Changes At The Doctors

[Barsel]

Do you have this system at your doctors surgery where someone on the phone tells you, 'You are currently caller number 15 waiting to speak with a representative'?
I've been hanging on for well over half an hour now and I'm still only caller No 8 and I've been caller No 8 for at least 10 minutes.
Why don't they work it so you are 1 nearer instead of repeating you are still the same number.
It feels like it's stuck.
I hope this isn't going to be something we are now stuck with, drives me mad.

[Barsel]

Another 30 mins of hanging on and I'm now No2 in the queue.
Why am I getting excited?

[david small]

The system is broken. The system stinks.

[bednobs]

"Why don't they work it so you are 1 nearer instead of repeating you are still the same number."
because it's not true - you were still number 8. I think i would prefer that system to one where you dont know where you are in the queue

[pixie374]

Yes, a total waste of time. And- there were only 2 times a day, where you could join the race. No triaging, just whoever got through first, won an appointment lol. We now have econsult, thankfully, so you can contact them, and they ring back within 24 hours. Much easier.

[Barsel]

Have finally got through only to be told they will send me a form which I have to fill in tomorrow stating why I need to speak to a doctor.
If it's urgent, I should hear back within 24-48 hours!

[diddlydo]

The GP "system" has become a very unfunny joke.

[dannyk13]

You can contact my surgery by phone, online,or by text.

[dave50]

Why do they take so long to get through the calls? I would have thought it would only take a minute or so to book each caller an appointment.

[david small]

If doctors won’t see us then pharmacists should be able to prescribe.

[dannyk13]

Dave, if you phone my surgery it will give the engaged tone if there are thirty callers before you.After that it notifies you where you are in the queue, usually starting at number twenty nine.

[dannyk13]

//pharmacists should be able to prescribe.//
They can, for minor ailments.

[vulcan42]

The problem with the system is the people at both ends. A friend complains to me she is held on the line for anything up to an hour before she can speak to somebody. I was visiting her the other day when she remembered she had to renew her prescription and got through after about ten minutes. she then spent the next ten minutes talking to the receptionist about the weather, the lock down, her husband and anything else she could think of. The receptionist should have dismissed her, both were at fault.

[Barsel]

I wanted to speak to my GP about a letter I've received from the hospital, so a pharmacist wouldn't be able to help.