08.10.14
Waiting times
Source: Nicola Hayward
Patients are able to be seen the same day – but just not for routine things! If they have an urgent problem (and by urgent, it's urgent to them, not necessarily clinically urgent!) they will be seen, but they'll maybe have to wait until the end of the surgery session.
Patient expectations have been raised by government directives telling them what they should have...and as one patient said to me: "If I can buy potatoes at 3am at Tesco, why can't I see a doctor?"!
People are reluctant to put their health first and demand that we move our appointments to suit their lifestyle, and yet they wouldn't dare ask the same of a solicitor! Try getting a builder to come out to you when you want…and yet the expectation is that your named GP will be there at the surgery when it's convenient for you!
Perhaps if the government reduced the amount of paperwork, bureaucracy and tick box medicine we have to do in order to get paid a pittance, then maybe my doctors would have more time to see more patients and actually do the job they were trained to do!
Re: Long GP waiting times are a ‘national disgrace’ – RCGP