and I needed a 24hr monitor.

I was in with her at 12 and am now strapped for the next 24hrs, so I know many are struggling with accessing GP services and with wait times but, I can't fault my practice.

Had similar at my last long term lllness checkup with the practice nurse, in June.

Given a date for 24 hour BPM monitor in mid August. 🤷

Agreed. I also know from comments made at my last visit to TLC-Doc, that they are aware of the number of patients from my GP practice seeking appointments with them.

Twice since Christmas I have had to go to them for antibiotics for chest infections, when my surgery would not give me an appointment in less than ten days.

My brother had to go to A&E last week after being told it would be at least ten days before he would be seen, it turned out he had some kind of blood clot forming in his leg. (eta) to clarify, he took the appointment offered, but after two days, went to the hospital due to worsening pain.

I am seriously just fed up with them at this stage and have no confidence in them. I'm not that old yet, (mid-50s) but do have some health conditions, (inluding respiratory) and the thought of getting older with the standards of care at my current surgery worries me greatly.

Im envious of you. That sounds like a GP service that really cares about their patients. You are so lucky.

Same for myself. 8 days, two days later in A&E on verge of heart episode. They didn’t use phrase heart attack I can’t remember but it was very serious and I’m on tablets now for life. Scary experience that could have been avoided. Doctors seem to have forgotten referred pain and Sally the receptionist doesn’t want to hear about my dingly dangly bits swollen to the size of a warermelon * just for illustrative purposes 😂

Appointments shouldn't be "granted" based on how nicely you ask for them. FFS.

I am well used to dealing with the public in my own job, both over email, the phone and face-to-face, so would never treat a receptionist rudely. Unfortunately, that does not mean I always receive the same courtesy in return.

I've sat in the GP's waiting room, 10 feet away from them and overheard them discussing patients, heard them being really rude and nasty to callers on the phone, and also outright lying to them about appointment availability (one caller told here was no appointments and ring back next week, and another told they could come in on such and such a date). There is one in particular who is definitely on a power trip.

I did raise this with the doctor when I got in to see them, and they said they'd have a word, but apparently nothing has changed. In hindsight, the GP probaby just told them to lower their voices when discussing patients.