No, one can't go in person to make the appointment, it can only be done by phone.
And you don't get told that you are 27th in line, simply that the line is busy. (I think it only queues up to about 4 people).
The real problem, apart from a general lack of capacity in the system, is the folk who just set their phones to automatic redialling, which means that those of us who have to dial manually don't get much of a look-in.
I was being somewhat hyperbolic with the *27th in the queue*, but I have been told that I'm *8th in the queue* - so I'm not sure how many our little village GP practice can cope with at one time!
The real problem, apart from a general lack of capacity in the system, is the folk who just set their phones to automatic redialling, which means that those of us who have to dial manually don't get much of a look-in.
And anyone who has responsibilities other than spending all day repeatedly trying to phone the doctor is just screwed. I hate this kind of system with a vengeance. It's obnoxious, evil, and completely contemptuous of the people who want to make an appointment.
The real problem, apart from a general lack of capacity in the system, is the folk who just set their phones to automatic redialling, which means that those of us who have to dial manually don't get much of a look-in.
And anyone who has responsibilities other than spending all day repeatedly trying to phone the doctor is just screwed. I hate this kind of system with a vengeance. It's obnoxious, evil, and completely contemptuous of the people who want to make an appointment.
You don't spend all day. If you've not got through in ten minutes the appointments will all be gone anyway.
The solution isn't changing the booking system. It's having enough appointments.
GPs have found they can be more efficient with more flexible appointment types - phone and video consultations - during lockdown. But they're marginal gains compared with having more doctors.
The solution isn't changing the booking system. It's having enough appointments.
No - you need to change the booking system as well. Only being able to book an appointment at a particular time of day is obnoxious.
But if you have enough staff, and so enough available appointments, you don't need to put barriers in the way of people making appointments. This kind of stupid appointment system arises as a consequence of trying to manage a lack of appointments.
If it's a non-urgent appointment can't you schedule it for a few days' time?
Ah, but there are only certain, very limited, times when booking is open and very limited appointment slots0, so you still have to struggle through the system even for those.
If it's a non-urgent appointment can't you schedule it for a few days' time?
Ah, but there are only certain, very limited, times when booking is open and very limited appointment slots0, so you still have to struggle through the system even for those.
and only a lmited number of appointments is available for forward booking - otherwise there are none for booking on the day.
It's all a matter of making the best of the very bad job that is the underfunded, understaffed, depressed NHS.
I have a tale of two halves. I was attacked by a cockerel this morning, and as it drew blood my line manager felt it warranted an incident report, which involved contacting my GP re an anti tetnus jab.
I went into my GPs website, which I thought was telling me to phone NHS 111, but when I did that I got a recorded message saying to contact the GP first.
Back to the website, which requested that you search for an answer before phoning. I dutifully tried to search for an answer. None of my searches "anti tetnus" "puncture wounds" "cockerel attack" produced anything.
And so I phoned. Third in the queue, short wait, extremely helpful receptionist who told me my last anti tetnus predated the computerisation of their records and they would have to phone back. She phoned back 10 mins later to say that my paper records showed that my last anti tetnus was in 1992, that the practice recommended anti tetnus for animal bites, but had no written guidelines re cockerel attack, but I should just drop in to the practice within the next 90 minutes and they would jab me.
And so they did.
As soon as I spoke to an actual person everything was a model of efficiency.
Cockerels can be very vicious and scary. We used to keep chickens and I remember an article from a small holding expert describing how to have a stand off with a cockerel to show them who was the boss of the pecking order. It involved using a dustbin lid as a shield!
Thus reminds me of a joke - this bloke accidentally runs over and kills a cockerel. He knocks on the door of a nearby farmhouse and explains what's happened and that naturally he wants to replace it. The farmer looks at him a bit confused and says "I don't think they'll like it but you can try if you can catch them - the hens are round the back of that barn there!"
And I think it would be only fair and just if the DT Saturday cryptic crossword setters spent time here. They're the ones who seem to set the clues far too often at a level of difficulty which the clever clogs who post their comments on Big Dave's hints blog, say they have completed it with no trouble in ** or *** time.
These clever clogs should only be allowed to do the Toughie on Saturdays. Keep the Saturday cryptic at a level for middle-of-the-road solvers like me.
Today's cryptic is one that I'm not going to be able to complete without googling half the answers, so I'll wait for Tuesday's.
Thus reminds me of a joke - this bloke accidentally runs over and kills a cockerel. He knocks on the door of a nearby farmhouse and explains what's happened and that naturally he wants to replace it. The farmer looks at him a bit confused and says "I don't think they'll like it but you can try if you can catch them - the hens are round the back of that barn there!"
One of my happier moments as a child was when I was rescued from a particularly aggressive rooster. I had been sent to gather eggs and was busily filling my pail when Lucifer (real name) came flying at me. Just before he made contact, my cousin swooped in, grabbed the rooster by the neck, turned him over his knee and administered a thorough spanking while the hens looked on. Never had a problem after that. Heh.
If it's a non-urgent appointment can't you schedule it for a few days' time?
If only. Same day GP appointments only.
It is possible to get an advance appointment for the various procedures carried out by the nurses, but that will probably be weeks ahead.
That is the position at our current surgery, and was the same at our previous one, a couple of hundred miles away. One in a large but semi-rural village and one in a coastal (but not resort) town. Doctors not interested in moving to practices in that type of location.
The owner of two mastiff/lurcher type dogs which came out of the open gate of their back yard/garden, and seeing my two daughters 100m away ended up chasing them down the street. They only escaped by climbing a fence into another property where the property owner closed the gate to shut the dogs out. My older daughter has jeans ripped beyond repair, and several puncture/bite wounds to calves, thighs and buttocks. Police informed.
The owner of two mastiff/lurcher type dogs which came out of the open gate of their back yard/garden, and seeing my two daughters 100m away ended up chasing them down the street. They only escaped by climbing a fence into another property where the property owner closed the gate to shut the dogs out. My older daughter has jeans ripped beyond repair, and several puncture/bite wounds to calves, thighs and buttocks. Police informed.
That is just dreadful; it must have given them an awful fright. I hope the police do something about it straight away.
The little shits who mean I had to drop my daughter off at a different spot this morning so she can avoid them.
Bullies are not, as commonly claimed, themselves lacking in self-confidence or popularity. They're the popular, physically strong, sporty kids who arrogantly and narcissistically think they're better than everyone else and therefore have some kind of right to make the people they look down and and despise feel utterly worthless, incompetent and a waste of space.
Standing there at the bus stop, vaping away, laughing and enjoying life. I am not a violent man but it was as much as I could do not to get out of the car and beat the living shit out of them until they promise never to even approach my daughter again. I want them as scared as they make her. I want them complaining of stomach upsets and dreading going to school. I want them forking out hundreds of pounds to counsellors in their adult lives trying to get over their feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, not the victims they impose their toxic bile over. I want them asking why no-one likes them and everyone's mean to them. It's so fucking unfair and schools still can't seemingly do anything about behaviour that would result in fucking prison sentences if it happened in the adult world.
FYI, if physical violence is involved and they are over 10 you can report them to the police - which might at least rivet the schools attention to doing something effective.
The trouble for schools is that their writ only runs within their boundaries. They are very limited in what they can do about anything on the other side of the school gates.
When I was a preschooler I was at the local shops with Mum and my oldest brother who was bullied at school. Glenn pointed out the boy who bullied him. and being a stroppy kid I apparently went up behind him and booted him in the backside. He turned around ready to fight, but there was only this unknown wee girl walking away.
No one was allowed to tease or thump my brother - except me.
@Huia i wish you had been my sister, instead of the one I got who was my bully. And the hapless parents who were caught in between and decided that they would do nothing as they didn't want to upset her confidence.
Huge sympathies for the family of @KarlLB - they are lucky to have you around and hoping for a resolution and sooner rather than later.
Car hire companies who aren't around when a car is returned and then claim it is damaged once you have left the country!
A brilliant multigenerational family celebration over last w/e has been spoiled by one such car company.
My two were bullied/assaulted at school. Appeals to the school having got precisely nowhere ("we have a strict policy on bullying" and total inaction) I took action myself -spur of the moment thing but it worked. I just offered the bully (all 6' of him) a lift with us to an inter-school sports thing and proceeded to address the air in general about bullying, pointing out that assault was a criminal offence and that I, for one, would have no hesitation in pursuing a private prosecution if my sons were ever threatened/assaulted - would his parents do the same? It worked.
School was very unhappy but, as I pointed out, they'd had 2 terms to deal with it and achieved nothing, while I'd had 20 minutes and dealt with it. I'm jot proud of having browbeaten a 14 year old but something had to be done to stop actual violence.
Unfortunately this is more of the sort of crap I had to put up with - bullying by whole groups. It's harassment over time - a comment here, a snigger there, a look here, an "accident" there - little things in themselves with a potentially massive cumulative effect. A single person who's a jerk is less damaging in the long run than an ongoing atmosphere constantly reinforcing that you're pathetic, ridiculous, worthless, of no importance, inferior and so on.
I experienced a little bit of bullying at Grammar School (about 60 years ago!) when That Sort Of Thing was not uncommon, and largely disregarded by the staff.
It did occur to me to wonder if perhaps the answer to @KarlLB's daughter's situation was a change of school, but that's probably a harder thing to achieve than perhaps I realise.
I experienced a little bit of bullying at Grammar School (about 60 years ago!) when That Sort Of Thing was not uncommon, and largely disregarded by the staff.
It did occur to me to wonder if perhaps the answer to @KarlLB's daughter's situation was a change of school, but that's probably a harder thing to achieve than perhaps I realise.
It would be tremendously disruptive, given she's just about to start GCSEs and we'd have to find somewhere with space and with the options she's chosen. And for a number of reasons the fact the staff at her current school know her is very important. This happens far too much; the people having to go through the inconvenience and disruption of changing schools shouldn't be the victims; it should be the little bastards responsible.
Moreover, like me, she is one of those people that bullying follows around. She has "bully me" written on her forehead because she's so obviously different. I have no confidence a change in school would help; the stress would likely trigger the behaviours that give the bullies the ammunition in the first place.
We've got round this one for now by a change of drop off point. There is a group of "mean girls" in her class who are the worst problem; I don't want to go into details but she's inevitably easy meat; for all the toleration of diversity we have in schools now (and God knows it's better than it was) there are so many kids who can't pass up a good laugh at someone else's expense. I'm not much of a disciplinarian but I think the only way it will be stopped is by an "if you don't your feet won't touch the ground". Temporary exclusions are ineffective since it's just a day off to these kids. You need effectively an injunction - "if you are seen instigating interaction with this person you will be looking for a new school immediately". It'll never happen.
I did read of one parent who did manage to get a proper legal injunction against her child's bully. It forced the bully to find a new school because they couldn't obey the terms of the injunction (something like not going with 100 metres of the victim) while being at the same school. Effective when you've got an individual the school won't deal with; less so with several different groups.
@KarlLB Something that one of my former choristers did may be worth a thought.
Obviously I don't know your daughter, but have you and she considered enrolling her in a martial arts club? Not for the self-defence thing (although it could be useful) but because it can do two things - build confidence, and give her an outlet for the negativity she is probably feeling. Confidence is a weird and underrated thing, and any chance of giving her some might give a boost and make her less obviously a victim of this toxic group.
Just a thought I had after bumping into M who has transformed from a "wouldn't say boo to a goose" into a confident young 16 year old I barely recognised - physically not much different (still a bare 5') but she now has presence.
She did it for a couple of years but didn't enjoy it much and didn't want to carry on. The problem with these things is they build confidence if you don't absolutely suck at them. As someone who sucks at every sporting activity I've ever tried (it's my second cricket season and I still can't bowl a legal ball more than one time in three and my best innings is two balls, zero runs. And I'm actually even worse at most other sports) I am sceptical about the universal confidence building value of these sorts of activities.
Comments
I was being somewhat hyperbolic with the *27th in the queue*, but I have been told that I'm *8th in the queue* - so I'm not sure how many our little village GP practice can cope with at one time!
And anyone who has responsibilities other than spending all day repeatedly trying to phone the doctor is just screwed. I hate this kind of system with a vengeance. It's obnoxious, evil, and completely contemptuous of the people who want to make an appointment.
You don't spend all day. If you've not got through in ten minutes the appointments will all be gone anyway.
The solution isn't changing the booking system. It's having enough appointments.
That goes without saying.
GPs have found they can be more efficient with more flexible appointment types - phone and video consultations - during lockdown. But they're marginal gains compared with having more doctors.
No - you need to change the booking system as well. Only being able to book an appointment at a particular time of day is obnoxious.
But if you have enough staff, and so enough available appointments, you don't need to put barriers in the way of people making appointments. This kind of stupid appointment system arises as a consequence of trying to manage a lack of appointments.
and only a lmited number of appointments is available for forward booking - otherwise there are none for booking on the day.
It's all a matter of making the best of the very bad job that is the underfunded, understaffed, depressed NHS.
I went into my GPs website, which I thought was telling me to phone NHS 111, but when I did that I got a recorded message saying to contact the GP first.
Back to the website, which requested that you search for an answer before phoning. I dutifully tried to search for an answer. None of my searches "anti tetnus" "puncture wounds" "cockerel attack" produced anything.
And so I phoned. Third in the queue, short wait, extremely helpful receptionist who told me my last anti tetnus predated the computerisation of their records and they would have to phone back. She phoned back 10 mins later to say that my paper records showed that my last anti tetnus was in 1992, that the practice recommended anti tetnus for animal bites, but had no written guidelines re cockerel attack, but I should just drop in to the practice within the next 90 minutes and they would jab me.
And so they did.
As soon as I spoke to an actual person everything was a model of efficiency.
Ye weel noo, hen?
These clever clogs should only be allowed to do the Toughie on Saturdays. Keep the Saturday cryptic at a level for middle-of-the-road solvers like me.
Today's cryptic is one that I'm not going to be able to complete without googling half the answers, so I'll wait for Tuesday's.
*sniggers childishly*
As you were.
...but I'm sure it's on YouTube somewhere!
Your cousin was extremely quick-witted and brave, to act in such a decisive manner!
🙇♂️
We know the one.
And the vultures circled overhead....
It is possible to get an advance appointment for the various procedures carried out by the nurses, but that will probably be weeks ahead.
That is the position at our current surgery, and was the same at our previous one, a couple of hundred miles away. One in a large but semi-rural village and one in a coastal (but not resort) town. Doctors not interested in moving to practices in that type of location.
That song was a specialty of the landlord at the pub where I met my wife.
I don’t blame the dogs. I do blame those responsible for them.
Bullies are not, as commonly claimed, themselves lacking in self-confidence or popularity. They're the popular, physically strong, sporty kids who arrogantly and narcissistically think they're better than everyone else and therefore have some kind of right to make the people they look down and and despise feel utterly worthless, incompetent and a waste of space.
Standing there at the bus stop, vaping away, laughing and enjoying life. I am not a violent man but it was as much as I could do not to get out of the car and beat the living shit out of them until they promise never to even approach my daughter again. I want them as scared as they make her. I want them complaining of stomach upsets and dreading going to school. I want them forking out hundreds of pounds to counsellors in their adult lives trying to get over their feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, not the victims they impose their toxic bile over. I want them asking why no-one likes them and everyone's mean to them. It's so fucking unfair and schools still can't seemingly do anything about behaviour that would result in fucking prison sentences if it happened in the adult world.
No one was allowed to tease or thump my brother - except me.
Huge sympathies for the family of @KarlLB - they are lucky to have you around and hoping for a resolution and sooner rather than later.
A brilliant multigenerational family celebration over last w/e has been spoiled by one such car company.
My two were bullied/assaulted at school. Appeals to the school having got precisely nowhere ("we have a strict policy on bullying" and total inaction) I took action myself -spur of the moment thing but it worked. I just offered the bully (all 6' of him) a lift with us to an inter-school sports thing and proceeded to address the air in general about bullying, pointing out that assault was a criminal offence and that I, for one, would have no hesitation in pursuing a private prosecution if my sons were ever threatened/assaulted - would his parents do the same? It worked.
School was very unhappy but, as I pointed out, they'd had 2 terms to deal with it and achieved nothing, while I'd had 20 minutes and dealt with it. I'm jot proud of having browbeaten a 14 year old but something had to be done to stop actual violence.
It did occur to me to wonder if perhaps the answer to @KarlLB's daughter's situation was a change of school, but that's probably a harder thing to achieve than perhaps I realise.
It would be tremendously disruptive, given she's just about to start GCSEs and we'd have to find somewhere with space and with the options she's chosen. And for a number of reasons the fact the staff at her current school know her is very important. This happens far too much; the people having to go through the inconvenience and disruption of changing schools shouldn't be the victims; it should be the little bastards responsible.
Moreover, like me, she is one of those people that bullying follows around. She has "bully me" written on her forehead because she's so obviously different. I have no confidence a change in school would help; the stress would likely trigger the behaviours that give the bullies the ammunition in the first place.
We've got round this one for now by a change of drop off point. There is a group of "mean girls" in her class who are the worst problem; I don't want to go into details but she's inevitably easy meat; for all the toleration of diversity we have in schools now (and God knows it's better than it was) there are so many kids who can't pass up a good laugh at someone else's expense. I'm not much of a disciplinarian but I think the only way it will be stopped is by an "if you don't your feet won't touch the ground". Temporary exclusions are ineffective since it's just a day off to these kids. You need effectively an injunction - "if you are seen instigating interaction with this person you will be looking for a new school immediately". It'll never happen.
I did read of one parent who did manage to get a proper legal injunction against her child's bully. It forced the bully to find a new school because they couldn't obey the terms of the injunction (something like not going with 100 metres of the victim) while being at the same school. Effective when you've got an individual the school won't deal with; less so with several different groups.
I'm sure we all hope that the situation as regards your daughter improves a.s.a.p.
Obviously I don't know your daughter, but have you and she considered enrolling her in a martial arts club? Not for the self-defence thing (although it could be useful) but because it can do two things - build confidence, and give her an outlet for the negativity she is probably feeling. Confidence is a weird and underrated thing, and any chance of giving her some might give a boost and make her less obviously a victim of this toxic group.
Just a thought I had after bumping into M who has transformed from a "wouldn't say boo to a goose" into a confident young 16 year old I barely recognised - physically not much different (still a bare 5') but she now has presence.