Telephone Filtering before being able to see your doctor

[elusive]

Frigiliana allows you you to go in to make appointment. Considering the levels of the virus in andalucia theres really no reason why things shouldnt be back to normal.

[Free at Last]

It's no longer about the levels of the virus, though. Opportunities are being seized to push through changes to "rationalise" services (which means cut them) and as well as what we've already seen with our access to GP appointments being made more difficult and transport services reduced, I am sure there will be many more to come.

[elusive]

The virus is the excuse!

[Wicksey]

Please let us know how you get on. I only live around the corner from the health centre so it could well be easier for me to call in an request an appointment if they allow that.

I found the same as Gerry said. I was told to phone and in fact couldn't get into the clinic as on the door there were signs saying not to enter. I said the phone lines were busy all the time and I was told I'd have to keep trying. She gave me a note with the phone number and hours to phone, 8:30 - 14:30. The note says that this is during the state of alarm, but it seems from what the newspaper article says it may unfortunately continue. I really do hope not.

[Free at Last]

I found the same as Gerry said. I was told to phone and in fact couldn't get into the clinic as on the door there were signs saying not to enter. I said the phone lines were busy all the time and I was told I'd have to keep trying. She gave me a note with the phone number and hours to phone, 8:30 - 14:30. The note says that this is during the state of alarm, but it seems from what the newspaper article says it may unfortunately continue. I really do hope not.
[/quote]

Sorry to hear that. It really does seem to me that we have lost a system which was so efficient and easy to use (from the patient's point of view, at any rate) and what has replaced it seems more like the English system where I well remember a couple of years ago trying to get an appointment for my elderly aunt and being unable to get through to the surgery by phone for ages after they opened in the morning, and by the time I did get through I was told that all appointments for that day had gone and I'd have to try again the next day. I could understand them wanting to keep as many people as possible out of the health centres whilst battling to get the corona virus outbreak under control, but if this is "the new normal" I think it's rubbish, quite frankly.

[Wicksey]

I agree FaL. Perhaps in the cities they have more problems and are much busier, but our surgery and I think others in this area always had appointments within the next day or two.

I've also heard that you may not even see your allotted Dr. After our original doctor left a few years back we had a series of awful locums, but have now got a really lovely lady who speaks a little English if you really get stuck. I have to go every 6 months for blood tests and a review, so I hope to be able to see someone each time and not just be told over the phone the results. I can see at this rate that I'll be having to go back to my private Dr for occasional things I may want checked out. rather than run the gauntlet of trying to actually see my NHS doctor here.

How many illnesses will be missed if this puts people off going to the Dr, or they cannot get seen? In the UK it's pretty obvious that as soon as the wait for an appointment started to be weeks in advance, people simply went to A&E instead. I know from my FIL's experience, his local surgery and his treatment (or I should say lack of it) has been truly abysmal. He ended up having to call out a private doctor when very ill with a bad chest infection. He's 93 and was terribly ill, but couldn't get any help from the NHS (pre Covid), and has not been followed up at all after cancer surgery in January. I realise I am talking of the UK, but could it be the shape of things to come here?

[Free at Last]

Neither of us have needed many appointments with our GP here, but when we did we could always get an appointment the same day. When my OH had spent a weekend in pain, he went online on the Monday morning, got a GP appointment less than 2 hours later, attended and was examined and sent off to Urgencias at the hospital. Including seeing the GP, the journey to and from the hospital, being booked in and triaged, seeing the doctor, having ECG, blood test and X-rays, seeing the doctor again for the results and get a prescription then a nurse to have a cannula removed, the whole thing took 2.5 hours and we were so impressed. Under the new system it would take a lot longer than that just to wait for a call back from the GP to decided whether he warranted a face to face consultation or not, not including however long it takes to be able to get through on the phone in the first place. We are not the sort of people who would think of going straight to A&E unless we thought it was a genuine emergency, but I have to say that in those circumstances rather than face another day or two in pain, we might do in future.

I thought the existing system was wonderful and was always singing its praises, and I'm very disappointed that it is now gone.

[Wicksey]

I agree entirely with everything you've said FaL. We don't even have a phone signal in our house making call-backs pretty fraught!