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INABILITY TO GET A NON-URGENT APPOINTMENT IN...

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"INABILITY TO GET A NON-URGENT APPOINTMENT IN..."

About: Farnham Dene Medical Practice

I joined this surgery in 1984 and was fortunate not to have to rely on the surgery as my health was good and the odd issue was dealt with within 2-3 days.

In 2000, I was dignosed with Atrial Fibrilation. Again, this was dealt with and I have pre-arranged appointments for INR checks.

From about 2011, I began to experience minor difficulties in getting GP appointments for the few "new" issues which tended to be 'severe pain' related. (I never sought GP advice for minor pains, colds, flu, cuts or bruises)

From about 2016, I found that trying to book an appointment on-line has been particularily frustrating - sometimes showing "no appointments available"

Farnham's population has increased 3.5% since 2011 but the experience of trying to see a GP today gives the impression that the increase is 35%!

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Response from Farnham Dene Medical Practice 5 years ago
Farnham Dene Medical Practice

Submitted on 10/08/2018 at 10:19
Published on nhs.uk at 11:06

I am sorry that you are finding it hard to book a routine appointment. Along with most other practices we have seen demand for routine appointments increase significantly due to rising population and more complex conditions being dealt with in primary care rather than in hospital. The typical wait time for a routine appointment is now around two weeks, which we recognise is frustrating for some patients. Urgent matters are dealt with in our same day service.

Some other practices operate different appointment systems such as a sit and wait system, which does suit some people better. We do our best to meet patient demand with the limited resources we have, but demand is continuing to increase, more work is coming into practice from hospitals and there are far more people with complex conditions who need health care support. One way we are trying to manage demand is to encourage patients to use the most effective route for their condition, such as using the pharmacist for medication queries, minor pains and illness, this in turn frees up GP appointments for those with more complex needs.

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