Doctors ( gp ) working hours.

[debimac]

Just tried to make an appointment for a late afternoon /evening today or tomorrow.
Next friday was the next available one as afternoon appointments can be made a fortnight in advance!
Due to medical reasons I cannot go out alone so try to arrange an appointment when my husband can go with me. My illness prevents me from working also!
How do working people who are under the weather or need treatment fit in around their working day a visit to the doctors if at 5.30/6.00 oclock they close the surgery?
I don't understand why surgeries don't work two shifts covering the hours of 8am till 10pm?
Hospitals surely would be less congested with minor problems and illnesses!?
Illness doesn't just happen between the hours of 8 till 5.30 does it?

[Vistravi]

It be good for the gp to stay open later if the area needed it. I think in rural areas it wouldn't work but in cities it would.

But putting that aside who would pay for it?

[debimac]

Lots of people work shifts with no extra pay.
Instead of 3 or 4 doctors working the same hours they could alternate 1 week days the next afternoons!

[Vistravi]

Ah but on a a schedule basis it may not be possible. The 3 to 4 doctors working the same shift means that more patients in a busy area such as a city can see a doctor. For the same amount to see a doctor and the surgery to be open for longer there would have to be more doctors hired.

Opening later makes sense but its not all that cost effective to do so.

[debimac]

Working people are forced to take a day off sick when not necessary to see a doctor as the surgery hours prevent them going at a later time, after their working day.
Millions of pound are lost through people taking sick days, but I wonder how many people have the day off just to make an appointment?

[Dadie]

If the kids are sick they usually come down with whatever about 2am or on a saturday night.
I have used nhs24 and the A&E dept more often for them than the docs.
As the girls are bad for hitting 40deg when ill and if I cant get it down with the usual calpol and ibrobufen (max dose) combined with cool baths and stripped of clothes.
But trying to get an appt for the kids if they need an appt at the docs is usually same day.
But if I need an appt for me its usually a wait.
And usually at an inconvenient time..but I will still take the appt as otherwise it takes longer.

[Vistravi]

Working people are forced to take a day off sick when not necessary to see a doctor as the surgery hours prevent them going at a later time, after their working day.
Millions of pound are lost through people taking sick days, but I wonder how many people have the day off just to make an appointment?

Aye thats pretty much what i had to do when i lived in inverness. Had to wait at least a week anyway for an appointment regardless of what it was about. Would tell my boss the day i'd have one and have a half day or a day of then or make it for when i knew i had a day off.

Up here thankfully you don't have to wait that long. Still used nhs24 more than the doctors.

[Bazeye]

Working people are forced to take a day off sick when not necessary to see a doctor as the surgery hours prevent them going at a later time, after their working day.
Millions of pound are lost through people taking sick days, but I wonder how many people have the day off just to make an appointment?

Where I work we get paid for hospital visits but not for Doctors. So if Ive got a Doctors appointment I just get a hospital appointment card from a mate of mine whose wife happens to be a nurse and get the wife or daughter to fill it in for me.

[Kodiak]

In my opinion the Doctors here in Caithness are fantastic. About a year ago I was taken quite ill late on a Saturday night. My wife phone NHS 24 and they in turn sent an Ambulance. It arrived in 10 Minutes and I was in Hospital 5 minuts later. Within 15 minutes on arriving at the Hospital my Own Doctor arrived, not a Locum or a stranger but my own Doctor.

Fortunately I was allowed home after some treatment but where else does your own Doctor attend a Hospital so quickly late on a Saturday night.

I have also never had a problem in getting an appointment. If I phone up and ask for an appointment to see my Doctor, I usually get one the same day, or at the latest the next day.

[Corrie 3]

Where I work we get paid for hospital visits but not for Doctors. So if Ive got a Doctors appointment I just get a hospital appointment card from a mate of mine whose wife happens to be a nurse and get the wife or daughter to fill it in for me.

You arent a MP are you Baz???

C3.....

[debimac]

what i was trying to say is, if there are 4 doctors working at a surgery would it not be possible for the doctors to take it in turns to work 1 afternoon/evening shift for a week once a month, so there would be three doctors on the day surgery and one on afternoons/evenings?
If you work a 9 to 5 job it is difficult to go to a doctor within those hours, bearing in mind saturdays and sundays surgeries are closed.

[hopper.65]

Working people are forced to take a day off sick when not necessary to see a doctor as the surgery hours prevent them going at a later time, after their working day.
Millions of pound are lost through people taking sick days, but I wonder how many people have the day off just to make an appointment?

A Doctors time spent on each patient during a surgery is 10 mins why would anyone need to take a whole day off sick from work to do something like visit your Doctor?

[debimac]

A Doctors time spent on each patient during a surgery is 10 mins why would anyone need to take a whole day off sick from work to do something like visit your Doctor?

In an ideal world 10 mins maybe but from visits to my surgery I have waited for a lot longer than that for each paitient to be seen!
When you consider the travel from your work to a surgery and the waiting and then your consultation and travel back to work it is not as quick as a 10 min visit!
Plenty of people work for employers who aren't that sympathetic to dental or doctors appointments during working hours!! So to avoid the hassle take time off work.

[sandyr1]

Where I work we get paid for hospital visits but not for Doctors. So if Ive got a Doctors appointment I just get a hospital appointment card from a mate of mine whose wife happens to be a nurse and get the wife or daughter to fill it in for me.

You get paid if you go to the hospital???

[Vistravi]

what i was trying to say is, if there are 4 doctors working at a surgery would it not be possible for the doctors to take it in turns to work 1 afternoon/evening shift for a week once a month, so there would be three doctors on the day surgery and one on afternoons/evenings?
If you work a 9 to 5 job it is difficult to go to a doctor within those hours, bearing in mind saturdays and sundays surgeries are closed.

But what you don't get is that it wouldn't quite work unless it was in a city anf the surgery could afford more doctors. if you stick to the 4 and alternate the shifts there will be less time for patients to be seen not more. It's not cost effective.

[Carole]

But what you don't get is that it wouldn't quite work unless it was in a city anf the surgery could afford more doctors. if you stick to the 4 and alternate the shifts there will be less time for patients to be seen not more. It's not cost effective.

Plus there are the extra hours worked by support staff - receptionists and nurses. Doctors would not 'man' the surgery alone.

[white lightning]

Alot of doctors surgeries are open from 7am in morning so that those that do work can get an appt before work.

[silverlady]

In my opinion the Doctors here in Caithness are fantastic. About a year ago I was taken quite ill late on a Saturday night. My wife phone NHS 24 and they in turn sent an Ambulance. It arrived in 10 Minutes and I was in Hospital 5 minuts later. Within 15 minutes on arriving at the Hospital my Own Doctor arrived, not a Locum or a stranger but my own Doctor.

Fortunately I was allowed home after some treatment but where else does your own Doctor attend a Hospital so quickly late on a Saturday night.

I have also never had a problem in getting an appointment. If I phone up and ask for an appointment to see my Doctor, I usually get one the same day, or at the latest the next day.

That's great that you had such prompt treatment - NHS24 at its best, but its not the norm that patients' own GPs attend hospital if one of their patients are brought in. One of the locum Thurso GPs happens to be an Out of hours GP, and he (presumably your GP) must have been on OOH duty that particular Saturday night, which must have been a great comfort to you. There are 4 different OOH GPs who work 7 night rotas. Had he been seeing another patient,perhaps as far away as Dunbeath, or Reay, he wouldn't have been able to see you so quickly.

[Bazeye]

You get paid if you go to the hospital???

Yep, if its just a routine visit, x-ray, blood test etc. If youre actually in hospital for something more serious its 6 months full pay then 6 months half pay on the sick.

[sandyr1]

I guess it never ceases to amaze me, the 'Freebies' the UK doles out.
And before I am the wonky ex pat, the UK is also my Country.
In other Countries one must pay or negotiate these benefits in their contracts.
Pensions and Health Care make up an extra 25% of the wages. (Approx).
What a place to live!