New form-filling way to get a GP Appointment

[Keith 66]

I get irritated by this linking of Luddite approaches to 'IT' and old age.

Sorry but it happens, Father in law for example, a skilled engineer & had a good career in the chemical industry, He was pretty good at IT & highly proficient with Autocad. Yet in his twilight years he simply could not cope with the tech due to dementia, this he found enormously frustrating, He wouldnt allow us to help him! Being scammed & us stopping it became a frequent occurence.
We all get old if we are lucky. Just pray you dont end up in the same boat!

 

[gaz1]

why these companies cant provide a webapp is beyond me. just data harvesting i assume.

a webapp can harvest alot more details including yor gps details

so no i wouldnt want to use a webapp

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

a webapp can harvest alot more details including yor gps details

so no i wouldnt want to use a webapp

Haven't you run out of tin foil yet.

FFS gas if someone doesn't have a smart phone and just need to activate a product do you really think they care.

What are you so afraid of people finding out about you?

 

[MysterG]

I'm still worried about the analogue phone lines disappearing in 2025 and it all being broadband/digital based.
Try explaining that to my MIL.

Almost guaranteed that the 'hub' they provide homes with will require a PC or App at some point...

 

[Robotstar5]

I saw a good example of not everyone has a PC in PC world of all places, I'd gone in to get something but they didn't have the particular model I wanted so the assistant said they'd send me an email when it came in, the same happened to the gent next to me, but when the assistant asked for an email address he said I don't have a computer, the assistant looked at him like he was from another planet.

 

[m_c]

why these companies cant provide a webapp is beyond me. just data harvesting i assume.

Primarily security.
Financial apps are typically sandboxed, so are far less vulnerable to any browser/OS weaknesses.

There is also the simple fact that for the majority of users, phone apps are the default option now.
The last times I've logged in online to any of my financial accounts, was simply to allow third parties access to my financial data for processing (aka Quickbooks).
All my actual banking I do via phone apps. It's just far easier and convenient.


However I do agree there will always be those where IT isn't an option.
But allowing those who can use IT to do so, should free up resources for those who do need to talk to someone.

 

[PhillipM]

I have to say the only place I find people who struggle so much with technology these days is....well here. Which is ironic given it's a web forum
My 80 year old grandmother was blind in one eye and had zero issues booking GP appointments online a few years back until she passed. Or using amazon or any other site to buy things without falling for silly scams. I think far too many people just avoid what they don't know and hope it goes away and then blame the tech for their lack of knowledge.

The same people 20 years ago would have been avoiding mobile phones, and 30 years before that would have been sending a letter to the GP for an appointment or just walking in because they didn't trust phone lines and dialling was too complex.
Online appointments are a far better system for the modern world, people need to keep up and keep educated instead of blaming other things.
Are there edge cases where they're not suitable? Sure. There always are and there always will be. Even when they change it the next time around and your phone app checks when you're ill and requests a GP take a look at you instead of the other way around - but there are alternatives in place for that, as already mentioned, you can still phone if you need to.
Plenty of people with dementia can't handle a phonecall, or a letter, or even remember they were supposed to go to the doctors, I don't see how an online form changes much there. Most in that case will already be needing assistance anyway.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Primarily security.

Not really an issue when it's for your Costa coffee loyalty card that they require an app to utilise. Many more like that.

Do get what your saying though.

 

[Morrisman]

Sorry but it happens, Father in law for example, a skilled engineer & had a good career in the chemical industry, He was pretty good at IT & highly proficient with Autocad. Yet in his twilight years he simply could not cope with the tech due to dementia, this he found enormously frustrating, He wouldnt allow us to help him! Being scammed & us stopping it became a frequent occurence.
We all get old if we are lucky. Just pray you dont end up in the same boat!

Same with my dad, he had a computer longe before I did, spent his whole life teaching electronics and avionics in the RAF, yet in his last 10-15 years he basically forgot how to even use a lap top.

 

[rtcosic]

Sorry but it happens, Father in law for example, a skilled engineer & had a good career in the chemical industry, He was pretty good at IT & highly proficient with Autocad. Yet in his twilight years he simply could not cope with the tech due to dementia, this he found enormously frustrating, He wouldnt allow us to help him! Being scammed & us stopping it became a frequent occurence.
We all get old if we are lucky. Just pray you dont end up in the same boat!

You just proved my point.

He did not find it difficult because he was old.
He found it difficult because he became disabled by dementia.
Not everyone with dementia or other disabilities is old
Not every who is old has dementia or other disabilities.

@Morrisman

One of my younger passengers is an ex RAF officer barely 5 years older than me whose hand I have to hold between his front door and the car in case he wanders off when I take him to his daycare centre. He can't cope with a mobile telephone. Unlike your father, he doesn't realise let alone accept that he has dementia.

He isn't OLD. He is disabled by Dementia.

Separately, I understand the opportunity for improved security offered by well design apps over browser-based services. I use my PC for banking etc because the keyboard and screen are bigger and my phat phingers struggle with a mobile telephone screen-based keyboard. I'll order my 'Spoon's lunch at my table using their app on my mobile and pay for it using PayPal. I don't carry cash or credit cards any longer and think that's great (until the cellphone network or banking systems fail!)

When my PC dies of Old Age (ie Beyond Economical Repair and I invoke its DNR Expression of Will) I will replace it with a tablet and have the best of both worlds. Unless I'm doing everything by voice command by then.

<Rant Off>

 

[Morrisman]

.

@Morrisman

One of my younger passengers is an ex RAF officer barely 5 years older than me whose hand I have to hold between his front door and the car in case he wanders off when I take him to his daycare centre. He can't cope with a mobile telephone. Unlike your father, he doesn't realise let alone accept that he has dementia.

He isn't OLD. He is disabled by Dementia.

My dad never had dementia, and was a sharp as a pin until a few months before his death last May. He just lost interest in the internet and it's use, and the few times he did pull up his old lap top to look into something everything had changed, advanced, needed log-ins he hadn't used for years etc.

If you keep on top of it, move with the times, use the latest tech regularly it's easy, but not everybody sits on the web every day.

My daughter is always on about Snapchat, Twitter, Tiktok, Instagram etc. I use the internet for hours every day, but I have no idea what they are. Facebook I can handle, and forums like this, web sites for all my utilities etc, but I've no idea what that other stuff is, and I'm 62.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

My daughter is always on about Snapchat, Twitter, Tiktok, Instagram etc. I use the internet for hours every day, but I have no idea what they are. Facebook I can handle, and forums like this, web sites for all my utilities etc, but I've no idea what that other stuff is, and I'm 62.

Internet died in the late 90s early 2000s as far as I'm concerned. Just became a huge marketing/advertising/shopping platform.

 

[Morrisman]

Internet died in the late 90s early 2000s as far as I'm concerned. Just became a huge marketing/advertising/shopping platform.

Exactly what my dad said over decade ago.

 

[Pond frog]

l just set up with the nhs app today, I need a prescription and they weren’t answering the phone so I thought I’d try doing it online, only took 5 minutes to set up and now I can log onto the surgery using my fingerprint.
This is great I thought, I put in the prescription I wanted only to be given the message this request cannot be processed online please phone your GP. Ffs I’ll be ringing again in the morning

 

[My Old Landy]

l just set up with the nhs app today, I need a prescription and they weren’t answering the phone so I thought I’d try doing it online, only took 5 minutes to set up and now I can log onto the surgery using my fingerprint.
This is great I thought, I put in the prescription I wanted only to be given the message this request cannot be processed online please phone your GP. Ffs I’ll be ringing again in the morning

That is down to your local surgery. I can request any medication already prescribed and is in my history list.

 

[sako243]

I have to say our local surgery is fantastic. Royally ****** off my girlfriend when she first moved in - she'd been trying for months to see her existing doctor. I was overdue a regular nurses appointment so whilst we were having a cup of tea I phoned up the surgery, answered the phone after 2 rings, had an appointment for that afternoon 2 minutes later after giving my name and date of birth.

 

[Morrisman]

My daughter got a text message yesterday from some outfit called my.patientknowsbest.com

They appear to have all her contact details, so we thought they are a branch of the NHS. But google says they are an international company with branches in the US and Australia, and they say they work with the NHS etc. She doesn't remember registering with them.

I already have two versions of NHS access, neither of which work, is this yet another sticking plaster on a broken system? This is half the message, the other bit had her name etc in so I clipped it.

 

[gaz1]

i put it into this search result

Google Search

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Isn't this a result of patients being invited to agree to make their medical records right available across all sectors of the NHS? Possibly another edge of the wedge towards privatisation......? In the mailshot I received they told you you could opt out.

Not introduced yet in Scotland, or at least that was what I was told when I contacted my local Surgery to tell them I was opting out.

 

[Morrisman]

Isn't this a result of patients being invited to agree to make their medical records right available across all sectors of the NHS? Possibly another edge of the wedge towards privatisation......? In the mailshot I received they told you you could opt out.

Not introduced yet in Scotland, or at least that was what I was told when I contacted my local Surgery to tell them I was opting out.

I thought that was the big thing a couple of years ago, a govt program to put all medical records on a central database? The usual suspects were up in arms, demanding that their personal files weren't automatically shared between GPs as data leaks could have their STD history flayed open to the public etc

It obviously didn't work, as when my daughter went to A&E last year they had no access to any of her records or history.