How long is your GP appmt wait?

[ian]

Oh and they have TV advertising in the waiting room. What were they advertising? Funeral cover and undertaking services.

[andyoxon]

Found out that as part of this trial 'duty roster' system here, there are two triage GPs who spend the day ringing people back, who've indicated some urgency over their symptoms.  The regular GP appmts, that one waits 10-20dys for are now 15min, instead of 10mins (as I believe they were); so one gets more time with the GP, but it cuts into the overall no of appmts.  I guess the 'manager' allocates those GPs who are on urgent cases in a given week.

[andyoxon]

Currently 3.5weeks to see first GP available for a 'non-urgent' appointment, here in Oxon.  I know it's winter, but it seems to be getting worse.  The 'local plan' for 1000's of extra homes in the Vale will not help either.

[toontra]

The 'local plan' for 1000's of extra homes in the Vale will not help either.

That's often the issue.  My mother's small rural town has almost doubled in population in the last 50 years with housing estates proliferating on every adjacent available field.  The GP surgery is still in the same building with the same number of GP's (with a rapid turn-over rate)  How the hell is that supposed to work!

[ElyDave]

Not too bad here at the moment, I asked for an appointment one Friday for the next Friday and had no issues. However similar story of a practice that is fully utilised and with the prospect of another 1000 houses nearby.  At least they've built the school first

[Greenbank]

At least they've built the school first

In ~25 years it might create a new GP or two.

[SteveC]

Our problem isn't so much that it takes a long time to get an appointment, but that we appear to be running out of doctors.
This time last year there were three partners in the practice, one of whom was part time. We now have just the part-timer (although she may well be back full time at the moment), plus locums. I would have thought that, as far as it can be, this would have been a pretty good place to work. New buildings on the edge of a largish village. Compared to many places you wouldn't have thought they would have had problems filling vacancies, but no.

[Jakob]

Seems to vary between 1-1.5 weeks, although if I don't need 'my' doctor, I can usually see one within a couple of hours.
The system here in Canada is by no means perfect, but it's far better than anything I ever experienced in the UK.

[BrianI]

My surgery works on a Same Day Appointment System.
So you need to either queue up first thing in the morning, to hopefully get passed the Keeper Of The Appointments to be seen that day, or try phoning.

[Morat]

A couple of days, since our surgery was taken over by another local practice the GPs and nurses alternate.

[Jurek]

Same day appointments at my surgery.
Pitch up 30 minutes before they open and there's a very good chance of being seen within 30 minutes of them opening.
I've not, and wouldn't want to, try this any later in the day.
Alternatively, appointments seem to run around 2 weeks ahead.

[IJL]

The view from general practice can be a bit bleak at times, I work at a surgery with 10500 registered patients 7 GPs, 1 registrar, 2 nurse practitioners, 4 practice nurses and 2 health care assistants.

At present it's probably easier to  recruit Unicorns than GP's.  At least half of the GP training posts are unfilled and half the GP are the wrong side of 50.

Each month around 40 hours of appointments are misssed.  People call to book a same day appointment and then dont turn up.

I've seen half dozen people this week with a cough who when asked when it started replied"this morning" in each case it was still this morning.

we see lots of self limiting viral illness which will get better in about 7 days, a surprsing number will demand to be seen again when it hasnt got better in 24 hours.

The Teachers in the local schools are convinced that every spot is scarlet fever and needs to be "checked out" it called scarlet fever for a reason and if a child isn't scarlet and hasn't got a fever.......Plus kids are often quite spotty creatures.

[MikeFromLFE]

The system here is that you can phone at 8am for a same day urgent appointment - nearly always with the practice Nurse; at 9:30 you can phone (waste of time) or go on their website (much better) to get a next day, or exactly 8 days time,  appointment - this usually, but not always, allows a choice of time and GP. It's imperfect, but much better than other systems.
(There are rumours of slightly more favourable/easier booking routes for very sick/vulnerable patients, but I know no details)

Sent from my P01W using Tapatalk

[T42]

Two kinds of bookings here, consultations & appointments. Both are with your own doc.

Consultation = same day if you like, up to a week in the future at your choice. They give you an approximate time to go in, you go in then and probably wait.  Costs me nothing, I'm on 100% 'cos T2/heart.

Appointment = you specify the time of day, they tell you when a day is available for that slot, you go in then and wait maybe 10 minutes. Costs about 10€, social security covers the rest.

Above is better in Alsace than in the rest of France.

[ian]

Ours does a morning open surgery which actually seems to work reasonably well, you turn up before 10.30 am and see whatever doctor is available. I don't go to the surgery often, but I've never had to wait longer than 45 minutes. The wait for an actual booked appointment typically seems to be in the weeks. They also do a call-back service where the doctor calls you which seems a good idea but I've not tried. My only gripe is that you never really see the same doctor and there's a lot of locums, quite a few of the GPs in residence seem to be part-time. For a while they had only the only female GP, and yes, she was part-time too. The receptionists are what you expect for a British GP surgery. Honestly, is there a special training course they take?

I'm always a bit shocked that the majority of the people in the waiting room seem to the mothers whose kid has a cold or sore throat (and talking to a few GPs, this does seem to be the bane of their existence).

Any system that relies on everyone calling first thing in the morning is mental.

But yes, there's a huge problem with GP recruitment and retention. I think this place is a bit lucky in that it's part of the greenbelt and that's restrained development and population growth.

[dim]

it's very good here in Great Shelford Cambridge .... phone at 9am, you will be given an appointment and you will see the GP on the same day

One thing I can say about the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge aswell, is that my daughter had a baby last week, amazing staff and amazing hospital.

[Si S]

Weeks on end for an appointment for an actual problem. Within 48 hours because you've hit a particular birthday apparently. I guess there's a financial reason.

[barakta]

Our GP is the best I've ever had clinically and administratively, we're very lucky.  It is mostly a student practice and bar one locum and the creepy-ex-owner all the GPs have been competent and lovely. I have to have a few more GP appts than most people due to disability related health stuff.

Planned appt waits used to be 3-7 days and are more like 5-14 days but that's usually with a named GP and they aim for 75% appointments to be available that way.

They do an 8am phone-in for on the day appts which I've always been able to get through to and access.

I try and see one of the partners cos both know me but other GPs have always been fine. Practice nurses are great and the receptionists are super helpful and very friendly, they know I'm deaf and obv when ill am less good at understanding speech.

[Sergeant Pluck]

We are quite fortunate here as I seem to be able to see a GP within an appropriate timeframe, and they have online booking which mostly works, allowing one to specify an individual GP or to choose whether to see a male or female.

I’ve watched a couple of episodes of “The Family Doctors” on iPlayer, about GP practices in and around Elgin in Moray - nearest Big Hospital is Aberdeen, I think. Many of the GPs seem to be within shouting distance of retirement and they cannot recruit. What was most striking though, was the impact of increased life expectancy and the poor general health of the population.

The average retirement age for UK GPs is firmly down in the 50s.

[giropaul]

My GP surgeryhas instituted a ( another) new system. Initially I was sceptical, but a couple of years in I have to say it works.

The proces starts by me phoning the surgery. OK, it can take a few attempts to get through, but there is an emergency option if the call is urgent.

An administrator then fixes a time that morning when a GP will ring  and triage me. From this, I could be given an urgent consultation booking, one further ahead if it’s less urgent, or a n appointment with a Nurse Practitioner, or a Pharmacist, or another professional as indicated from the triage. It’s also possible to book specific appointments with, e.g. the Pharmacist. He is really useful as many appointments are to review medication.
The system seems to make best use of GP time, and ensures that I see the person who is best placed to treat me.

[hellymedic]

I don't know!
I haven't seen my GP within the last two years.
We saw a nurse for 'flu vaccination in autumn 2016 but weren't called last autumn and I am LAZY!
My only medication is prescribed by a hospital which sees me for annual review.
I also see another neurologist more locally every year.

[Basil]

My GP surgeryhas instituted a ( another) new system. Initially I was sceptical, but a couple of years in I have to say it works.

The proces starts by me phoning the surgery. OK, it can take a few attempts to get through, but there is an emergency option if the call is urgent.

An administrator then fixes a time that morning when a GP will ring  and triage me. From this, I could be given an urgent consultation booking, one further ahead if it’s less urgent, or a n appointment with a Nurse Practitioner, or a Pharmacist, or another professional as indicated from the triage. It’s also possible to book specific appointments with, e.g. the Pharmacist. He is really useful as many appointments are to review medication.
The system seems to make best use of GP time, and ensures that I see the person who is best placed to treat me.

Same system here, but not as good, in that although you are promised a same day call back from the doc, they will not give a time.  This means giving them your mobile number in order to not be trapped in the house all day.  Leading to the danger of receiving the call while in the queue for the till in the local shop or somewhere equally inappropriate.