Gp Surgery - Open All Hours

[MWG14]

A GP Surgery in Northampton has obtained planning permission to stay open from 8.00am until 8.00pm, seven days a week.

You would think that the patients would be delighted but no, neighbours are complaining.

Well you just can't please everybody all of the time, can you?

[rockyracoon]

Doctors need planning permission to open?

The neighbours might have valid reasons for not wanting the surgery open that many hours.

[pixie374]

They all need to be open longer imo. Ours is open until 8 every night, I didn't know planning permission was necessary, though... x

[Sqad]

Why does a GP surgery have to open for 12 hours on a Sunday?
Depending upon the behaviour of the clientele, I would be annoyed.

[pixie374]

A lot of people work office hours, sqad- and appointments are like gold dust for those who want them, surgeries are so busy inviting people in for reviews that they don't have space for people who actually want to see them.

[MWG14]

Personally I would welcome longer opening hours, now and also when I was working very long hours prior to retirement.

[ummmm]

Ours opens until 8pm twice a week, also open on Saturdays.

(I'm also in Northampton)

[rockyracoon]

Having read an article about it, I can see where the residents are coming from.

[Sqad]

Well, the people who work office hours, should take the time off to see their GP.....they would only be away from work for an hour at most.
I cannot see why a GP should work on a Sunday for the convenience of his/her patients.

I agree that appt are a problem. The days before appts one could see one's GP onj the very same day......one may have to wait in the surgery, but at least you would be seen.

it is a matter of priorities......reviews, diabetic clinics, well baby clinics need to be cut back.

[pixie374]

Well baby clinics have been cut back... they are no longer obsessed with weighing babies and you ring if there is a problem.
However, my sister and I spend maybe an hour a week on average cancelling appointments for people that have no wish and no intention of going... they have just been invited. And I doubt everyone even bothers to cancel, but meanwhile they have no space to see people who are actually unwell, because they want to discuss medication that someone has been on for 40 years, and is fine with it :-)

[rockyracoon]

'Well, the people who work office hours, should take the time off to see their GP.....they would only be away from work for an hour at most.
I cannot see why a GP should work on a Sunday for the convenience of his/her patients.'

Lol. At our surgery, you have to phone at 8.30 to get an appointment, that's when I should be sitting at me desk. If I'm lucky enough to get an appointment that day, they might say, be here in 30 minutes, which for a lot of people would be impossible. That then takes more than an hour.

If you work in London, that would make a whole morning or afternoon off work just for a 10 minute appointment (especially when you factor in the 30 minute delay)

[ummmm]

it doesn't always work that way, Sqad.

[Sqad]

Yes pixie, I can see your point of view.
I once had to explain the function of Well Baby Clinics to an Arab doctor, who wanted to know why a Well baby clinic was necessary, cus if the baby was well, then why did he need to go to the clinic.
I struggled for an answer.

[hc4361]

Away for an hour at most? I don't think so. Unless I could get an appointment first thing or late afternoon I would have to travel an hour both ways from my workplace to my GP, plus waiting time, etc. We don't all work on our doorsteps.

[Sqad]

ummmm...why way?

rocky...that is their problem, not the doctor's. Free health care is available and is up to the patient to inconvenience themselves to afford this healthcare.

[hc4361]

I regularly attend the diabetic clinic and the COPD clinic - and for both I see a nurse, not a GP.

[Sqad]

hc4361...so travel.

[rockyracoon]

It's not friggin free.

[Sqad]

rocky...true LOL

[pixie374]

They do seem to be taking that into account now, sqad. My granddaughter was only weighed once after her birth, but my daughter was given a health visitor's number to ring with any problems, which does make sense. New mothers seem to be over-watched and it does nothing but cause stress.
At my previous doctor (recently shut down), we had telephone races at 8am and 2pm and the winner got an appointment. Madness.

[ummmm]

Sqad...my doctors are very good but if you're ill you spend more time in the pharmacy. It's not half an hour off work.