Medical Practices
Anyone that has known me for several years and has had the joy of being on the end of my medical rants will know how fond I am of the medical profession – particularly certain branches of it. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the NHS and I love Drs and Nurses and I think they should all have sainthoods. However, every now and again something happens that makes my blood boil.
So, I need to see a Dr. I have clearly forgotten why I avoid them so I gave them a ring to arrange an appointment.
Reception: Hello, how can I help you?
Me: Could I book an appointment to see a Dr please
Reception: No, sorry we don’t have Drs appointments
Me: O.K. Could I have a Chinese takeaway then? (only I didn’t say that)
Receptionisht (continues): You could phone at 8:30 tomorrow morning.
Me: O.K. so I need to phone at 8:30 each morning to see whether I can have an appointment that day.
Receptionisht: yes, that is right. We have nothing for the rest of the week.
Me: Great. Perfect. Thank you very much.
Why do they bother answering the phone.
I loathe this completely, it isn’t unusual that one can’t get an appointment at the Drs surgery. The greatest comfort is that the rest of northern Oxford are clearly on their last legs too.
posted by MortimerBones at
3:20 PM
10 Comments:
My rants are the receptionists who want to know what is 'wrong' in order to assess if you need to see a doctor.They get offended when I tell them to stick someone qualified on if they want to perform a triage service.
Lorna - I wish they would when the place is really busy because then at least I would get to see a Dr this time!
Scandalous! What about ringing NHS Direct, they do the triage thing and then (all things being equal) you tell your receptionist NHS Direct say you MUST be seen by a doctor.
CHRis...do not get me started on NHS direct!
Bones
This crazy situation arises because of targets that said people should wait no longer than x number of days (I think it was 2) between making an appointment and seeing the doctor - how to solve it? Easy, ensure no one can make an appointment for more than a few hours in advance. Even though the target has been abolished the ridiculous policy continues in many places. It amounts to rationing on the basis of being able to hang on the phone for ages.
I find the opposite here in Bicester. I walked in at 8.20 this Monday morning ( as I live so close ) asked for an urgent appointment, you have to use the word urgent, bit like a password. I was given an app for 9.50.
Had to wait a bit as things were running late but that's fine as the Doc is doing a good job and that often takes time.
Just turn up and say you are having a brain attack (but don't mention this was after the discussion on the phone with the receptionist) and the GP will see you pretty quickly (as there is a three hour window for thrombolysis).
Doh--am I being really thick?
Why phone tomorrow if there are no appointments left for the week?
By next week, you will be better --or past caring.
On our recent trip, Trish needed a doc, and got an appointment in Abingdon surgery within an hour.
In our home surgery I have never failed to get an appointment on the day I call, even when struck by what turned out to be DVT at 5.00pm
Hope you feel better.
You need to see Dr Andrew Brown, he is the man!
Being a continual cruiser I have come across this problem on more than a few occasions but a few weeks ago when I needed an appointment, I used the internet to find a surgery and rang them. As I would only be in the area overnight I needed the appointment for early the following morning. The receptionist explained that there were none available but that a doctor would ring me back (she didn't ask me what was wrong). Within 20 minutes I was speaking to the real thing (a Dr) who wrote me a prescription there and then for me to collect at my convenience. A good system that worked.
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