Making a GP appointment via NHS Direct: Shocking Nonsense

[#1]

I am sure most of you have seen on the news and in the papers that the gov is proposing to transfer the making of a gp appointment away from your local surgey to nhs direct.
That may be fine unless you are like me....deaf.
Since very very few deaf people in the uk have a text relay screen phone or a simple text  phone . they will be unable to contact nhs direct to make an appointment.
I have spoken to nhs direct and they refuse to provide an alternative method of contacting them so...................
1 I have contacted the Equalityhumanrights commission, who are currently having a heart attack and  they have assured me that they will take immediate action to counteract this stupidity.
2 The bbc news, guardian, telegraph, dailymail, express are all folllowing the story.

Besides deaf people the EHRC are also concerned about people who are autistic/learning difficulties etc etc.
So lets all sit back and see just what   thisoldman can do when he gets rattled.
The bbc are sending a journalist to my home some time today.
http://express.co.uk/posts/view/228231

[#2]

Hope Paxman doesn't give you a hard time 

[#3]

its not paxman its a local bbc news reporter.
i will have to get out the tea bags and cups as the express , ehrc, rnid and daily mail health correspondents are about to descend on me

[#4]

Just three weeks ago I had an outpatients appointmet direct with the District hospital, via my GP,  Took just a week
I have just made another  appointment with an outpatients department at the Local District Hospital, the last one was made at the Hospital itself, But they have just opened a large extension.
The one I made two days ago was via an office 10 miles away,  The Mid Essex Referral Booking Management Service
they gave me a date, time and consultant that suited me  22Feb at 10:30
Today got a letter with all those details, plus this note below
this is a provisional booking, which the consultant will look at to see if it is suitable
This may result in the booking being cancelled or changed in
which case your GP will be notified and will notify you in return

Please phone this number 0845 =======, Please dont contact the hospital direct

What a load of Coblers and a complete waste of time

[#5]

txs for your post pierre but can i assume that you are not deaf and hence were easily able to make the initial call.

My post  is about how deaf people will be able to contact nhs direct and their failure to supply an alternative method of accessing their service under section three sub sec 26 of the Dis Disc Act.

As an aside knowing how long it takes my surgery to answer the fone, im guessing nhs direct will takes ages and all the appointments will have gone for the day.

[#6]

I was just thinking what you would do
Mind you the referral office phone was a lot clearer than the Hospital one
My direct one was also a confirmation letter, not subject to whim or rubbish, with a direct to department phone number

[#7]

txs for reply      the EHRC and the RNID  are currently having urgent discussions with nhs direct. As soon as i have any firm news ill post.

[#8]

ps      as part of a legal dispute my go surgery were in 2005 forced to give me an email address to make an appointment. I was asked by the ehrc to test the system. At 831 the next day i emailed the surgery for an appointment and at 14.33pm i received an email saying all appointments had been taken for the day.

God help us if nhs direct are forced to allow email appointments.

[#9]

My GP's practice offers something called emis Access (https://www.emisaccess.co.uk).
I can book appointments and order repeat prescriptions using the net. If I want to book an appointment, it presents me with a list (by date ) of the doctors on duty (group practice) and the available appointment slots for each one. So I choose the doctor, date and time I want from those available - and click book.
I CAN call the surgery if I prefer, but this is quicker, works 7 * 24 and I don't get in contention for the appointments telephone line. I have booked an appointment at midnight for 9:30 the following morning. It seems to work by contacting the appointments system in the practice in real time rather than keeping a separate database.
Great system as far as I am concerned. I presumed it was part of the whole NHS IT program and was a general service - obviously not.

[#10]

In another thread you mentioned using typetalk to contact NHS Direct.  Can you not do so for this enquiry?

[#11]

Quote from: wisty

Great system as far as I am concerned. I presumed it was part of the whole NHS IT program and was a general service - obviously not.

It's not yet available to all GP practices but is being rolled out gradually.  It's an excellent system and allows more time to those who want to use the telephone or call into the surgery to make an appointment.

[#12]

artmo as part of a legal dispute  the pct purchased a text relay screen fone for me. I am now arguing on behalf of all deaf people who do not have a text/screen fone.

[#13]

Quote from: wisty

My GP's practice offers something called emis Access (https://www.emisaccess.co.uk). I can book appointments and order repeat prescriptions using the net. If I want to book an appointment, it presents me with a list (by date ) of the doctors on duty (group practice) and the available appointment slots for each one. So I choose the doctor, date and time I want from those available - and click book.

I agree, EMIS is very good and linked with our excellent GP Medical Centre we couldn't wish for better service.

[#14]

wisty artmo and ellis    txs for reply......but how will you cope when the making an appointment system is transferred to nhs direct, who only have a fone contact system....no fax no sms  no email is going to be allowed.
im sorry to repeat my q but its important to  millions of deaf people  who do not have an expensive textrelay fone.
how will deaf people be able to contact nhs direct to make a gp appointment, and will we ever be able to get through to the service or will we  be stuck in a queue for hours on end

[#15]

Are you familiar with the Choose and Book service?  It is a system used to book an appointment with a consultant. It is a centralised system which you can access via phone, textphone or internet.
When you contact the service you can select from a number of hospitals, consultants and appointment times.  I used it recently and was very pleased with the way it worked.