GP telephone appointments

Healthwatch North Lincolnshire received feedback that GP Telephone appointments were inaccessible for the people of North Lincolnshire. Many people were missing appointments due to poor timing of the appointments and often having to wait a long time for a new appointment or receiving warnings of dismissal from the GP surgery should appointments be missed in the future.  They undertook a survey to which 40 people responded.

Overall people prefer face to face GP appointments rather than those carried out over the telephone. Generally, it was felt that face to face assessments would lead to a more accurate diagnosis. Some patients also felt that they had a greater understanding of their condition when speaking to their GP in person. 

Some patients felt that the time waiting for their telephone appointment was too long. Two people also mentioned that having waited for their telephone appointment they then had to wait for a second time to be seen face to face as their issues could not be dealt with over the phone. 

Whilst nobody within this survey commented on GP’s threatening to dismiss them if they missed their appointment some people did say that they missed their appointment because the GP did not stick to the arranged time.