GP's again

[fl-veteran]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

I agree with you but some Surgeries do need to look at their own admin practices.

I ring my Surgery about the Flu Jabs and am told they will write to me when they are in

One hour later the post arrives with a letter saying they are in and to ring for an appointment

I ring back and they book me in.

I had my jab in the car park and am well happy with that but surely in this day and age they can E Mail people like me and save paper, stamps, time and therefore cost.

Hey ho I go with the flow but I do get frustrated.

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Email would be a sensible choice. The problem we have is that we get quite small deliveries of vaccine at a time so we write out in batches. Receptionists are told not to book anyone in who hasn't had a letter yet. Not to excuse them but this sounds like where they might have got it wrong.

I don't speak for all of general practice (there are a little under 7000 GP practices in England alone) and there are good and bad surgeries out there.

Also, we do have a lot of hoop jumping to do though. For example, we're not really supposed to email you unless we've obtained your permission to do so first. The IT systems we have don't lend themselves well to email communication either...

We tend to use texting a fair bit more as we have better IT tools for that and mobile numbers are shared less and checked more than email addresses.

Just to add, I'm not at work writing these messages. I'm at home on annual leave. Any prizes for guessing where I was supposed to be right now? I'll give you a clue, it's the happiest place on earth.

[MinniMouse]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

I agree with you but some Surgeries do need to look at their own admin practices.

I ring my Surgery about the Flu Jabs and am told they will write to me when they are in

One hour later the post arrives with a letter saying they are in and to ring for an appointment

I ring back and they book me in.

I had my jab in the car park and am well happy with that but surely in this day and age they can E Mail people like me and save paper, stamps, time and therefore cost.

Hey ho I go with the flow but I do get frustrated.

See more...

So, in our area (Tayside) it’s the NHS that send the flu letters out. Our practice nurse sends the order for the flu vacs. We are not given a delivery date for when they arrive. They just turn up. We then need to cancel some clinics so we can get clinics full of pts for flu vaccines.

NHS sent out letters (flu) in our area two weeks ago. I kid you not the phone was ringing off the hook. We couldn’t give any appointments because we didn’t know when the vaccines were coming. So two weeks of non stop phones ringing, with all our other extra workload because of the COVID situation the vaccines arrive. Text goes out Friday and the phones are ringing off the hook. I was so stressed yesterday afternoon as I couldn’t get the time to check any emails that were coming in. You would think emails are quicker but n reality they are not. We have to scan enter details in, then head back to our computers, we have two screens, we have to hop from one system to another to attach the doc to emails. It takes so much time, honestly. Everything gets sent quicker but it takes so much longer to get it to that stage, rather than popping a referral in an envelope and posting internal mail. Same as sick lines, so much easier if patients pick up, but we’re encouraging email at this time.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Just so the GP Surgery Staff don't think I am moaning because I'm not.

My practice is in an old Victorian terraced house and it's a nightmare on a good day let alone now. To be honest they need new premises but I can't see that happening anytime soon.

I take my hat off to them as to how they have done my BP scripts plus pneumonia and also flu jabs. OK it was a bit weird in the car park but I can live with that.

Roll on the good old times when I can book appointments online and see my favourite GP at 8.30 and we put the World to rights as he is as bonkers as me.

[fl-veteran]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

Just so the GP Surgery Staff don't think I am moaning because I'm not.

My practice is in an old Victorian terraced house and it's a nightmare on a good day let alone now. To be honest they need new premises but I can't see that happening anytime soon.

I take my hat off to them as to how they have done my BP scripts plus pneumonia and also flu jabs. OK it was a bit weird in the car park but I can live with that.

Roll on the good old times when I can book appointments online and see my favourite GP at 8.30 and we put the World to rights as he is as bonkers as me.

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I didn't think you were moaning - I just have a pathological need to explain stuff

And I couldn't agree with your last sentence more - roll on...

[EssexSue]

Our surgery sent out text messages asking us to book our flu jabs. Dave got his a week before me, possibly because he is seen as more vulnerable. They were early this year so I certainly would have had no reason to chase it even if I were that way inclined.

[2point]

I need to ring my GP.

At the start of the real lockdown I started getting a really bad pain in my hip. I think it was due to using a dining chair and table to work at rather than being in the office.

I had an X-Ray planned, appointment has just come through, 6 months later. Pain in my hip has gone (probably due to walking loads more since the early part of lockdown and doing the exercises he sent though on a text) but it's now my right shoulder that is paining me. Again, it's probably due to the dining table being a different height to my desk at work.

Hope the same appointment can be used rather than waiting another six months by which time I'm sure another part of me will be falling off.

[JAF]

Originally Posted by soooexcited!

Apologies but the flu vaccine is an annual process if its needed every year then don't wait for a reminder letter or prompt just call to book at the same time every year.
As orders are placed the year before its very difficult to know which supplier will deliver on a specific date. This often gets put back nothing to do with practices. Ours weren't delivered until 29th September, very late for us.

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DH received a text message saying flu jabs available and to book in. I am still waiting for the text message for my flu jab and the pneumonia jab I should have received in March which is still not available. Guess some areas are doing better than others!

[greekgranny]

Well, said photo must have arrived at correct destination as I had a dermatology appt. this am. The mole fortunately is benign but they are going to remove it for me, will be going in as a Day Case in the coming month. What a relief