There is online booking they normally release one of two slots per day, this is done daily for a day a week ahead. I have just changed to another surgery run by the same doctors but with a different manager, 11 miles away.
Our Doctors Surgery is really very good. Whats yours like ?
- Thread starter Dave7
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There is online booking they normally release one of two slots per day, this is done daily for a day a week ahead. I have just changed to another surgery run by the same doctors but with a different manager, 11 miles away.
swansonj
Guru
I think that, if you suggested to any doctor that they have anything approaching "slack time" in their working day, you might get a rather hollow laugh.
No shows can also be medication reviews, much more often than you would think. This is something I learnt by being paid to stand in surgery queues for hours and working in a pharmacy.
It takes up a lot of the surgery's time as it has to be rebooked, often face to face or on the phone, at peak time. The doctor often has to squeeze the patient in, make a phone call or reschedule but temporarily issue more medication (more work). Due to the nature of the review itself this may result in extra work as the doctor has to spend longer looking over it anyway (perhaps duty doctor) and then (possibly someone else) have to have a review as well for the review. Surgery staff say this is one of the most annoying things from their point of view. Patient may go along and roar with anger at the pharmacy, demand an emergency supply resulting in a lot more work and a big fat cash loss to the pharmacy. They then have to go to the surgery anyway and have a rant and the medication review as well.
Andrew_P
In between here and there
Surely some of this is tick boxing? My wife only ever gets a 8 week prescription and every other renewal they say you cannot have it you have to see a GP for a review. So she books it and rocks up and the review is basically the GP printing off the prescription. This has been going on with this prescription for 4 years. Sure if they actually wanted ot review it every 16 weeks great, but it suggests to me its automated and the automation is costing 40 minutes a year of a GP time. Which is not a lot but if 20% of the patients at my Surgery are on reviewed medication its bloody enormous!
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Again that is down to variability and how practices choose to manage - I'm on 3 monthly repeat scrips, for a long time ordered online now ordered direct to the downstairs pharmacy who email when dispensed and ready for collection. I guess Doctors involvement is approval via a pop-up message online. Review seems to be about 1 per year.
accountantpete
OAP
Yesterday I was next door to the surgery so popped in to ask about an appointment to look at a lump on my finger. A triage phone call was arranged for that afternoon and I was able to see the doctor 10 minutes after the call. The diagnosis was a mucous cyst and the doctor helpfully showed me loads of photo's where cysts had turned nasty
