General Chat

My doctors too is fantastic - I rarely need an appointment that day and can book in advance (not many surgeries still do this!)

And in an emergency they will fit you in.

2 wonderful doctors, 1 is French and I think the other is Hungarian.

Could not fault them or their team, the receptionists are so helpful as well.

LOVE EM ALL <3

If you ring ours and they are busy you can't even hold on to be answered! A message is played telling you the line is busy and to ring back later........when it is likely all the appointments will have gone by then!!

We can't book online and the only way to be sure of getting an appointment on the same day is to go down to the surgery early before they open and queue with others doing the same!! Then you have to come back again for your appointment if you manage to book one. If the morning appointments have all gone, you have to come back at 11.00am when they release the afternoon appointments to see if you can get one of those. This is just to see ANY doctor, not your own. It's a nightmare and not what you want when you feel unwell. :-S

Getting through to the doctors is really bad around 8-30am and by the time the receptionist answers the phone at 8-55am the appointments have all gone.

I can go online to book an appointment but it's usually at least 4/5 weeks to see the doctor I need to see.

What a farce :-0 :-0 :-0

Andysmum - glad to hear you have a good surgery and that it is in a village. My good surgery is in a town but the brother in law is in a village and the service there is atrocious.

Finally got main reception to listen, at 4:15 after a further 4 calls.
She suggested I phone in the morning to make an appointment.
I pointed out I had been trying all day, failed to even get through this morning.
She asked for some idea of the problem. When I said 1 kidney and diagnosed kidney infection - with no pre-warning - through my taking a sample down last Thursday, she said she'd call me back.

A different person called me back, asked for a few details - and I now have an appointment with my own doctor at 4:15 tomorrow :-D

What I really hate is when they ask the 'level of pain'. I have a very high pain tolerance, so it's difficult to say :-\
My 'discomfort' could be extremely dangerous, I just control it.
Then, 'how many pain killers have you taken' - well, I took two this morning, survived until 2pm, then had to sleep. I seem to be lucky enough to manage pain through endorphins, but need to sleep a lot which seems to be my body's way of replenishing them.

It's not easy getting through on the phone to our Doctor's surgery, but when you do, the receptionists are always friendly and helpful, and if you are lucky, you can speak to your doctor himself at certain times.
My Doctor will be retiring next month. I asked him who I would be assigned to, but he said there is no replacement as yet, and things are set to be chaotic. Great! I'm really going to miss him, after 29 years. :-(

My doctor is brilliant - when I can get to see him......

He knows my sitation, and takes the whole thing in.
'Strange' doctors just look at the one thing and ignore the others.

I'm lucky I have an appointment with him next Tuesday, but would still like to see one before then,

Made 2 more calls - main reception engaged....

My doctors is ok I guess but sometimes you have to wait weeks for an appointment...I have a really bad arm and need a steriod injection in it, I asked for an appointmetn last week and the only one they have is for 29th!! To say im in agony is an understatement...I keep asking if I can see a physio as I have a rotating cuff injury from using crutches when I had an op in December but I think it keeps falling on deaf ears..... :-S

Jules x

Our surgery is great, rather like Staffyknot's. Pleasant receptionists, usually a choice of times, and also, except when they are on holiday, a choice of doctor.

One of the advantages of living in a village.

We can book online it's brilliant!
You can browse the available appointments instead of feeling obliged to accept the one the receptionist offers.

Mayfield

I had a problem with my last doctor over my husband death but has I lived just over the road from them and I wanted her to look me in the eyes if she bumped into me (she never could) if any of the doctors I was seeing was running late I was told to go home make a cup of tea and they would ring when the doctor was ready for me, that's what I call service. :-D :-D

:-D Det - I already have an appointment for next week, with my own doctor - I made it 2 weeks ago, but it's for results of tests I've already had.
Need to see him now to check on the kidney.
I'm also under a little pressure from work to return ASAP.

....well if they're happy for me to have a 2 - 3 hour lie-down in the afternoon......

That's the problem with a Monday, isn't it? Hope you manage to get an appointment soon rather than sometime next week!

My wife and I are very lucky. Our surgery is one of the best in the land and, believe it or not, the receptionists are friendly and not in the least officious.

We never wait more than 2 or 3 minutes for the call to be answered and an appointment can always be obtained for the following day and on many occasions the same day. Last week I rang at 8.30 am to make an appointment for my wife and the receptionist said, "can you get her here for 10.15?"

On the other hand my brother in law's surgery is absolutely horrendous ! But the laws of libel stop me going further...........

Calls does it take to even get hold of a doctor's receptionist?

So far, since 08:30 this morning - 8!
Worst thing is, I know I won't get an appointment with my own doctor, but have to go through 'his' receptionist.
'Central' reception puts me through to her - and the phone just keeps on ringing :-|