Education How long do you wait for a doctors appointment?

Last Thursday I had three minor surgical procedures which unfortunately had some unpleasant side effects of the most debilitating kind. I was looking for some advice so in the first instance emailed my ENT surgeon and secondly made what I thought was an appointment with my GP for this morning. I can make appointments online which is much simpler and faster than doing it via the phone. You also get a confirmation text message and another one the day before the appointment. These I did not get though I did not notice until yesterday evening so I decided to check that I had actually made an appointment and yes I had but for next Tuesday and looking downd the list available slots I note that they are all for next week. There was not one appointment less than an 8 day wait.

I have not got a clue what has happened at my surgery as two/three days has always been the max how or why it has jumped to seven/eight days is a mystery.

How can someone be expected to wait these times when they are ill, why are we living in a society where we seem to be going backwards as far health care provision is concerned. In my own case bureaucracy kicked in when I tried to get help on the Friday following my surgical procedures and it woukd have meant a 6 hour round trip to the emergency ENT clinic after I had managed to get referred by my GP. I was informed that it was not the way things are done by seeing if there was not an ENT consultant available at my local clinic. I could not see my one as he was on leave.

So how long do you wait for a GP appointment and have you used A&E as a quicker alternative?

 

I think doctors surgeries work in many different ways.

My other halfs doctors does this:

Ring up and explain your symptoms/problem, a doctor will call you back if they think it's a simple issue or they will get you an appointment that day, a very strange approach IMO.

My doctors is simple ring tell um whats wrong and they will tell you when and who you can see. Normally within 2 days unless you say it's urgent, or they think it's urgent.

I would say ring your docs and tell them you feel it's an urgent matter and I'm sure you will be seen today.

A&E is only for emergencies, it shouldn't used unless it is an emergency.

Hope all turns out well.

 

I had to miss a large chunk of my story out as it would have made my post far to long. But on Friday I did phone, the duty doctor called back some hours later with little knowledge of me and then proceded to tell me to get in touch with my surgeons secsecretary though no information onbhowvto do this. On tracking down said secretary and being told that A) my surgeon was on leave and B) I would need to get back in touch with my GP so I could then be referred to the emergency ENT clinic at an out of town hospital. When I phoned my GP surgery back the earliest appointment was late afternoon when I would then have to go through the referral procedure before at some time making the three hour journey to the clinic.

I think we are all aware that A&E is for emergencies but I suspect that having to wait 8 days for an appointment might make patients feel that what ails them is an emergency.

 

In Newton Abbot it tends to be around 2 weeks! By which time you are either dead or feeling better

 

Bloody hell, that is nothing short of scandalous.

 

It's generally accepted as the norm around here. I have had to wait 5 months for a hospital appointment to treat yet another fissure.

 

So my last couple of experiences with the GP haven't been great. First time I did something to my finger and it got infected, GP said I could have an appointment at the end of the following week, so I went to A&E/GP thing at the hospital and wasted their time just to get some meds.

Second time I knew they were going to make me wait a while, and after booking a week off work, I phoned the GP a week before I was due to start said holiday, and they could only fit me in in the second to last day of the holiday.

The NHS is so stretched!

 

A third of the NHS budget of £95.6 billion is spent on:

- diabetes type II (£21.7 billion, nearly 20%)
- morbid obesity (£6 billion)
- smoking related illness (£5 billion)
- alcohol related harm (£3.5 billion)

Put these four alone together and that's over a third of the annual budget gone. On conditions totally preventable by a few lifestyle changes. Now you know why the NHS is overstretched.

 

Thankfully I dont fall into any of those categories


EDIT: yet!

 

...

 

So it is all the patients fault?

The NHS wastes hundreds of millions each and every year on outdated, unnecessary bureaucratic procedure and poor practices.
A couple of minor example from chatting to a consultant before my surgery last Thursday. He wanted a small shelf put up in his office, four holes ,4 raw plugs, four screws. Cost £564 pounds time for job to be completed 4 months.
Squeaky wheel on ward appliance and we all know how loud that becomes if staying overnight. Cost to fix (bit of oil/grease) £80 and 4 months to complete.
Major example of wasting money. Installation of computer system across the health board which cannot talk to any other of the many systems used throughout the health board. Cost £7.5 million. Effectiveness of new system+ minimal.

I have many many examples of the poor economic management within my area and I suspect it is repeated throughout the country.

One final question why do most if not all of the consultants that have cost this country hundreds of thousands to train now only work part time for the NHS but still get a considerable salary and bonuses which are paid no matter how many complaints are made against an individual?

 

Round here it's 3-4 weeks three is an "emergency appointment" it's generally accepted it's quicker to go to a walk in center or pharmacist.

I had appointment for a troublesome wart on the back of my shoulder thing Rubs an bleeds on back packs etc if it's not got a plaster over it still waiting on a referral 4 months later. Half tempted to do it myself at this rate

 

Ring the surgery, they ring back within two hours, have a discussion, get prescribed meds over the phone if that's all that's needed or you get get an appointment that same day usually within a couple of hours.

My wife thinks it's a crap system as she would rather book an appointment days away but I see it as brilliant especially now that they have introduced being able to book an appointment as well which is very useful if you need a repeat visit.

 

I live in a small village with a fairly advanced GP clinic for the county, our clinic's booking system is also shared with a village and their clinic about 3 miles down the road so I'd say on average the time between bookings and seeing someone is between 4-5 hours.

Our GP building has a minor surgical centre as well, that part of the service normally has bookings a arranged week in advance.

 

Hmm in my GP Practice they have slots that you can book in advance, which usually has about a 5 day wait time, and a set amount of emergency appointments each day that you can only get by ringing them up at 8am on that day. I'm currently into my 4th week of being ill and haven't had too much trouble getting appointments... getting anything done however is another matter...

 

That's shocking.

I have had two ops on fissures and both times have been seen one day and operated on within days.

 

The NHS is a bloody beurocratic joke. They don't have the patients as a first priority as they have no need to. The surgeons, nurses etc. often do, but the people who direct and head other parts don't.

Take drug acquisitions for instance. I've been working at a small pharmaceuticals firm for the last couple years, so we get to see this sort of inefficiency first hand from the other side of the fence. When trying to introduce a particular drug as a cheaper alternative to a more expensive and less effective treatment this year, we were greeted with an unbelievable reply. They actually said that they would take on the drug, but only in 4 months time so that they could more easily compare the financial results with those of the previous years. HOW CAN THAT BE RIGHT? That's four months of more expensive and less effective treatment for patients. Just imagine how expensive that is when applied across thousands of drugs and procedures.

That's why I don't believe simply pumping money into the NHS isn't a viable option. It'll just swallow it up and the service won't get any better, mark my words. The whole thing needs to be rebuilt from the ground up so that it works for patients once more. It should be good enough that people shouldn't feel the need to take out private healthcare insurance.

 

Mine is not a great experience for my local GP either.

Was quite ill not long ago, see stomach pains for a 24 hours couldnt hold down food or water, Rang my gp, tol no appointments left that day regardless of issue and that I could make an appointment for 4 days time or ring back the next morning at 8:30 to try get an appointment then.

I then rang 101 as i was in huge amounts of pain but didnt want to go to A&E as didnt feel that would help. Was told by them to immediately ring my GP back and tell them i needed to see a doctor asap, when i did ring them I had an appointment within an hour.

 

I am so disgusted by the whole thing that I have put my complaining hat back on and have fired off emails to every person I could think of. Unfortunately I am ruled by the SNP and their handling of the health service is woeful plus they really do not take kindly to the plebs emailing complaints. 9 times out of ten they will ignore an email, you do not even get so much as an automated reply, get out there then.
I am going to take up the appointment with my GP even though I might well be fully recovered but as I cannot email the surgery I will have to ask my GP a partner in the practice what is going on face to face.

 

As I have said before on these forums and got slated. Well in my part of London anyway the doctors are a joke. I don't even bother anymore. Rather ask a pharmacist nowadays. Not had a day off sick in 15 years but it would be nice just to know you can see a quack to sort a problem out quickly.