[Closed] Why dont GPs work shifts and open all day Mon-Sat 8to8

Most decent practices will have some early morning and evening cover.

However if your just a bit ill, then get down there in office hours if its an emergency get down to a&e, don't see what is so complicated about it.

I've just come off the repeated engaged tone from my GP's for half an hour. Finally got through and no appointments left this week even though I was told on Thursday of last week I couldn't book in advance and I have to call on Monday morning. Next appointment is next Monday and I run out of meds tomorrow.
GP (according to the phone answer'er) won't write a script without a consultation even though it's repeat meds, albeit from a different GP's.
I need to go to psychie nurse for a script now or things are going to get 'exciting'.
I'm not complaining as such. There has to be a better way though. I appreciate I get a lot more than my money's worth out of the NHS and I am very grateful for it (the NHS).
MSP - there is quite a gulf between a bit ill and emergency which will probably see you out on your ear at A&E if you turned up there. There's quite a government information campaign about it at the moment.

Well putting GP's on shifts doesn't mean there will be more GP's and more appointments. That's a completely different question.

Next appointment is next Monday and I run out of meds tomorrow.
GP (according to the phone answer'er) won't write a script without a consultation even though it's repeat meds, albeit from a different GP's.

You knew you needed meds, but left it to the last minute, what do you expect the GP to do about your lack of forsight?

I suspect if they charged a small fee, say £5, for a GP appointment, you'd suddenly find there were a lot more free slots.....

Edit - sorry MSP 😳

Combination of GPs losing a relatively small % of their income a few years back to give up out of hours services and a more expectant patient base I suspect.

If you can't get an appointment for the week, when ringing on a Monday though, something is broken.

With ours you have to call at 8am to get an appointment that day - although they actually start answering the phone at 7:50, so sometimes all the slots have gone before they officially start answering.

I quite like the £5 appointment idea.

FFS he's trying to get an appointment for this week sometime. How much notice should we have to have to be ill?

No he is trying to get a prescription for meds he knew ran out tomorrow.

I suspect if they charged a small fee, say £5, for a GP appointment, you'd suddenly find there were a lot more free slots....

They did that in Germany, it put more genuinely ill but poor and vulnerable people off than it did timewasters.

Sadly MSP, my registration at the new GP's took 22 days to be processed (for which they have apologised) and my previous GP wouldn't write up some meds as I was no longer registered at their practice. Sorry and all that. No moaning, would just hope for a better way.
If GP's worked shifts, those of us who are working could probably get appointments outside of office hours (I don't work in an office) which would free up demand for those unable to work.
I'm going to work really hard on being more forsight full now that you've pointed that out to me. Thankyouverymuch.
Quick footnote for MSP. As I noted, I was told last week to phone on Monday morning. I have. It's gone wrong. I registered weeks ago when I had loads. Now I have very little. I seem to be coping. This surprises me. I value greatly the NHS and doctors and nurses. I even married one. She's lovely.

You knew you needed meds, but left it to the last minute, what do you expect the GP to do about your lack of forsight?

Did you actually bother to read the post? Specifically, this bit:

[i]Finally got through and no appointments left this week even though I was told on Thursday of last week I couldn't book in advance and I have to call on Monday morning. [/i]

Phone 111 out of hours (after 18:30) go through an assessment and if needs be we can then book you an out of hours appointment.

Monksie, call 111 they can pass a repeat prescription request through and get someone to call you back

MSP. So e meds are only given a few at a time, especially ones to help with things like anxiety/depressions etc. so it is common for people to run out. Again that's where 111 can help but not many folk know this

There used to be GP cover 24 hours, now it seems to be more like 8-5. And people seem surprised we are seeing an increased load on A&E.

if its an emergency get down to a&e

How many ordinary people have the medical knowledge to know whether it is or not? Even trained medical people get it wrong occasionally.

Thanks Houns. I didn't know that. Nice lady at the surgery has just rung. If I can take the packaging for my meds in.GP will get me a few days worth and give me the first cancelled app. they get.
I agree with the OP's post although I reckon the medical professionals get scant thanks as it is.

Gp's (ok maybe not your own) do cover out of hours. There are some walk in centres that are open 24/7 however most out of hours Drs you need an appointment, so call 111 to get one (only after 18:30)

Working shifts by itself would still not create more "doctor hours", for that you just need more doctors.

It is not like a factory where manning machines 24 hours a a day increases productivity.

Working shifts by itself would still not create more "doctor hours", for that you just need more doctors.

True, but there may be more opportunities for access outwith the 8-5 hours for those who would otherwise have to take time off work.

There used to be GP cover 24 hours, now it seems to be more like 8-5. And people seem surprised we are seeing an increased load on A&E.

The whole medical world has changed a lot, old systems just wouldn't work anymore, unfortunately the Government completely ****ed up the out of hours changes when they changed it.

Working shifts by itself would still not create more "doctor hours", for that you just need more doctors.

This. There's not enough spare capacity to create evening/weekend appointments without reducing capacity elsewhere.

And think of all the extra cash the GPs could earn in overtime...

Just out of interest, how do you think GPs are paid?

DOI Not a GP.

I am a hospital doctor and I work shifts. However, I am not working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. My colleagues and I share the workload so I work Mon-Fri 9-5 as well as 1 in 9 weekends, evenings and nights. Therefore, there is cover every hour of every day, just not by the same people. There are fewer people working my job during the nights and weekends than there are during the working week.

GPs do the same. You can contact a GP 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - it might just not be "your" GP. If "your" GP was available 24/7, he would never sleep and would soon be dead (speaking as the daughter of a GP who used to do a 1 in 2 rota ie my dad worked every working day plus every second night and weekend when I was a child, and is now retired due to ill health and didn't see his kids growing up...)

Oh, and we don't get overtime to work out of hours as doctors. We get paid a proportion of our salary on top to work the extra hours. In the "old days" of long hours and easy access to your GP, that was paid at [b]33%[/b] of the salary for out of hours. Not[b] 133%[/b]. 33% to work out of hours. Is it any wonder it wasn't popular?

Why dont GPs work shifts

Because they're paid too much for the pitiful hours they already work. 😕

[i]I suspect if they charged a small fee, say £5, for a GP appointment, you'd suddenly find there were a lot more free slots.....[/i]

I suspect that you'd have to exempt some folk from that, and you'd not get any further.

Why can't you see a GP? For probably the same reason you cant get to see an NHS dentist. In my practices it's people who fail to attend who push waiting times out. Out of a patient load of 30-35 a day/ dentist, 7-12 of those just won't show up. Or they constantly re-arrange. had a 'discussion' with a mother of 4 kids who'd never attended but had re-arranged 4 new patient exams a total of 23 times. When I told her enough was enough, she said I was discriminating against large families!

We're open 8-8 365 days a year BTW.

GPs do the same.

They used to. Now they can opt out of out of hours cover, in which case the local authority outsource it to 3rd parties who hire unqualified or struck off overseas doctors with a poor grasp of English and inflict that on the populace....

Hence the increased load on A&E.

[i]in which case the local authority outsource it to 3rd parties who hire unqualified or struck off overseas doctors with a poor grasp of English and inflict that on the populace.... [/i]

hmmmmm. not at all inflammatory...(or true) but never let that spoil your rant 😆

My GPS works whenever I turn it on, even in the middle of the night. I dunno what you are talking about.

So the NHS is mega financial turmoil and the solution is get docs working shifts and pay them MORE? I've heard of worse solutions...

And think of all the extra cash the GPs could earn in overtime

In the end it comes down to this.

If you want your GP to be available out of hours "you"* will need to pay for it.

You** have decided you are not willing to pay this cost since it would be very expensive, it's not just the GP that needs to be available, all the support staff, the offices etc would need to be available (the days of GPs being a one man band working from home with a breif case are long gone thankfully).

Instead a much more susatinable and efficient system of out of hours GP care is in place, it works well. The issue is one of marketing, (people don't know this exists) and expectation (people have been conditioned to think a GP is a named person they can always access, rather than a service they can always use)

[i]*"You" hopefully continuing to mean "you via your taxes" rather than people having to directly pay for health care.

**"You" meaning the elected officials that you chose to represnet you when deciding these things[/i]

[i]So the NHS is mega financial turmoil[/i]

not all statements by right wing goverments are free from idealogical content

There used to be GP cover 24 hours, now it seems to be more like 8-5. And people seem surprised we are seeing an increased load on A&E.

Facts fail. Every region has 24hr GP cover, and it is more accessible than it was when you had to get your local GP out of bed in olden days!

The simple reason GP surgeries are not open more is that they are not paid to by the existing contract. GP Practices are businesses run by partners. If it is financially viable to open longer they will, just like any other business. That is only going to happen if someone pays for it, then built into the GP contract. The fact that the surgery is already telling you you need to wait a week for appointments suggests they are running at capacity, opening additional hours will not free up a capacity, it will just shift the problem, unless you employ more GP's

My wife's surgery has appointment system and Duty Doctor. In the circumstance described by the OP, he could see Duty Doc today, but may need to wait a while, especially as it is Monday and people have 'stacked up' their issues over the weekend.

In response to the predicable dig about salaries. It has taken my wife 15 years of incredibly hard graft and sacrifice to get where she is, including working in hospitals for less than minimum wage (by the time you factor in working hours) She works to a level of pressure that a lot of people could not sustain and makes daily decisions that really affect peoples lives. She earns every bloody penny.

This may be a little controversial, but how about priority slots and fast track treatment for people who currently work?

Working people pay for the health service through tax, and the quicker we can get them fixed and back to work then the more money there will be for the NHS full stop, improving things for every patient.

So the NHS is mega financial turmoil

And why is this ?

Bad management ?

Dare I say to many people pulling from it and not paying any taxes... from the UK or foreign nationals...oooo don't shout at that its true blind if you think its not !

OOH GPs get around £100 per [i]HOUR[/i] (£1200 a shift!!!!), which isn't bad for being driven around by your driver, taking a pulse & then scribbling something illegible onto the back of a print out sheet. I can't understand why more don't do it.

Just out of interest, how do you think GPs are paid?

Bullion I would expect

This may be a little controversial, but how about priority slots and quicker treatment for people who currently work?

What about older people who have worked all of their lives and are now drawing on the NHS that they have contributed to all of their lives?

Or genuinely ill people who would love to work but are unable to?

Perhaps a more sensible option would be to ensure early and late appointments are freed up for working people, would be an administrative nightmare though.

Because they're paid too much for the pitiful hours they already work.

Just because a GP appointment is not available doesn't mean they aren't working. 12 hour days are standard for most GPs.

In response to the predicable dig about salaries. It has taken my wife 15 years of incredibly hard graft and sacrifice to get where she is, including working in hospitals for less than minimum wage (by the time you factor in working hours) She works to a level of pressure that a lot of people could not sustain and makes daily decisions that really affect peoples lives. She earns every bloody penny.

This ^

Being a GP (or any doctor in this country for that matter) is far from the gravy train that the media and foreign TV dramas make it out to be.

As with any profesion there are a small handful at the top who make a lot of money but saying all GPs earn to much is like saying everyone who works for Tesco earns too much beacuase you know the cheif execs sallary.

There's good and poor GPs and their practices.
MrsCat deals with lots of them and some are just amazingly brilliant, a few are truly crap.

An example of good GPs happened yesterday where three GPs attended an RTC we were also at on Sunday, just beneath Higger Tor.

Whilst other motorists turned around and left without even asking if they could help, MrsCat, me and 3 GPs got stuck in with a roadie and two other car drivers to get the uninjured passenger out and look after the driver until the emergency responders arrived - which was quite a while.

The GPs were great, they just got involved and organised the rest of us, they also stuck around until the casualty had been taken to the ambulance in case they could help - not a bad out of hours service.

OOH GPs get around £100 per HOUR (£1200 a shift!!!!), which isn't bad for being driven around by your driver, taking a pulse & then scribbling something illegible onto the back of a print out sheet. I can't understand why more don't do it.

Not those employed by a trust. My wife did it for years and was paid £70k FTE.

You are describing Contractors flown in (sometimes literally) to provide cover at short notice. It is a symptom of poor management that they need to pay for cover at those rates.

Next time you drive past your GP surgery at 7am in the morning or 8pm at night, have a look to see if the lights are on. Surgery may be closed but very likely some of the GP's will be working. There is a lot more to working as a GP than just seeing people for 10min slots during surgery.

not enough doctors....oh dear !

What about all those PRIVATE doctors who trained with the NHS and then bugger off for the Private world of medicine...it happens...that's a drain isn't it...?

GPs get around £100 per HOUR (£1200 a shift!!!!)

You are out by a factor of 3 there. A GP will be on between £25 and £40 per hour. Which is a decent wage but nothting more.

And it bloody should be more given the level of skill, knowledge, compassion etc required and the magnitude and consequence of the decsions they make multiple times a day.

In the UK, you cannot work as a private doctor until you are consultant level (minimum 9 years of training post-degree in my specialty).

You then have to offer your time to the NHS first, before you are allowed to work any time that the NHS declines to use you in private work eg if there are 10 half days in a working week, then the NHS might employ you for all 10, or pay you for 9 and you can choose what to do with the final half day. Therefore, the NHS doctors working in the private hospitals have already offered to work extra hours in the NHS and been turned down.

The reason my colleagues are "buggering off" (mainly to Oz and NZ rather than the "private world") is that there are not enough consultant or GP jobs for the number of medical graduates, therefore there are doctors who are being made unemployed unless they "bugger off" and do something else. The politicians and public are currently unwilling to employ more doctors.

I live in a fairly deprived area of the South East, and can get a dentist appointment within 2 days and a GP visit within 24 hours. Same applied when I used to live in a dinky town in Devon. So the system works for me. Where are you living that it doesn't?

I suspect if they charged a small fee, say £5, for a GP appointment, you'd suddenly find there were a lot more free slots.....

What happens then is moderately affluent/comfortable people expect to be able to demand services - because they are paying for them (even though it doesn't cover the admin cost of the appointment never mind the Doc's time), and the genuinely unfortunate don't go to see the dr. That might mean chronically ill people on low (or no) income don't go to see dr as often, their treatment is compromised and we all pay for trying to sort our a mess in the end OR it might mean that the genuinely very sick put off going because either as an extra excuse (lets face it nobody was ever keen to get "that" lump checked anyway) or because they are a bit skint and 'will go next week after I have been paid'.

As for the OP:

The rest of the NHS work shifts whats the GPs excuse ?

And think of all the extra cash the GPs could earn in overtime...

World would be a healthier place...

I also think normal GP appointments should be available in the evening. The majority of folk work and getting to an appointment when you don't work shifts is getting harder and harder.

franksinatra - Member

This may be a little controversial, but how about priority slots and quicker treatment for people who currently work?

What about older people who have worked all of their lives and are now drawing on the NHS that they have contributed to all of their lives?

Or genuinely ill people who would love to work but are unable to?

Kind of not getting my point. This is about [u]current funding[/u] of the NHS and [u]current contributions[/u] to make things better - not whatever has gone on in the past.

Pensioners no longer contribute anywhere near as much as people who currently work so by treating people who currently work (or of working age) faster to help them get back to work more quickly, then there would be more money in the NHS (and the UK) full stop since more hours worked = more tax paid. The resulting additional NHS funding would then benefit the said same pensioners and genuinely ill people who have previously contributed in the past or would like to contribute in the future.

I also think normal GP appointments should be available in the evening. The majority of folk work and getting to an appointment when you don't work shifts is getting harder and harder.

But the majority of people who need to see the doctor don't need to be at work. The vast majority of GP appointments are required for the elderly, the unemployed, people who are too ill to work and children.

So with the exception of children who are in full time childcare so their parents can work then is very little genuine demand for non 9 to 5, non emergency appointments. Therefore nobody is willing to pay the extra cost of this.

However this is changing, more and more GPs are offering late evenings, early mornings, and saturdays. If yours doesn't, then switch GPs. They are business trying to make money and if the lose patients then they will change the service they offer.

what I don't get is if so many people don't turn up for appointments how come you still have to wait 30/40 minutes even if you arrive at the time specified, WHY do they over subscribe the appointments? I have never ever been to a GP's appointment and been seen at the time the appointment is for. The same with vets but I really do get angry there because you're paying directly for the service.

Ohhh I'll have a grumble..

I asked for an appt at my local surgery, always very good service from the guys and gals there, 2 weeks I got told, erm.. but I'm ill now, no idea if I will be in 2 weeks.

I know quite a few Docs and nearly all of them are not in it for the money. 😉

If you are sick enough to need a dr, then surely you are sick enough to miss some work time to do so?

(lets face it nobody was ever keen to get "that" lump checked anyway)

ill people [s]on low (or no) income[/s] don't go to see dr as often, their treatment is compromised and we all pay for trying to sort our a mess in the end

🙄

You people asking for appointments - don't they do open surgeries for you?

I never make an appointment, I just turn up at 9 and wait.

franksinatra & jfletch: click & scroll...

http://jobs.gponline.com/jobs/out-of-hours

I regularly speak with OOH GPs on those wages.

what I don't get is if so many people don't turn up for appointments how come you still have to wait 30/40 minutes even if you arrive at the time specified

Because you all talk for a lot longer than 10 minutes... 😉

Why dont GPs work shifts?

Short answer: Because they don't have to.

There's an even stronger case that hopsitals should have more doctors on staff over weekends - when death rates have been shown to rise among patients.

franksinatra & jfletch: click & scroll...

http://jobs.gponline.com/jobs/out-of-hours

I regularly speak with OOH GPs on those wages.

Yep, all of the £100 per hour posts are for locums/sessional GP's. Proves my point exactly.

Ahh you got me on a technicality - it's what i meant but didn't say. Yes they're locums - but they're still GPs, no?

Still a shed load of money for a nights work!!!

Went into my local GPs a couple of weeks ago to make an appt. Was told that it would be at least a week, but they could do a Saturday appt if that suited me.

I arrived on the Saturday about 10 mins early, got called straight way and was out of the building before the actual original appt time 🙂

Ahh you got me on a technicality - it's what i meant but didn't say. Yes they're locums - but they're still GPs, no?

Yep, but same in a lot of industries. If you need temporary staff, at short notice, you pay premium rates for them. This is silly money though.

Still a shed load of money for a nights work!!!

It is, but it's market forces (which our current Government love so much) in action.

franksinatra & jfletch: click & scroll...

http://jobs.gponline.com/jobs/out-of-hours

I regularly speak with OOH GPs on those wages.

They aren't on those "wages". They are contractor rates for a single days work (and even then you probably only get that in very specific circumstances). The GP doing this will have a load of expenses related to being able to work as a locum such as insurance, memebership fees, equipment, accountants fees, taxes etc.

When you compare that to £1000/day for an IT contractor it seems cheap really!

t is, but it's market forces (which our current Government love so much) in action.

That, and poor management by local trusts / OOH providers that mean they have poor recruitment and retention of staff resulting in big gaps in rota that have to filled, at any cost.

Gp's deserve every penny, can you imagine having to deal with all those old ladies and their [i]problems?[/i] eugh! *shiver*

That, and poor management by local trusts / OOH providers that mean they have poor recruitment and retention of staff resulting in big gaps in rota that have to filled, at any cost.

Yep - if you want to stop some people getting paid £1000/day then you need to pay the rest more money so those oportunties when a gap needs to be filled don't arrise.

Same scenario as outsourcing IT expertise. It might seem obscene to pay someone £1000/day but it works out cheaper than having more expensive staff all year round, with the associated costs of emplying someone who may become surplus to requirements in the future.

But people on here don't see the issue with a private business paying through the nose for an IT contractor but do have an issue with the government using the same reasoning with a doctor. Madness.

Turn up and wait at 9:00am? I'd still be sat there next week!
I've just been to get my emergency prescription (great work by my new surgery) and a lady was having a right rant because she'd turned up for appointment 20 minutes after it was set for and the GP couldn't now see her. Some people's sense of entitlement is astonishing.

Gp's deserve every penny, can you imagine having to deal with all those old ladies and their problems? eugh! *shiver*

This.

Next time you speak to a GP, don't ask what they get paid, ask how many old ladies fannies and diseased todgers they have seen that day and how many bums they have had their finger up.

Perks of the job Shirley? 😛

Speaking to patients who think they know best. Patients demanding anti biotics for a virus or a piffly sniffle. Patients who demand everything right now. Speaking to druggies, speaking to people willing killing themselves by choosing not to diet or give up the booze/fags. Having the constant worry that someone who wants something for nothing will complain about you as you've not referred them for an MRI for their stubbed toe

The general public are ***** and I'd hate to be a GP.

I struggle with long sentences

However - phoned my GP surgery at 12.42 and have an appointment for my daughter at 14.50.

This suggests it's, as many things, down to where you live.

Houns gets it.

The public, particularly those who think they are educated have certain expectations from primary care, in other words they think they know best.

This weekend i had somebody instruct me i had to take his wife away as she was mad and as her husband he felt he had the power to request this (he didnt and she was fine)....it didnt stop him causing a scene, spouting some old tosh about legal rights etc etc, eventually the police got rid of this gonad.

I had a mother worried about the fever and croupy cough her child had, the hospital had seen her the day before and given her the steroids used for croup and advice on use of Calpol for temperature control....needless to say mum knew best and decided that 'she doesnt like giving her children medication' and was now demanding that something be done for her poorly child....she was told to stop playing silly buggers and start using the meds she'd been given for the croup, she didnt like this and was sure something else could be done...(a shotgun to her face seemed the kindest thing frankly).

Dealing with patients who are grateful for the care and willing to listen to advice is hugely satisfying, its why a lot of us work in health care....but there seems to be a small but growing percentage of the population who walk into the patient-clinician interaction with pre conceived ideas that they will not deviate from.

I wouldnt choose to work weekends either if i had the choice, weekdays are bad enough but once the weekend comes and people start with their social, family and alcohol problems it starts to become a very tedious job....my trust doesnt seem to want to back me when i proposed we start telling people to 'harden the **** up'....

Have you considered a change of career Deviant?

Dave Hinde might be hiring customer service staff?

From my very limited knowledge and experience of GPs, i have never had an issue getting an appointment, nether has the SO.

But most people who use GPs are old, old people who don't work. How many appointments do you actually need outside 9-5 working hours? On the basis of cost/benefit, does it actually make sense????

You people asking for appointments - don't they do open surgeries for you?

I never make an appointment, I just turn up at 9 and wait.

I have a job; I can't just not turn up because I'm sat in a GP waiting room.

But most people who use GPs are old, old people who don't work. How many appointments do you actually need outside 9-5 working hours? On the basis of cost/benefit, does it actually make sense????

So, that's even easier to provide. Just one evening a week and all those people with minor niggles can get seen before they turn into expensive complex issues.

And just because some patients are ****s, doesn't mean a lot of GP surgeries couldn't be run a hell of a lot better.

Mine's pretty good tbh, but recently made the town's old folk queue down the street in the cold and rain to have their flu jabs instead of giving them individual appointments.

🙄

I have a job; I can't just not turn up because I'm sat in a GP waiting room.

So you are fundamentally opposed to teachers altering their working paterns to suit modern working paterns but GPs should be permanently available 😕

Maybe you should go to the doctors in one of your 13 weeks of holiday? Unless you are ill, in which case why are you at work?

The public, particularly those who think they are educated have certain expectations from primary care, in other words they think they know best.

This weekend i had somebody instruct me i had to take his wife away as she was mad and as her husband he felt he had the power to request this (he didnt and she was fine)....it didnt stop him causing a scene, spouting some old tosh about legal rights etc etc, eventually the police got rid of this gonad.

I had a mother worried about the fever and croupy cough her child had, the hospital had seen her the day before and given her the steroids used for croup and advice on use of Calpol for temperature control....needless to say mum knew best and decided that 'she doesnt like giving her children medication' and was now demanding that something be done for her poorly child....she was told to stop playing silly buggers and start using the meds she'd been given for the croup, she didnt like this and was sure something else could be done...(a shotgun to her face seemed the kindest thing frankly).

Dealing with patients who are grateful for the care and willing to listen to advice is hugely satisfying, its why a lot of us work in health care....but there seems to be a small but growing percentage of the population who walk into the patient-clinician interaction with pre conceived ideas that they will not deviate from.

I wouldnt choose to work weekends either if i had the choice, weekdays are bad enough but once the weekend comes and people start with their social, family and alcohol problems it starts to become a very tedious job....my trust doesnt seem to want to back me when i proposed we start telling people to 'harden the **** up'....

It cuts both ways. Imo there are GPs who need to stop 🙄 at their customers and realise that some do actually have intelligence and, indeed, may actually know more about their condition than their GP. I despise arrogance from the NHS. 😐

Let's be honest CG. It would seem from your posts that you despise the NHS completely (for reasons you feel are valid).
Deviant - you should be running the country :-).

I have a job; I can't just not turn up because I'm sat in a GP waiting room.

I find this a bit weird: surely you should be allowed to leave work for a couple of hours to visit the doctor? It's not like you're heading off to the pub for a quick pint!

So you are fundamentally opposed to teachers altering their working paterns to suit modern working paterns but GPs should be permanently available

No, I disagreed with your suggestion. I am happy for changes to be made in a considered way, but disagreed with your "I reckon" back-of-a-fag-packet suggestions that would have entailed fundamental changes to the entire way education was carried out, to enable people go take a cheap package holiday.

On this topic, I think it'd be quite helpful for many people if GP appointments could be made a couple of hours later one night a week. I'm quite happy for any GPs to tell me why this isn't possible.

Maybe you should go to the doctors in one of your 13 weeks of holiday? Unless you are ill, in which case why are you at work?

I got an asthma check-up letter at the start of a ten week half-term; I'm not going to miss work just to go and blow into a tube a few times so had to leave it for ten weeks before I could go.

I find this a bit weird: surely you should be allowed to leave work for a couple of hours to visit the doctor? It's not like you're heading off to the pub for a quick pint!

Sadly, I have to be here when timetabled.

The real reason is because there is no such thing as an NHS GP. They are and always have been private sector providers who happen to have a contract to provide services to the NHS.

As a result they have no interest in extending their hours of provision as that would increase costs and reduce profits. It would of course be far better if GPs worked for the NHS rather than in the private sector but I dont think we are liekly to have a government of either colour prepared to take on the GP's and their trade union as they are too well embedded in the establishment

On this topic, I think it'd be quite helpful for many people if GP appointments could be made a couple of hours later one night a week. I'm quite happy for any GPs to tell me why this isn't possible.

Its perfectly possible, someone just needs to pay for it.

I got an asthma check-up letter at the start of a ten week half-term; I'm not going to miss work just to go and blow into a tube a few times so had to leave it for ten weeks before I could go.

So you delayed an non-urgent appointment until when it was convienient for you to go. I fail to see what the issue is.

Also as a teacher you may be timetabled for 10 weeks but that normally includes some free periods and your timetabled hours finish around 4pm. Plenty of time to go to the doctors who don't finish till 6pm.

So really you are just being obstanate.

They are and always have been private sector providers who happen to have a contract to provide services to the NHS.

IIRC only since GPs resigned from the NHS en masse in 1966, but otherwise this is correct.

Although I can see the motive, I hate it when I phone for an appointment for the same day and get asked "is it a medical emergency?"
Obviously if it was an "emergency" I'd be in an ambulance on the way to hospital.
I made the mistake of saying "no" once and then got told the next available appointment would be in a week's time.