The last time I was at a late night doctor with my daughter, he just did a Google search of her symptoms. Seriously. He Googled it. And found the page we had already found when we Googled it... And then read it to us. I'm still so thankful that I took a 4 year old out at 11.30pm for that awesome medical attention.

And yeah the NHS 24 thing was always useless. They either tell you there's nothing wrong, or basically imply that you're probably about to die and should go to hospital. From what I know of it, they basically just take some info and put it into a computer and it tells them what to do as a next step ("tell them to take paracetamol and **** off" or "tell them to run to hospital as fast as their dying legs can carry them!!")

Pretty much.I've only ever rang them when i thought the issue was too serious to just leave but was'nt sure if it was serious enough for hospital.When we had a late night emergency docs near us,it came in handy when my dad had stones in his bladder and was in a lot of pain.We don't have anything like that now in our area.I phoned that number the other month when my little lad had a wheez and was hyper ventilating,They advised me to take him to A and E and when i got in there they basically were speaking to me like i should'nt really have brought him there,but we did'nt know what else to do.Anyway they gave him an inhaler and sent us home.There needs to be an option for after hours other than hospital.When i was a kid the doctor would come out and see you whatever time it was if it was serious enough but not life threatening.

Couldn't agree more.

great post toy soldier, they teach them very little yet every kid must get straight A plusses or it may be seen as abuse in this mental assylum of a country

Yes, if you have chest pain call an ambulance... of course it might be indigestion and you need a rennie.

There should be a GCSE in that?

:laugh:

all over the news this morning (Sunday) - they are questioning should they extend the time for none emergency call outs ? as so many people are using ?

i wounder when will they click ?

just provide us with a quicker GP call out service ? which after all is what inspired my poem.

so to all those that thought i was being to demanding on getting a GP service ? i hope you are seeing i am not the only one with todays news.

its just not acceptable.

Extending surgery times would take the pressure off A&E, I went to the doctors on a monday morning not long ago while I was there 3 emergencies were transferred to hospital.

The NHS 24 is nothing like you described tbqh, in fact they go through the symptoms that you yourself describe and then decide whether they need to get a nurse or doctor to evaluate your case, the medical professional then decides how to take it from there.

Fantastic service any time I have ever needed them tbf.

Edited to add - My sister in law actually used them yesterday morning because her 6 month old baby had developed a really sore sounding cough and weeze, the woman taking the symptoms on the phone heard my nephew coughing and put her straight through to a nurse, she had an appointment at a&e within the hour for him.

Pretty decent service if you ask me considering most a&e see a minimum of 5+ hours waiting time if you just turn up.

I'm wondering if it just depends on the area you live and who deals with your needs.

:clap1:

its all done on priority of the case.