Walk in or not?

[Paul]

Q.)When is a NHS Direct Walk-In center not a walk-in center?
A.) When you aren't allowed to walk in and have to make an appointment to see a doctor.
Having rang her doctor's surgery as soon as it opened this morning and finally got past the engaged tone at 0930, my partners mother was told that all appointments were booked for today and that no matter how unwell she is she cannot see her doctor.
Now, since she has been unwell since Friday (possible food poisoning) she was a little put out by this and asked for the emergency walk in center number so she could be treated today. Imagine her suprise when upon calling the Walk-In center she was told she would need an appointment to be seen.
Amazing, you think, well try this, she was then told that as there was currently no doctor at the Walk-In center she couldn't make an appointment and that they would call back when one arrived.
What sort of Walk-In center has no medical cover 2 hours after it is supposed to open it's doors to anyone that needed treatment and could walk through the entrance??? The mind boggles how this sort of thing can happen and what a seriously unwell, dehydrated pensionner has to do to get medical treatment these days
It's even funnier when you look at the NHS site and it states that

NHS Walk-in Centres offer fast and convenient access to a range of NHS services, including health information, advice and treatment for a range of minor illnesses (coughs, colds, infections) and minor injuries (strains, sprains, cuts).

They are open from early morning to late evening, seven days a week. The centres are run by experienced NHS nurses, and you don't need to make an appointment.

To say a certain other member of the forum is not amused by this and is even thinking of getting the car out, would be an understatement!

[Bifta]

There was a walk-in centre where I used to live. It was a complete joke, it had severely restricted opening hours and they also forced you to have an appointment. I'd only just moved there at the time and wasn't registered with a doctor, as it turned out it was actually quicker to register and get an appointment with a proper GP.

NHS Direct is no better, the best advice they can offer people is to take a couple of aspirin/paracetemol and see a doctor the next day .. like that never actually occurred to me.

[SMHarman]

I must say our new out of hours Dr. service is fantastic though.

Also this week with all the conjunctivitis, tonsilitis and sinus problems in our house we have had 4 visits to the doctors all same day. I am quite impressed with our surgery.

[Chimaera]

And more than 3 hours since she first rang, she's still waiting for the so-called 'Walk-In Emergency Centre' to ring her back! And of course a doctor won't go out to her - they have said to call an ambulance if she feels that ill - then of course she gets to wait 4 hours in A&E to see a doctor. I'm absolutely fuming - and of course as I can't drive atm I can't do anything to help.

[Stuart C]

That's disgusting.. It also makes me glad I have a good GP. The only complaint I have about my GP is that if you don't get to the surgery by 9 (it opens at 8:30), then you don't have a good chance of getting an appointment that day. Especially Mondays, as everyone who feels slightly ill over the weekend seems to go to the GP on Monday.

Can't really off any constructive advice though. Keep trying with the centre. Surely if she can't get to the centre, they should send a doctor out?

The really surprising thing is that from what I was told (I still have friends in the NHS), the reason these walk-in centres were devised was because there aren't enough GPs and it's considerably more expensive to have a patient treated at an A&E department than it is to have them treated in an outside surgery (whether it is a walk in centre, or GP's surgery).

[Rob]

I think the clue in all this is the quote in the first post, that walk in centres should be run by nurses. However, most walk in centres are attched to doctors surgeries.

It's a walk in centre, therefore there is no need to phone before arriving

If you do phone I suspect the call is dealt with by the doctor's surgery receptionist, who is breifed to say that appointments are needed (i.e. if you phone first the treatment isn't urgent). If you just turned up, i.e. walked in, that option of the receptionist screening the call dissapears. Then you would be assessed by the nurse.

[Chimaera]

Originally Posted by MovedGoalPosts

If you do phone I suspect the call is dealt with by the doctor's surgery receptionist, who is breifed to say that appointments are needed (i.e. if you phone first the treatment isn't urgent). If you just turned up, i.e. walked in, that option of the receptionist screening the call dissapears. Then you would be assessed by the nurse.

Yes, that's exactly what's happened. So now my daughter has contacted NHS Direct, who say my Mum MUST be seen in 2 hours, as she's so ill.........she was contacted by the walk in surgery who said they will see her at 5.30 this evening! My daughter told them what NHS Direct told her - their reply? 'That's not our problem'. Charming! So she's now waiting a call back from another walk in clinic attached to the local hospital - and poor Mum is still feeling terrible!
The doctor isn't in residence until they have collected all the calls from the local surgeries, then 'someone' decides if a doctor is needed for the rest of the day!

[Nidge]

Originally Posted by Paul

Q.)When is a NHS Direct Walk-In center not a walk-in center?
A.) When you aren't allowed to walk in and have to make an appointment to see a doctor.
Having rang her doctor's surgery as soon as it opened this morning and finally got past the engaged tone at 0930, my partners mother was told that all appointments were booked for today and that no matter how unwell she is she cannot see her doctor.
Now, since she has been unwell since Friday (possible food poisoning) she was a little put out by this and asked for the emergency walk in center number so she could be treated today. Imagine her suprise when upon calling the Walk-In center she was told she would need an appointment to be seen.
Amazing, you think, well try this, she was then told that as there was currently no doctor at the Walk-In center she couldn't make an appointment and that they would call back when one arrived.
What sort of Walk-In center has no medical cover 2 hours after it is supposed to open it's doors to anyone that needed treatment and could walk through the entrance??? The mind boggles how this sort of thing can happen and what a seriously unwell, dehydrated pensionner has to do to get medical treatment these days
It's even funnier when you look at the NHS site and it states that
To say a certain other member of the forum is not amused by this and is even thinking of getting the car out, would be an understatement!

Don't they have a minor illness clinic at the end of the morning where you can just walk in?? Our Doctors have this system where if the appointments are full up you can go to the surgery between 11.30 and 12.30 and be seen by a doctor, it won't be your own doctor but at least you are seen by one.

Our out of hours GP service is also spot on, we have a place called Larch House at Kings Mill Hospital where 8 doctors are working at any one time, it's a cooperative where all the doctors within the local NHS take it in turns to work, you can walk in there and be seen within 20 minutes.

[Chimaera]

Nope - nothing like that here!
Still waiting on a call back from the hospital walk in place.

Here you can walk in to see a nurse but must make an appt with a doctor. Always been spot on for me - you call, doc calls back, talks things through, makes appt if necessary. I and my kids always been seen same day, usually within an hour or so.

I'm also a fan of NHS Direct. Not perfect but a generally useful resource.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Chimaera

they have said to call an ambulance if she feels that ill - then of course she gets to wait 4 hours in A&E to see a doctor.

if she is really poorly then she will get priority if turning up in an ambulance , unless there is someone else who really needs the care first , she is drinking plenty isnt she , bad idea to get dehydrated , hope she is feeling better soon

[Chimaera]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

if she is really poorly then she will get priority if turning up in an ambulance , unless there is someone else who really needs the care first , she is drinking plenty isnt she , bad idea to get dehydrated , hope she is feeling better soon

Nope you get no priority for arriving by ambulance - you get seen by the triage nurse and put in the queue like everyone else! Even if you are referred and accepted by a surgical/medical team on call at the hospital, you still have to wait (I was accepted by the surgical team on call last week and still had a 6 hour wait in A&E)
The problem was that she couldn't drink, even small amounts of water/flat lemonade/dioralyte were not staying put!
She eventually got seen at the walk in at about 2 this afternoon, she was given 2 injections , 6 tablets and 12 sachets of Dioralyte! He also said not to eat for another 3 days and then only potato soup!
The doctor said it's probably food poisoning but didn't request any 'samples' so there's no way of being sure - all I will say is avoid prawns in chinese restaurants if ever you are visiting Canvey Island!

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Chimaera

Nope you get no priority for arriving by ambulance - you get seen by the triage nurse and put in the queue like everyone else! Even if you are referred and accepted by a surgical/medical team on call at the hospital, you still have to wait (I was accepted by the surgical team on call last week and still had a 6 hour wait in A&E)
The problem was that she couldn't drink, even small amounts of water/flat lemonade/dioralyte were not staying put!
She eventually got seen at the walk in at about 2 this afternoon, she was given 2 injections , 6 tablets and 12 sachets of Dioralyte! He also said not to eat for another 3 days and then only potato soup!
The doctor said it's probably food poisoning but didn't request any 'samples' so there's no way of being sure - all I will say is avoid prawns in chinese restaurants if ever you are visiting Canvey Island!

must be a different planet to the one i am on , not a very good state of affairs at all

[Paul]

To be honest the local hospitals here are struggling to cope, while we were sat waiting for Chi to be seen (after she was supposedly already accepted for treatment after her doctor called the hospital) we watched as somewhere in the region of 40+ people walked, limped and even a few were wheeled into the A&E department. Now there were a lot of people who seemed to have decided A&E was a good place to have bruised toes, sprained wrists and headaches treated. I felt sorry for the woman who loudly complained that she was having to wait so long with her broken ankle.... while walking to and from the reception desk without so much as a limp
Chi was listed as Yellow Priority which is mid-range priority and supposedly means she was to be treated as soon as possible but could wait a little while if necessary. 2 hours in the waiting room followed by 1 3/4 waiting to be moved out of A&E and then another 2 hours or so waiting to be moved onto a ward where she was to be prepped for her treatment. Not my idea of prompt treatment but there you go

[Tuftus]

Originally Posted by Paul

To be honest the local hospitals here are struggling to cope, while we were sat waiting for Chi to be seen (after she was supposedly already accepted for treatment after her doctor called the hospital) we watched as somewhere in the region of 40+ people walked, limped and even a few were wheeled into the A&E department. Now there were a lot of people who seemed to have decided A&E was a good place to have bruised toes, sprained wrists and headaches treated. I felt sorry for the woman who loudly complained that she was having to wait so long with her broken ankle.... while walking to and from the reception desk without so much as a limp
Chi was listed as Yellow Priority which is mid-range priority and supposedly means she was to be treated as soon as possible but could wait a little while if necessary. 2 hours in the waiting room followed by 1 3/4 waiting to be moved out of A&E and then another 2 hours or so waiting to be moved onto a ward where she was to be prepped for her treatment. Not my idea of prompt treatment but there you go

Not much has changed then since I was 15 and had my appendix out, I had similar waits, laying on beds in corridors due to lack of beds etc.

When the doc came around to do the check upt the following day he commented that my appendix was 'minutes away' from bursting which could have led to peritonitis which I am lead to beleve is rather nasty...