gailsnails Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Well i think i've more chance of winning the Lottery than getting an appointment at SMC! For the 4th day now i have tried and have just come off the phone after trying for 35 minutes, to be told they are fully booked AGAIN! I'm not a regular user of the Medical Centre and am fully aware that the other MC in Beighton is closed for refurbishing (and has been since August), but come on its taking the mick! Is anyone else out there having the same problem??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Napps Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Unfortunately this is a long standing problem.The best thing to do is to try and go to the surgery at 8.30am and queue or ask for a call back from a doctor who will get you an appointment if deemed necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandyBob Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 YES! it took nealy 4 weeks to get an appointment for my wife, she even got a letter from the doctor saying he wanted to she her....I myself got a letter from the doctor saying she wanted to see me after she got back to results of an ECG....even showing these to the receptionist didn't help, all I got was ''we are fully booked up'' we even went down before the doors opened, when we got in and tried to make an appointment, guess what, ''sorry we are fully booked up'' ........Come on this was 8.30am, let's go back to the old way's where to turned up gived in your name then waited to be shouted ''NEXT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowbird78 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Ours is just the same. I don't like the way the reception staff ask what's wrong. What about patient confidentiality. If you don't tell them you don't get an appointment anyway. I have phoned NHS direct before who have stated I need to see a gp. Once I have mentioned this to reception there is somehow an appointment for me xxx * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resident Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 It's not just SMC though. I've been with several MCs over the years and it's the same problem over and over. Usually when you do get an appointment and go you get to the waiting room and it's full of over-zealous parents whose kids literally only have the sniffles. I lived in Skegness for a while and their MC had a novel way of tackling this and it worked like a charm IMO How they worked it was that there were no "pre-booked" appointments unless the GP requested it for you. Each day the appointment book was wiped clean and if you needed to see the doc, you rang up on the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandyBob Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I would love to take a look at the computer to see if it's true when there say ''Sorry we are fully booked up'' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bladebeer Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Does anybody find that when you are told they are fully booked and then call in , there are only one or two people waiting.Before appointments came in I would go to the doctors and sit along with possibly 20 or 30 other patients and wait your turn both morning and evening surgerys and the doctor also did his own call outs and clinics. Sign of the times perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunr68 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 This is one of my pet hates, since the government introduced a new target requiring all patients to be seen within 48 hours of asking for an appointment, my doctors do not book advance appointments other than in exceptional circumstances. You have to phone up on the day at specific times and once all the slots have been allocated for the day you are out of luck. The only way of guaranteeing an appointment is to queue up outside at 8.15. As a public service it's abysmal, but their priorities are meeting the targets and that's clearly all that matters. They may well be meeting the target but only by devious means. Strictly speaking the 48 hour clock should start ticking once I have requested an appointment and have been turned away, but you bet it doesn't happen that way! Daily Wail rant about the target here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-186628/GPs-ban-advance-appointments-meet-NHS-target.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubble3082 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Its the same at Treeton - you have to phone up at 8:30am or 2:00pm, only for the phone to be engaged for half an hour. Then you get told all the appointments are gone. We're lucky though, as it seems that the receptionists are medically trained and discuss your problem with you in earshot of everyone else; then they offer you advice! I remember one telling a lady how to apply yoghurt for a case of thrush! And when I was pregnant I was asked intimate questions about my 'lady dates' etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brocolli B Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Its the same at woodhouse too. Infact they have just change their appointment system YET AGAIN for the 3rd time in as many months, you can get an on the day appointment with a nurse and nothing else, You can book in a morning (if you can get through and they have any left) to see a doctor 3 days later or just to book in with a doc you have to wait 4 to 6 weeks, flaming stupid especially if there is only 1 or 2 doctors that you actually like or trust !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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