UKH

Has anyone had a Dr appointment during the pandemic ?

Easier ? harder ? Can you even get through ?

What method are they using for appointments , IF I can even get one ?

Are they video ? or just speech ?

TWS

Just rang up as normal for an appointment and it was a chat over the phone. For a problem with my knee which required physio - how does that work ? 

Our surgery has an e consult service.

You send them a text including your symptoms with photos if necessary.

The doctor replies within 24 hours, either advising you how to treat yourself or calling you in for a face to face.

 Seems to vary according to surgery but usually book online (triage system) and appointment will initially be by phone or video. 

Called up the surgery shortly after 8 AM, they give me a time window to call me back (from an unknown number) and then we discuss it over the phone. If they need a photo (of a Lymes rash for instance) they send you a text with a web link for a photo.

It seems easier than normal to get an appointment!

Similar to other posters, I filled out an online form in the afternoon which asked about symptoms which spat out "a doctor will call you tomorrow" and allowed me to book online. That was followed by an in person appointment same day and some blood tests. Others locally have had "a doctor will call you within the week" or "today" or "within two weeks".

To be honest I wish it was like this the rest of the time, avoids everyone calling at 0800 and only the first few who get through being able to get a same day appointment.

Yeah, next day in person. It'd have been same day if I knew how the appointment system worked. I just called, asked the receptionist what to do to get in the queue (call every minute or two around opening time). Bit of a daft system but there you go, they do have online booking but I can't be arsed with the registration process. That's been my experience of my GP practice for years, same day or next but that's not for ongoing chronic issues, it's for dog bite, chest/back pain, gout etc. It's a big GP group, never the same GP twice but usually one with a free slot somewhere in the city and day.

My wife has had several consultations for her and the baby, most over the phone but a couple in person. The phone consults are mostly same day.

I think in reality it depends what you need to discuss and how swamped your GPs are at the best of times. Different practitioners are also taking radically different approaches to covid, our health visitor is all about face to face meetings but we have friends who've barely seen theirs as she prefers phone consultations (visitors from the same team). Luck of the draw.

Give them a call, see.

jk

Thanks for the replies,  I gave them a call and apart from a wait on the line I have an call back this afternoon (no idea when yet)

I might go home to wait for this call as they will only make one and I can't miss it .

Going to get myself medicated again as I can't cope , Ed, depression and self loathing .   Keep breaking into tears and don't feel stable enough to manage.

Not something I relish but necessary to continue existing  right now.

TWS 

I feel for you TWS ... stood at side of A90 (in layby) in rain and wind this morning observing two minutes silence and the tears just started to flow ... we will get through whatever ails us and even though it comes back, recognising where we are and seeking help and support from family, friends and professionals keeps us moving forward.

hang in there ... there are many more doing the same

I never worked out how to do it before the pandemic tbh. 

Sorry to hear that. It can take a little while for medication to kick in. Hopefully things improve for you soon and begin to feel more manageable. This weekend looks like a none starter weather wise, however you are welcome to give me a shout if you want a chat or some such.

I’ve had the same positive experience... the new way of working really is an improvement both for the Doctors and patients.

Can’t see them going back the the old system.

I got a same day appointment - initial chat on the phone with a link sent during the call for a video chat so they could have a look (it was an infected insect bite).
 

Worked well, though I don’t know what the process would have been for someone without internet access. 

When I made noises along the lines of a lump on my shoulder possibly being red, I got seen the same day after a phone consultation after she asked if I could cycle round by the end of her shift (it's just a fatty lump), for my diabetes check up it'll be a phone based one which isn't ideal, but I can still feel my feet normally and have traced any mismanaging of the condition to a psychological quirk, so that's alright I guess, I can eliminate any fluctuations.

Sorry to hear you’re not feeling too good.
 

Contacting the GP and accessing support is a positive step

Remember that it's a sign of strength and self awareness to decide to go back onto the pills, rather than a sign of weakness.

My perspective is that since I hardly drink, and most of the country seems to regularly take pills, or smoke dope, or drink alcohol, my alternative is pills and it's life being more liveable which ultimately counts. I look forward to brighter times for you.

I'm sorry things are rough but talking to your GP sounds like a strong and positive decision. I hope it's useful. Keep us posted

Well done with the meds decision.

I really struggled with the first lockdown (in retrospect) - lack of exercise, too much alcohol, productivity down the tubes, but I seem to have got myself a bit more together over the summer, and I'm determined to use this one to get back on track. No alcohol since September, more exercise, much improved work rate, so far so good. I am looking forward to a Christmas knees-up though

Let us know how you get on.

I'm impressed that you all have such good GP access. Ours has gone completely down the tubes - I don't think anyone is working anymore. Last time I phoned up I was shouted at that they were really busy, I should have rung 15mins earlier (at 8am) didn't I know there was a pandemic on.....

After persisting I was offered a phone call from a nurse "sometime that day".

As it turns out I was taken into hospital later that day. So I can really understand the collateral damage thats being done by Covid. 

Please keep using your GPs - however much they turn you away.

Hope you get a helpful call.  

Yes.  I find that the following get you one very quickly:

1. Severe shortness of breath and chest pain (OK, it was the walk-in centre, but hey )

2. "I'm on an anticoagulant and it isn't working, my leg has swollen up like a balloon again".

I don't overly recommend either of these as a way of getting some Beecham's for your sniffles, though   However it does show just how incredibly quickly the NHS can react when it needs to.

I don't know about a text, but I like the idea of "raising a case", IT support style (or by e-mail), in which you can, at your leisure, type in full details of what's going on including photos etc.  Indeed, I think the NHS should work its whole systems like that - medical records are stored rather like a "monologue" and it is hard for a doctor to pick out information relevant to a specific course of treatment.  Whereas if you had a single "case" that followed through the system, e.g. a hospital consultant would know the story so far before you even met them.  And you could easily click through from a prescription to the background behind it.  I reckon at some point someone's going to suggest I should move from warfarin to a new anticoagulant, and I'll have to explain why not, because they won't have easy access to the reasons why that didn't work.

One thing I find with both phone and in-person appointments is that it's all crammed into a short period of time and it's actually quite stressful trying to explain the whole thing there and then.  Much easier to spend half an hour typing it out in detail and editing it for readability.

And for e.g. elderly people who really don't do computers it could be written on a sheet of paper and posted to the surgery (I'm thinking non-urgent stuff here).

FWIW other than the 2 scenarios outlined my GP is doing telephone appointments first then if necessary you're invited in.

The e system I used was a lot easier than trying to book an appointment during normal times - I could never get past the Rottweilers who pass for receptionists at my doctor’s surgery.

There does seem to be a thing about doctors' receptionists' jobs basically appearing to be to prevent you getting medical care.  It just makes no sense - just about everyone else on the frontline in the NHS seems to care about patients except them.

If you've genuinely got those symptoms you need to get yourself to A&E. 9 times out of 10 walk in staff are just going call an ambulance to take you there anyway so you'll just end up queueing twice for treatment. 

Edit: and if anyone is thinking of claiming those symptoms to bump themselves up the triage list, it's a total dick move, you're risking the lives of people who should be seen before you and when assessed staff will see right through your bullshit and treat you accordingly.

Well presumably it saved you a pointless in person visit to the GP for a problem that needs physio.

Sounds like a win to me.

If you wanted anything on the NHS you used to have to see a doctor in person rather than telephoning, now remarkably most consultations seem to able to be done remotely.  

I did and it was Pulmonary Embolism, and in MK the walk-in centre can actually treat it initially, they refer you to the AECU (a kind of non-emergency A&E, I don't know if it exists elsewhere) for tests the following day having given heparin to "take away".  That assumes those symptoms are chronic (i.e. didn't come on instantly 5 minutes ago) rather than acute, if acute it could be a heart attack or similar.

I completely agree about claiming symptoms you haven't got, it's like calling the Police and claiming someone has a gun when they don't.  The point was that there are things the NHS can react to really, really quickly.

That's the stereotype, but mine seem to be fine - always helpful, it's a 'friendly northern' Dr's surgery, one of them recognises my voice which is nice.

To be fair the ones at my present surgery are nice enough too, but my previous one (MK was quite strict on catchments, so even though I had moved house about half a kilometre I had to change surgery, and welcomed it, to be honest) was awful, they'd be asking you for lots of details about your ailment, and on one occasion I went there, booked in (I definitely did) and said I'd pop over the road to Tesco Express while I was waiting as they'd said it'd be a while, and then I came back and they said they'd marked me as having left and took some arguing to get them to actually carry out my appointment.  Like *I told you I was popping over there while I was waiting* - if you'd said I can't I wouldn't have done!

For me it's been relatively easy.

Initially a phone conversation same day as requested, resulting in a prescription

After prescription didn't work, called back and went in to surgery same day for them to have a poke around.

Referral to Hospital - CT scan 8th Oct, follow up scan next week.

As long as you can deal with phone or video consult it it will be fine. I'm sure it varies depending on complaint, but I can't fault my GP service at the moment

It’s probably time to start worrying when the doctor’s receptionist recognises your voice!

She's been there for fifteen years at a minimum, I used to pop in for different prescriptions in person before it went so they were dialled through to a chemist, and we'd talk agreeably.

I've heard it called 'Vitamin T', the general web of people other than family and friends who know you, if you're lucky enough to develop roots in a place. 

I developed a very painful injury which I considered required urgent attention. At the time the advice was not to go to A&E unless genuinely life threatening. After circa 2 hours waiting on the phone I got through to a receptionist who offered me a 7 minute phone appointment in 5 weeks. After a week of trying, one night I got a call through to an out-of-hours doctor who prescribed some very strong painkillers. I'm now seeing a very good physio but apart from the short out-of-hours call, I still haven't managed to speak to a doctor.

I'd like to say that this was all down to Covid, but my experience of the local GP service before lockdown was almost as bad.

Before the pandemic there was always a 3-4 week wait for appointments at my doctor's surgery unless you were prepared to take a day off to wait for an emergency appointment (basically waiting for a no show so they could fit you in).

Had three appointments since March. Each time got a telephone appointment either immediately or the following morning. Once the doctor decided he needed to see me and arranged an appointment that afternoon. 

Morning.

I received a call Wednesday mid afternoon from the Dr.   Helpfully it was the Dr I saw last November for the same thing .  So it made chatting to her much easier.  

She had no issue with my request and didn't hesitate .  Sent the prescription straight to my local chemists and I popped down 2 hours later to pick it up. 

I'd have to say it  was great service for me personally.  The receptionist was lovely when I explained the subject matter and I was called back in 3 hours by the Dr who was great. 

Sending the prescription straight to the chemists was brilliant and made everything so easy for me.

This is particularly helpful at times like this.

I'm glad I decided to take this option and didn't resist getting an appointment and addressing my issue before it got worse.

Hopefully I can begin to sort out my sleeping and eating patterns and get out of the feedback loop .

I suppose periods of depression could be called   "feedblack loops" 

I hope this helps anyone else hesitant about trying for an appointment right now , or unsure about the situation some encouragement . 

TWS

Glad you got sorted pal.