Whenever I phone my GP Surgery I regularly get drawn into an argument them insisting I use Ask My GP. Nearly every time I phone them, I’m having to go through explaining that I can’t, it won’t accept any password I put in.
I have spoken to the Practice Manager about this, who has assured me I can phone the Surgery instead. When I mentioned this to the Receptionist, they check with the Practice Manager; who denies this. So I’m having to go through explaining everything to whichever Receptionist I get through to, which causes me even more pressure and stress; when they know full well I suffer with stress.
Seeing that Ask My GP is supposedly ‘offered as a Service’, surely that means it is up to the individual Patient whether to use it, if at all they can? Sick + tired of having to be dictated to by so called ‘services’.
I’m fed up of our surgery too. They are useless and so disorganised and inefficient.
I suppose you have two options - request the password is reset on Ask My GP and perhaps note down the new one somewhere so you can check it if you need to or the next time the practice manager says you can just ring the surgery instead ask for it to be noted down on you patient file so you can refer the receptionist to this note.
Good luck!! Says Melly1 who has got to do attempt to ring our surgery today too.
I have a reverse problem to you, I have been using Ask My GP, it is OK, definitely not perfect but in some ways its better than talking to the rude and invasive telephone operators. However, I sent through a request to ask about getting an appointment for my flu jab. My response was I need to phone the surgery and arrange that way. I then did a response stating that why have a Ask my GP service if I then have to call the surgery? On the website it states it is for all your needs and you can pick a person to direct your request too and a nurse is on the list.
My response was ‘this is a GP request service and that I need to phone the surgery to organise flu jab’. So I have wasted my time, believing I am helping the surgery as this terrible time because the nurse would look at my request to see when free and respond accordingly but instead NO - I must phone and was rude adding insult to injury. So not going to get flu jab done through them but trying to solve where to get it done. Will sort it but not through my GP unfortunately.
Just something to make you laugh or maybe scare you but when my GP called, she did not know that my partner had autism, DID NOT KNOW HE HAD AUTISM (sorry for shouting) but that to me was unbelievable. Using Ask my GP I always put requests through for my partner as his carer, did that not ring a bell that my partner must have something that requires a carer - D’OH.
Sorry for going on but feel like I have to fight for everything for my civil partner because some how, nothing registers to his disability as a person with autism and learning disabilities - nightmare.
Frustrations of contacting surgery - just phoned usual 5 mins of messages about covid, covid, use online consultation … then caller 17, gradually counts down but as I got to be caller 2 it was lunchtime and phone system cut off dead. Waste another hour after lunch, only want them to send me a report, but emails get lost in black hole. When you can talk to a person they are quite good!
I haven’t met “ask my GP” but I have met my grandson’s school system for homework. School said it was fine, daughter in law couldn’t get it to work. When he was with me, I said I’d have a go. They’d given him an eight letter password, the system wanted a seven letter password!
Armed with that information, DIL took the chromebook into school, school had to eat humble pie!
Can you contact the Practice Manager, explain that you are having problems, and ask if you can take your device in to be shown how to do it?
You need help, not rudeness.
I suspect that the instructions were not written for someone in a state of no knowledge.
Unfortunately the Practice Manager is beyond rude. I’ve been having endless problems with her for years, the latest being she assured me I could phone up the Surgery as I couldn’t use Ask My GP. Then when I was in the midst of a discussion with one of the call-handlers where I mentioned the Surgery Manager assured me I could phone up, she actually checked with the Surgery Manager; who denied it. I am having to retort to inventive ways of responding when they insist I use Ask My GP, they claim they offer it as a service - which should be optional; little Hitlers the lot of 'em.
Maybe talk to the CCCG Complaints Officer that you cannot use ask my GP and would like someone to help you with it…?
Inevitably, the conversation will involve asking the practice, then you can say that you’d like them to but they are apparently too busy…?
Then the Complaints Officer should get in touch and find out why, especially as they have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for you as a carer!
I have been in contact with the CCG on numerous occassions, they refuse to help. They insist I have to make a Complaint to NHS England. When that happened in the past, this Practice Manager claimed to ‘bend over backwards for me’, even insisting I always wanted to speak to her, as I ‘felt comfortable speaking with her’ - the lies…unbelievable.