Our Doctors Surgery is really very good. Whats yours like ?

[potsy]

No appointments at mine, turn up for morning or afternoon surgery and wait your turn.

Always get seen within 10 or 15 minutes.

Same doctor for at least 20 years, the one before him was there for decades too

 

[Cheddar George]

Awful to hear - and not how it should work. You don't require a local address to register with a GP (the rules changed some time ago).

Hopefully you're sorted now but if things don't work out feel free to PM me and I may be able to advise on navigating the system.

Interesting.
I moved about 4 mile further away from my practice (well run and excellent GP) and was told i would have to register with a different practice nearer to my home address. Unfortunately it is further from work making less convenient and it is a shower of ****.
Five weeks for a GP appointment, not surprisingly they have a problem with non-attendance as people have either got better or made other arrangements for treatment.

 

[petek]

Never a problem getting a same day appointment at our surgery. Turn up at 7am and be first in the queue when they open at 8. Works every time.

 

[Cheddar George]

This may help: Patient Choice of GP Practice

If they refuse, or don't explain why they won't register you (and not residing in their catchment area isn't sufficient grounds in itself), you can ask the local Clinical Commissioning Group to intervene (if you can find anywhere there who knows their arse from their elbow when it comes to patient choice, which is not guaranteed).

Thanks for the info.

 

[vickster]

I usually book an appointment with the GP dealing with my ongoing care a few weeks in advance, if I don't need the appointment or something (i.e. Work gets in the way) I cancel. Always at least 24 hours in advance so someone else can have the appointment

The thing that really really annoys me are no shows...they have the numbers up on the board at my surgery ...it's usually at least 250 a month and often over 300

 

[PK99]

Alright for retired old farts but no good for those of us with lives...

Our practice copes with that:

###
Same day assistance (between 8:00am-6:30pm Monday-Friday)
Same day appointments can be booked using our online services

If you feel that your problem is urgent and you cannot book an appropriate appointment or resolve your problem online then please be assured that we will help you today. Usually the process will be for you to have a telephone consultation with one of our same day team who will arrange to see you the same day if this is required. You can book a call back from the same day team using our on line services (please bear that call back time will be approximate). If you are unable to do this then please phone the Practice onn nnn to request same day assistance.

Even if you have booked an urgent appointment online you may get a call from our same day team in advance of your appointment to see whether we can help you remotely without you needing to come into the Health Centre.

The telephone consultation system is in place to provide same day access to clinical advice and if an appointment is required we will be able to allocate you to the clinician best suited to your concern.

The same day team can also provide a prescription which can be collected from The Health Centre reception or sent electronically direct to your pharmacy.
#####

The way it works is that some doctors time is allocated to the phone bank, and others after booked appointments man the bank and call patients on a number of their choosing ie it can be at work. As appropriate, patient is invited into the surgery that day or an appointment on another day is booked.

That is the advantage/ Economy of scale of being a mega practice with 27,000 patients and oodles of GPs

I have never had any issue with getting same day assistance.

 

[NorthernDave]

The thing that really really annoys me are no shows...they have the numbers up on the board at my surgery ...it's usually at least 250 a month and often over 300

I couldn't agree more - yet apart from putting up notices about it in the waiting area no-one seems prepared to actually do anything about it. I'd guess that a good % of the no shows are repeat offenders?

 

[PK99]

Your practice handles things better...

Yep.

It is the variability of service that is the worrying thing - everyone living in silos and not sharing best practice (or so it seems as an observer)

I know some of the doctors at the practice and they do not take the "I'm a doctor, not a manager" approach that I hear from some GP's - they recognise that the people best placed to manage the practice are those involved in service delivery and in contact with patients and their needs. It works!

 

[NorthernDave]

And how easy does you practice make it to cancel or rebook appointments?

How many of these no shows are people who have been hospitalised? Or died? Or where the appointment has been booked by the practice and the patient not told?

The last three are common issues when you look at no shows - I kid you not.

And how easy does you practice make it to cancel or rebook appointments? Really easy - by phone, on-line or in person, just like booking an appointment. And they send you a text the day before reminding you of the appointment which specifically asks you to cancel if no longer required.

How many of these no shows are people who have been hospitalised? Or died? No idea, but I'd expect the practice would be aware of most of these cases by the time they calculated the "last month" figures for the notice board

Or where the appointment has been booked by the practice and the patient not told? Don't know, but I'd guess minimal as the system they operate for getting you back in (to discuss test results, follow ups, etc) is that they phone you, then text asking you to ring them if they can't speak to you. So, in theory you'll always speak to them to make any appointment.

 

[screenman]

Classic for our is the doc says I would like to see you in two weeks, the receptionist day fully booked.

The doc says see you in 6 weeks the receptionist says the books are not open for that far ahead.

 

[PK99]

Classic for our is the doc says I would like to see you in two weeks, the receptionist day fully booked.

The doc says see you in 6 weeks the receptionist says the books are not open for that far ahead.

At our surgery, the doctor you are in front of will book an appointment there and then - the have access to reserved slots. No need to go via receptionist. Integrated IT rules!

 

[screenman]

At our surgery, the doctor you are in front of will book an appointment there and then - the have access to reserved slots. No need to go via receptionist. Integrated IT rules!

I wish.

 

[swansonj]

I've never entirely understood why no-shows are a big problem. Our common experience is that medical resources, whether it's the GP or the hospital, end each day running late, and those of us with social connections to medical professionals know that even later running is only avoided by doctors working through breaks etc. So that suggests that the NHS is barely resourced to cope with the net demand after allowing for some slack when there's a no-show. If every no-show turned up, or gave notice of not coming so that their slot was rebooked, wouldn't that rather exacerbate the resource problem?

 

[PK99]

I've never entirely understood why no-shows are a big problem. Our common experience is that medical resources, whether it's the GP or the hospital, end each day running late, and those of us with social connections to medical professionals know that even later running is only avoided by doctors working through breaks etc. So that suggests that the NHS is barely resourced to cope with the net demand after allowing for some slack when there's a no-show. If every no-show turned up, or gave notice of not coming so that their slot was rebooked, wouldn't that rather exacerbate the resource problem?

That assumes everything is nice and neat with patients queuing to take the place of the no shows leaving no slack time.

 

[vickster]

I wish.

Can't you find a better surgery locally with an online booking system for example. I realise you're in the sticks but even so