NHS Appointment Waits

I know that people complain about long waits with the NHS. I'm not sure if it's just for surgery or for appointments as well. If it's for appointments, then my experience is the complete opposite and I was wondering if my experience is common.

In the US, I usually had to wait at least a week or two for an appointment.

When I make an appointment for my surgery here, they always immediately start scheduling me for the next day, and I have to stop them because I can't go (e.g. because I haven't asked for the next day off from work). I am still used to making an appointment and assuming that I won't be able to get anything till at least the following week.

Is this normal?

Yes, this is perfectly common here now - unfortunately.

At mine we have to start phoning at 8 am on the dot for the emergency appts (along with a hundred other people trying to do the same and take what you're given - usually within an hour or two, even if it's not strictly an "emergency".  I always have to pre-check with work when I might do this, but they are pretty flexible about it as my office is in the opposite direction to my GP surgery.

I also don't lose pay or have to make up the time off.

I would advise not to hesitate to ask for a double appt if you have something more complex to discuss like any female/birth control issues etc

Yes, the government introduced a new standard that all pateints must be seen within 48 hours - unless of course they don't want to be seen that quickly but reportedly a lot of surgeries won't make appointments more than 1 day in advance now. 

We have found the issue with having to wait long times comes up with specialist appointments!

It's the hospital appointments that you wait for, not your GP-although they all have their own systems which can be hard to navigate at times.

Yep -- I can always get in to see the NHS doc within a day or two.  In the US, at least for Ob-Gyn appts -- sometimes I had to wait MONTHS!

Seeing the GP - no problem. Anything else wrong with you, forget about it. There's a waiting list for the waiting list.

How about dentists though? Usually in America its MONTHS waiting. Is it the same here or is it within a couple days like at surgerys?

I would advise not to hesitate to ask for a double appt if you have something more complex to discuss like any female/birth control issues etc

Can I tell the receptionist how long I want the appointment for? The one time I saw a GP in the UK, I had a bunch of medical issues to discuss because it was my first time seeing him, and he cut me off a little after 15 minutes, commenting that we had gone past our 15 minutes.  My husband said I should have expected this, but I never experienced this in the US.  Doctors in the US are told by insurance companies that they have to keep their patients' visits short and maximise the number of patients they see every day, but they will never cut off a patient in the middle of a consultation because of time constraints. They just make the other patients wait longer.

I have an appointment next week to get my birth control refilled and to discuss some serious gynecological issues.  I  told the receptionist what I wanted to discuss when I made the appointment.  Am I going to be cut off before the discussion has ended?

No, you can't actually dictate the amount of time and I have to say that appt was a fairly generous one (15 mins) but if you ask for a double appt, you should get between 20-30 mins and they usually schedule those on a different date, unlike the emergency or immediate appts.

They are told exactly the same here, minimise the visits and they prefer one topic only compared to what they call the "whilst I'm here" syndrome.

If I were you, I would clarify at the beginning that you asked for a certain topic to be discussed and you really want to be sure you won't again be cut-off. There is nothing worse than some old boy who turns straight to his pad or computer to start inputting details when you still have something to discuss

I forgot to mention family planning clinics, there will be one in your town, you can register with them and see them if you dont get your needs met at your G.P, they have prescribing Dr's and you can get a better service with them sometimes.

They also do free pregnancy tests/condoms and they will also do your smear tests etc. This is particularly useful if you don't feel comfortable with being rushed or your G.P's.

minimise the visits and they prefer one topic only compared to what they call the "whilst I'm here" syndrom

.............So I guess thats a bad thing for a hypochondriac..........

/sorry bad joke

.............So I guess thats a bad thing for a hypochondriac..........

/sorry bad joke

LOL 

Our doctor's surgery offers walk in appts in the morning and scheduled appts in the afternoon.
I never had an appt with a specialist so I can't offer my 2 cents worth there.

I forgot to mention family planning clinics, there will be one in your town, you can register with them and see them if you dont get your needs met at your G.P, they have prescribing Dr's and you can get a better service with them sometimes.

They also do free pregnancy tests/condoms and they will also do your smear tests etc. This is particularly useful if you don't feel comfortable with being rushed or your G.P's.

Well, my surgery is next door to where I live, while I would probably have to take a bus to the family planning clinic, so I will stick with the surgery unless I end up being very unhappy with the GP.

I think the idea of sticking to one topic in a visit is a very bad one because sometimes apparently unrelated symptoms can be related.   There are diseases which can have multiple, unrelated symptoms, like fibromyalgia, diabetes, MS, etc.

It is always better to look at the body as a whole, rather than just focus on one particular part or symptom.  As an example, once I was talking to my internist in  the US in her office, and while she was talking to me she noticed that my thyroid gland looked kind of swollen, so she sent me to have a thyroid sonogram.  It turned out fine, it just looks that way because I have a skinny neck, but it was good that she didn't just completely ignore it because I had made the appointment for something else.