In article , Roger Hayter
writes
On 15 Oct 2020 at 23:42:10 BST, ""NY"" wrote:

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
idual.net...
On Thu, 15 Oct 2020 21:53:28 +0100, T i m wrote:

So, the last time I tried to phone our surgery I started at 13 in the
queue and got though about an hour later ... only to be told I'd have
to phone again the next morning as all the 'call-you-back' virtual
appointments had been taken?

Why is it that doctors' receptionists think that it is acceptable to say
"phone tomorrow for an appointment" instead of saying "he can't see you
today but he can see you in two days' time"? There seems to be an aversion
to booking appointments fro any day other than the day you are phoning. You
end up phoning each day, only to be told "there are no appointments today so
you'll have to try phoning tomorrow".

When I moved to a new area and was deciding which doctors practice to use, I
asked about their appointments that they used, because I'd heard of this
system in some practices. The receptionist at one practice told me that if I
phoned on a given day, I could have an appointment that day, or if none was
available, in exactly a week's time or else exactly a fortnight's time. If I
wanted an appointment for tomorrow or the next day, I would have to phone on
the morning of that day to see if I would be "lucky". She seemed quite
offended when I said "I think I'll try an find a practice that allows me to
book for the earliest day on which there is a vacancy".


The whole point of an appointment system for arranging a meeting of any sort
is that you phone *once* and get an appointment for as soon as possible -
ideally today if it's important or else tomorrow or the day after or
whenever there is a vacancy. The concept of having to phone each day to see
"is there a vacancy today" is like some customer-unfriendly system that an
Iron Curtain country would have devised.

I agree. But it may result because all the day's appointments plus some extra
ones (unpaid overtime) are booked on the day, and none left for pre-booking.
It is the result of a system overwhelmed because of insufficient resources.
Or possibly unreasonable, trivial and excessive demands, resulting from a
system free at the point of use and a population encouraged to see their GP
for any financial, social, emotional, educational and public service problem
they may have, because other agencies will simply not see them.


I can remember when if you needed to see a doctor you just turned up at
the surgery, sat down and waited, but not for long.
--
bert