GP closed for Patrick's day

El_Bee

Tried to call my gp office to arrange a test as someone in our office tested positive and I have symptoms, got an answering machine telling me the practice is closed for Patricks day, I'm kind of dumbstruck they would do this, but how do I book a test now?

johnnyskeleton

El_Bee wrote: »

Tried to call my gp office to arrange a test as someone in our office tested positive and I have symptoms, got an answering machine telling me the practice is closed for Patricks day, I'm kind of dumbstruck they would do this, but how do I book a test now?

Have you tried a different GP or one of the out of hours services e.g. Southdoc:

https://www.southdoc.ie/

Bigboldworld

El_Bee wrote: »

Tried to call my gp office to arrange a test as someone in our office tested positive and I have symptoms, got an answering machine telling me the practice is closed for Patricks day, I'm kind of dumbstruck they would do this, but how do I book a test now?

I’m in the same boat, tried gp then rang their out of hours number which is the advice to do however they said they are a d doc and don’t deal with coronavirus tests, they advised to ring the hse hotline, no answer as of yet, they are open from 10am

Cody montana

I rang too and they said contact the South Doc.

accensi0n

El_Bee wrote: »

Tried to call my gp office to arrange a test as someone in our office tested positive and I have symptoms, got an answering machine telling me the practice is closed for Patricks day, I'm kind of dumbstruck they would do this, but how do I book a test now?

Try another GP.
Plenty of people don't even have a regular GP, they just go to whoever when they need to.

noodler

Without sounding like a prick, don't call then unless you are genuinely concerned you have the virus (dry cough, fever, respitory).

Pretty overwhelmed at the moment.

The phone call will also cost you 30 euro for the triage.

I have a regular appointment on Thursday for prescription renewal and blood test results. Can't find any guidance on whether I should show up. Phone line has answering machine saying closed for weekend and open on Monday. I'm guessing phone will be constantly engaged tomorrow. I also have an NCT test on Thursday, and site has been down for days now, so no idea what's happening there either.

Alrigghtythen

Self isolate today and call tomorrow

Bigboldworld

Bigboldworld wrote: »

I’m in the same boat, tried gp then rang their out of hours number which is the advice to do however they said they are a d doc and don’t deal with coronavirus tests, they advised to ring the hse hotline, no answer as of yet, they are open from 10am

Just an update, no answer on hse phoneline, rings for approx five minutes then stops so i think will wait and see how the roll out of the test centres go and contact them, I don’t think I’ll get a response from gp over next few days, i have mild symptoms but partner very bad cough and high fever (previous respiratory issues) so if that worsens will call ambulance, hopefully doesn’t come to that and symptoms will subside and we just lock ourselves in for two weeks

OhToBeByTheSea

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I have a regular appointment on Thursday for prescription renewal and blood test results. Can't find any guidance on whether I should show up. Phone line has answering machine saying closed for weekend and open on Monday. I'm guessing phone will be constantly engaged tomorrow. I also have an NCT test on Thursday, and site has been down for days now, so no idea what's happening there either.

Highly unlikely that you will be seen on Thursday for routine results. Prescriptions are being processed as normal and being handed out at the front door of medical centres, rather than patients coming and going, front doors of medical centres are being locked and you should ring the bell. That's what's happening in the medical centres where I live, well, aside from the ones that are closed altogether. I definitely wouldn't leave the house and show up at the medical centre without first making sure they are open and providing some sort of service, just to keep yourself safe from unnecessary exposure.

silver2020

El_Bee wrote: »

Tried to call my gp office to arrange a test as someone in our office tested positive and I have symptoms, got an answering machine telling me the practice is closed for Patricks day, I'm kind of dumbstruck they would do this, but how do I book a test now?

the advice is very simple.

1 - Don't go to your GP (you'll just spread it to others)

2 - self isolate immediately

3 - Contact your gp tomorrow and ask their advice

4 - If you are in good health, expect at worst a two week respiratory illness and being out of action for up to 4 weeks. After that you'll be right as rain and probably immune for a year

5 - Take some paracetamol if you have fever to reduce the symptoms


I think it may get to a stage that tests won't be done on all cases especially if its obvious

Aquals

It seems that there's a very big backlog at the moment, in terms of processing applications for Covid19 testing. If anyone does manage to get tested, could you let us know here how you had to wait and what the process involved? The whole testing process will, presumably, rapidly evolve over the next few days, so it would be good to have a picture of the situation as it changes.

10-10-20

For other people's reference, here are the relevant resources provided by the HSE:
https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/

Symptoms, causes and treatment, with a handy table of common symptoms:
https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/symptoms-causes-treatment.html

And the NHS's equivalent site as reference:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

CiarraiAbu2

silver2020 wrote: »

the advice is very simple.

1 - Don't go to your GP (you'll just spread it to others)

2 - self isolate immediately

3 - Contact your gp tomorrow and ask their advice

4 - If you are in good health, expect at worst a two week respiratory illness and being out of action for up to 4 weeks. After that you'll be right as rain and probably immune for a year

5 - Take some paracetamol if you have fever to reduce the symptoms


I think it may get to a stage that tests won't be done on all cases especially if its obvious

This,

People are overwhelming the out of hours service at the moment with every cough or sneeze. They are all told the same thing as above, unless your symptoms need hospital treatment. I suppose on the bright side a&e has been freed up.

silver2020

CiarraiAbu2 wrote: »

I suppose on the bright side a&e has been freed up.

Hundreds of bed-blockers, sorry, "patients" had miraculous recovery in the past couple of weeks and felt able to be discharged despite just days earlier being far too unwell to return home.

Similarly, those who have been abusing the A&E system suddenly found that the did not require "emergency" treatment.

And of course the annual drunk fest that is st Patrick's Festival is not going to clog up beds with alcohol related issues.

05eaftqbrs9jlh

I'm actually shocked by this, but not surprised. Bear in mind that they only announced the increased testing measures on Friday (where people with symptoms who were not contacts of confirmed cases or from the designated travel areas). So by tomorrow morning, we will have had only one day so far that people can ring their GP and get tested if they need it.

Beasty

Just to be clear, people should not be calling doctors to "arrange" a test. They should be discussing their symptoms with a doctor who will then decide whether to recommend one

With the current demand I would imagine it would be some time before one is available, and I don't think waiting until tomorrow morning should be that much of a big deal. Doctors are under a lot of pressure at present. I have other issues that would probably warrant early attention normally, but I'm not going to put my GP under further pressure and will wait until some of the panic dies down

Just to add only a small proportion of those tested have a "positive"

ari101

I have symptoms and have been self isolating since Sunday. On Monday first thing, I submitted and online request via my GPs website for a call back (they have a special Covid-19 form on mine). My GP is working today getting through the calls they didn't get to from yesterday.

And that's fine, I'm not significantly unwell. With these symptoms, at any other time, I would just take a day off and take some pills and mope for a while and then go about my business. So I'll stay self isolating, it's not fun, but that's life at the moment. Getting upset that services are not replying quickly is not the answer.

If you are concerned stay isolated, if you have symptoms take paracetamol and lots of fluids. In my case I got confirmation they want to add me to the testing list, as they currently want to test all individuals with certain symptoms to determine how widespread it is.

That's a separate call and instructions I might have to wait days for, followed by maybe another 3-4 wait for results after testing.

Do the sensible thing and stay in and look after yourself. If you have a GP taking online requests at least you can get in a queue. Unless you have severe symptoms, just accept this is an unprecedented time in life and we are all going to have to put up with some waiting, anxiety, and trapped boredom.

Hope you do get answers and are not unwell, just as I hope I have a mild coincidental viral infection

Stay safe people and try to consider others first.

Beasty

Threads merged

CiarraiAbu2

Jessie Long Backward wrote: »

I'm actually shocked by this, but not surprised. Bear in mind that they only announced the increased testing measures on Friday (where people with symptoms who were not contacts of confirmed cases or from the designated travel areas). So by tomorrow morning, we will have had only one day so far that people can ring their GP and get tested if they need it.

Out of hours are open all weekend and today, so you had access to a GP all weekend. The problem now is that people are clogging up the system even if have mild symptoms while other people need urgent care and I'm not even talking about covid 19.