Skip to main content
Menu
Community Reporter Network
User account menu
About Us
Log in
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Main navigation
Home
Explore
Reporters
Report transcript in: Bad local bus service makes telephone appointments a hit!
Breadcrumb
Home
Bad local bus service makes telephone appointments a hit!
Please Report the Errrors?
Well,
Hello, then. Hi, Jane. And
how are you?
Fine, thank you.
Hello.
So my question to you guys is around your experience, Uh, of the GP surgery recently.
Could you talk to me a little bit about that, please?
Yeah. Um,
when I did this before,
I thought the telephone appointments were great.
And I still do want to a point.
Um,
we live in an area where there isn't a very good bus service,
so we've we've got to walk to Ashton,
and
it's about half an hour's walk. And if it's raining or snowing or slippy,
I'd have to cancel.
It was really bad. You know what I mean? Like, yesterday when we had gale forces
that, uh, blew the fence down, I wouldn't have gone out in that,
um
or if you've got a telephone appointment,
it's good for two reasons. It's good because you don't have to walk
anywhere.
And it's also good because
you're waiting at home so you can do other
things while you're waiting for the telephone call.
Uh,
but
I did find when I had
one appointment
after I got off the telephone, I kept thinking, Oh,
I should have asked that I should have asked
that. And
if I was there,
which the last appointment
I had with the nurse. I was there,
And, uh,
I did forget things. And just as I was coming out, I remembered.
Which you can't do with the telephone call. Well, you should put the phone down.
You You've had it, haven't you?
So I found that
quite bad. But if it's something that
nothing's altered much
Oh,
I only have one or two questions so I can write
down those questions before the telephone appointment in case I forget.
And, um,
yeah, it's great.
Um,
that's about it.
Really
Something
else?
No. So what? Um, what about the?
So talk me through the experience recently,
Let's say specific specifically recently or,
um or more generally about, you know, about getting the appointment about what?
The what? You know about
how the experience of the people you talked to
was, uh in terms of various people, not just the doctor,
um,
and whether you were happy, you know,
just if you could just talk me through it and
what the what the positives were and what the negatives might
be. The biggest drawback is getting through to the doctor.
I've been on a telephone for quarter of an hour, sometimes before.
I've got an answer,
you know, before anybody picks up,
that's the problem.
But it's
It's always been bad on the Monday morning,
but now it's more or less the same all the time.
You you have to wait a long time before you get through,
but when you get through,
uh, it's not that,
Um,
well, it's very good. Our doctors, they
Yeah, it's good. Our doctors.
I have no complaint about the actual doctors.
Like I say, it's just the length of time it takes to answer the telephone
that there's a big problem.
Yeah,
and sometimes you have to wait a hell of a long time for your appointment.
Cool. So,
uh, compared with stories I've heard from other doctors, you know,
from other people about their doctors,
we've got a very good one.
So no complaints there?
Yeah.
Good.
And and, uh, what about when you when you do go in,
how do you How's what's that like Since particularly
post covid in the last sort of 12 months,
I'd Sorry.
Post Covid. We're still going through it. Aren't we, But
since sort of the start of covid,
what's it like when you turn up? How does it How do you feel?
What's the experience of being there? Well, I've only been sort of immersed
for injections and
aspirin and things,
and that's been good there.
There's never been anybody in the waiting room when have got there,
because you go downstairs to the waiting room for the nurse,
and, uh, you do have to stand outside a bit
quite a long time. Sometimes
for her to sit this two usually on.
And you, I've got to wait outside to
before you go in.
But we've not had too bad a time because it weren't raining very hard. Was it
when
we were
going
through,
so
we weren't waiting too long. 5, 10 minutes, maybe.
And then you're allowed in and you can wait in the waiting room until it's your turn
sort of thing. She'll let you in. Well,
say there's three people outside. She'll let the three people in
Well, two are being treated.
One will sit in the little waiting room,
so yeah, yeah, it's good. And the
they're very
the the nurse that I see about asthma is superb. She tells me everything.
Yeah, she's very good.
Yeah.
Oh, that's great. And what what about you? Because your ear as well
at
your end of it. What What's your experience?
I'm all for this, uh, for
phone calls,
because, um,
I can't drive anymore. I have a problem with my eyes. More like walking about what?
To stop me from driving.
So
I don't have to get on a bus and mix with people. Not everyone has a mask on and
and, um, we don't have to wear to
We don't have to on
in in action. Like we go for injection, we have to wear it. And obviously,
but, um,
whenever I'm talking to anybody, I always say my wife
see
that? All right, so certainly
so
Jean can put write anything down, because I I tend to forget things.
So
then we've got a good idea of the to us, or
you can ask a question, and
I I'd say they could should recommend that if you got this phone call,
you got a relation or a friend that
you want them to join in? It will help.
Talk about you can talk about after they can write down anything
you just you might tend to forget.
So I I think this form things a lot better.
Course
he panics when he's a doctor.
You
think I panic when a doctor?
Yeah,
I
don't worry as much as
that's basically it, but
I
think it is a good idea. It is brilliant phone call, and it said
I used to drive. It saved me parking money.
A good thing. It's a lot quicker and a
lot more persons,
I
thought.
And And do you feel
how?
How what's the experience when you talk to a GP? Then
so you've got you've got all the benefits to get in the phone call.
Um, like you've talked about
and what? How does it feel and and what took me through the experience of
having that conversation with the GP and and perhaps how it how it's different,
even positively or negatively from
before,
Uh, covid
that much different, really,
you say,
Oh
oh,
the the
So
I spoke to one that I've never seen on on the telephone
when I started with this asthma thing
and
he diagnosed it immediately over the, um,
the phone and put me through to the asthma nurse,
which, uh,
yeah,
I thought it was really good,
because you're supposed to blow into them spirometer things,
but they don't do it that now
they do have a little blower thing that you blow into,
but because of covid,
it's too dangerous to use the
even though you don't use the same mouse piece, it's too dangerous
to use the actual spirometer.
But it's proved
it was right. You know what I mean?
There there's no there's no doubt about it now that that's what our goal.
But, um,
yeah,
you're happy with that. And what about you?
You say?
Well, Jean accuses you of panicking, do you? Is that because of the phone?
Or is or is that you know? What's your experience of of using the food
more easy
than Jane?
But
about a month ago, I had to go to
Manchester Royal.
That was another thing.
A bus to Ashton, the tram to Manchester and a bus to Oxford drove,
and I had to go try to do this test on me and like
an hour and a half two hours.
But four out later, they phoned me back
said, Everything's OK
and nothing to worry. You still got your problem,
but it's not got any worse. And we're going to send for you again in two months time.
So I thought that was brilliant.
I didn't have to go to Manchester and back, and
that's That's down to phone calls again. It's
I think it's a brilliant idea.
Oh, good. I'm really pleased. Now, I, um I'm gonna, uh,
stop
on the recording in a minute, but before I do, I just wanted to check that.
Is there anything you haven't had a chance to say
that you definitely wanted to say on this subject?
I don't think so.
No,
not
no, I don't think so.
Well, thank you very much. I really appreciate it. I'm gonna press stop
Up-big
Home
Explore
Reporters
About Us
Log in
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
