woman talks about the positives of her GP service in Bolton

um, can you tell me a little bit about how it is to access the GP for you? Um, so basically, they have you make an appointment on the telephone, and at the moment, because of covid, Uh, generally, they'll only do telephone, um, appointments. But if they do feel that they need you to come in, then they'll book you an appointment after they've spoken to you. Yeah. So, um, to book an appointment, you call up

Sorry. What do you mean, on your phone, or is there an app or? Well, they did used to have an app, but they've stopped using it for some reason. Um, so we we've been either calling or going into the surgery to make the appointment

Um, usually, because when you phone, it's usually a bit very busy, and the GP surgeries are far from me. So it's better for me to just go in and make the appointment. And you find that How do you find making an appointment? Is that an easy process to get one when you need one? Um, so at the moment, I've not really needed anything in an emergency as such

So it takes. Did you have quick, like, you know, Did you have appointments where we can the next day and things like that? But because I work, they don't always fit into my time. So generally, I'm waiting a few days till I get a time

That suits me. But I think if it was an emergency appointment, then I'd be able to get it if I came in and waited for a while. Yeah, I think the general what they generally know

But again, it's funny now, isn't it? I'm not, and it sounds like they're quite flexible. Yeah, they're really good. My GP is very, very good

What is it? What? What do you appreciate about your job? Um, they they even though we're doing, um, phone interviews or phone calls. Um, there. It's not like a rushed appointment

Um, I feel that they listen to it. Um, they'll hear us out. You can hear it

Um, so recently, Like, I needed a blood test. And, um, he sort of heard me out. Made an appointment very quickly

Um, the blood test was done within a few days from when we asked for it. Um, so, yeah, I think they're very efficient to be honest, and, um, I think they're trying their best in the circumstances. Great

Is there anything that you think could be improved or needs to be improved? I think they do need to start face to face visits. Um, I know like they're very, very reluctant to do them, but there's certain things which would require face to face visits. Um, and I'm not sure when they'll start doing them

Um, but yeah, because you do have to push them a bit for the face to face visits. And I think it should be something that we could, you know, when everything else is open. Um, I think the doctors can try a bit harder

Um, in that sense, yes. And is there anything else that you'd like to add? Um, actually, I like with the GP service. I'm quite happy

I think generally like, um, I've had a family member who's needed a hospital appointment, and that's taken about six months to get, um, so in that sense, like they do. Although they're trying their best from their end, it's really difficult to then access services services because obviously that again, that there's a backlog. So I don't know how they manage that, but that's what we've been told that they're going through last year's waiting list

And what's the communication, then? Like, does your GP make the referral? Yeah. So my GP would made the referral. They basically give us

No. Yeah, they Well, they give us, like, a pin code or something. And then we phone we phone up, or we can do it online and then just choose the timings

But generally, when we try And once that's gone through, though, getting the appointment has taken a long time. Um, but yeah, that's sort of out of the GPS hands. So where he can do it quickly he has done

But, um, in that, in that instance, he wasn't able to do anything about that. So, yeah, is that, Um no, that's OK. Thank you very much for your time

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