Refused a doctor’s appointment. Can this be right?

[munmun]

I think we must have a brilliant GP practice. If it’s a couple of days away I log in online check the available appointments for doctors and nurses and take the slot I want. If it’s same day we phone and go in at 11.00 and wait. I am happy to do this as if it’s bad enough to need a same day appointment then there is no problem waiting.

[Universal VR]

Originally Posted by munmun

I think we must have a brilliant GP practice. If it’s a couple of days away I log in online check the available appointments for doctors and nurses and take the slot I want. If it’s same day we phone and go in at 11.00 and wait. I am happy to do this as if it’s bad enough to need a same day appointment then there is no problem waiting.

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We don’t have to wait too long either. There are selected appointment times for online booking and we can usually get one within a week, sometimes a bit longer. For on the day, we phone at 8 and (hopefully) get one. Thankfully, we very rarely need an urgent one so I can’t say what availability is like. OH’s surgery has always had long waits for appointments but I think they have far fewer doctors at that surgery.

[djewkes]

It’s Sunday, are her doctors even open? If by chance she has rung the OOH service then it could be they have suggested she see her GP tomorrow? She could have asked for an appointment, been assessed and told to see her own GP as it wasn’t deemed urgent?

[Twin mummy]

Hopefully it's a misunderstanding, maybe she didn't want to wait for a non-urgent appointment.

We've always been really lucky with our Dr's but it's now merged with another surgery and it's much harder to get an appointment.

I went for an ultrasound on Tuesday, Wednesday evening I got a call from my Dr's, I missed it as I was at my daughter's parent's evening. I literally rang back within 2 minutes and spoke to a receptionist, she said the Dr needed to speak to me about the ultrasound but it wasn't "urgent, urgent". She then went on to say the Dr was in on Friday but fully booked and then not in until after Christmas and could I wait? After me telling her that no I couldn't wait now she had told me the Dr wanted to speak to me, I managed to get a telephone appointment yesterday.
Thankfully everything was ok but I went through a day and half of worry that something was really wrong.

[Universal VR]

Originally Posted by djewkes

It’s Sunday, are her doctors even open? If by chance she has rung the OOH service then it could be they have suggested she see her GP tomorrow? She could have asked for an appointment, been assessed and told to see her own GP as it wasn’t deemed urgent?

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She called them on Friday. She phoned about something else today and told me about it when I asked how she was. I’ve suggested to OH that she might be a bit confused about it but he gets very defensive where his mum is concerned. She’s 6 months shy of 80 and does well but is very inclined to hear something, interpret it her way and won’t believe it could mean something different. A symptom of age perhaps although OH said she’s got worse since his dad died 10 years ago. If she decided the sky was green, you’d never convince her any different!

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by munmun

I think we must have a brilliant GP practice. If it’s a couple of days away I log in online check the available appointments for doctors and nurses and take the slot I want. If it’s same day we phone and go in at 11.00 and wait. I am happy to do this as if it’s bad enough to need a same day appointment then there is no problem waiting.

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We can do that as well. However the online appointments are open until the end of January. Well what a surprise, not 1 available.

[Bella1]

I work on reception and people frequently misinterpret what we try to tell them about appointments.

Our surgery try and see most people on the same day if the request but sometimes people call very late in the day and we have to ask them to call back in the morning if it is not an emergency as there is no time left for a GP to see them.

I had a lady last week who wanted a particular GP who had just started 2 weeks holiday. She then started shouting at me that she would only see him and she wanted to see him that day as she was very ill. I patiently explained again that he was on holiday but I could get her in to see one of the other GPs within the hour as I was worried about her. She then started telling me that I didn't care if she dropped down dead and she wanted to see her own GP and slammed the phone down. No doubt the message would have got back to her family that she wasn't allowed an appointment!

[Universal VR]

Originally Posted by Bella1

I work on reception and people frequently misinterpret what we try to tell them about appointments.

Our surgery try and see most people on the same day if the request but sometimes people call very late in the day and we have to ask them to call back in the morning if it is not an emergency as there is no time left for a GP to see them.

I had a lady last week who wanted a particular GP who had just started 2 weeks holiday. She then started shouting at me that she would only see him and she wanted to see him that day as she was very ill. I patiently explained again that he was on holiday but I could get her in to see one of the other GPs within the hour as I was worried about her. She then started telling me that I didn't care if she dropped down dead and she wanted to see her own GP and slammed the phone down. No doubt the message would have got back to her family that she wasn't allowed an appointment!

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This is kind of what I’m thinking although MIL wouldn’t be as bad as that! The way she put it was that she’d phoned for an appointment, they’d asked what was wrong and when she said she had a bad back, they said she couldn’t have an appointment because that wasn’t a valid reason. I’m not suggesting she’s an out and out liar, I just think it went a little differently and she’s totally misunderstood. OH has gone round there and will suggest she calls again tomorrow for a non urgent appointment and if the same happens, he’ll call them for her.

[Posiesmum]

We’re currently having a similar concern. We have power of attorney for my mother (who has a different doctor to us). We urgently need to discuss some health issues on her behalf, but the surgery only releases a weeks worth of appointments at a time. We’ve never managed to get one, despite logging on at the appropriate time each week. It’s now getting more urgent, but it’s not something we could go to A&E with. We are at a loss to know what to do.

[Bella1]

Originally Posted by Universal VR

This is kind of what I’m thinking although MIL wouldn’t be as bad as that! The way she put it was that she’d phoned for an appointment, they’d asked what was wrong and when she said she had a bad back, they said she couldn’t have an appointment because that wasn’t a valid reason. I’m not suggesting she’s an out and out liar, I just think it went a little differently and she’s totally misunderstood. OH has gone round there and will suggest she calls again tomorrow for a non urgent appointment and if the same happens, he’ll call them for her.

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We are not allowed to tell people a bad back isn't a valid reason as there are a couple of red flag conditions that occurs with a bad back but they may have asked her if she thought it was urgent and she may have said no. I do hope she gets something sorted tomorrow but Monday mornings are usually the worst for appointment availability so she needs to be on the phone early.