Using Mobile phone only to log in to Doctor

[melmerby]

On 03/04/2024 at 08:03, Jeremy Cumberland said:

I assumed from your earlier posts that you didn't have a mobile phone and so couldn't receive the authentication code via SMS.

 

Unless the surgury requires you to use their app (which isn't mentioned in your original post), I don't see why you shouldn't just continue using your computer as you had done in the past, registering your mobile number to reveive the authentication code via SMS, and copying this into your web browser.

 

It wouldn't work for me, because I don't have a mobile phone.

Foiled again.

Started log on with the PC, after entering my mobile phone number and memorable word, expecting to get the one time passcode by text, they have now added another feature.

You have to use your phone after downloading an authenticating app from google store to finish logging on, you can't do it with a PC!

 

[Colin_McLeod]

Try changing your doctor ! 🤔

[kevinlms]

On 18/03/2024 at 04:58, Tim Dubya said:

 

My dad's (he's 85) surgery swapped to this system a month or so back and he was invited in and given lessons on how to use it.  Patients at his practice can also still phone in for appointments etc if they don't have a smart phone or computer to access it's services. 

 

This is how it should be, never a MUST.

[kevinlms]

On 18/03/2024 at 11:46, Reorte said:

I've had to present my driving licence to the police zero times in the thirty years I've been driving. Whilst I can't rule out the possibility of it happening the frequency that it does is low enough that any hassle involved even without having it on me is too negligible in the grand scheme of things to care about.

Oh I have and I was doing nothing wrong, but the police didn't know that.

 

I was driving my wife's car and I got stopped 9 times in about 18 months. The police system recognised her car as belonging to a suspended driver - which was true, due to medical issues. So yeah, I got used to the procedure and had my licence in my hand by the time they got to the window!

 

They took it back to their vehicle and it came back clean, without an issue everytime.

 

I would rather 2 minutes of inconvenience, than having people driving around without a licence or other issues related to the car.

 

The law says that in Australia (well OK, licences are mostly issued by the states with almost identical laws), that the licence should be carried at all times WHEN DRIVING and that I believe is part of the priviledge of being allowed to drive. Yes, there are other ways of them proving it's you with modern technology, but usually it's quicker if you have it with you - I like an easy life.

 

A drivers licence is NOT technically an ID card, although many people assume that it is.

[melmerby]

6 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

Try changing your doctor ! 🤔

It's an NHS thing.

We can still phone for appointments, prescriptions etc. but it was so much easier doing it on-line.

 

Today i tried to book two appointments, you have to select an option when you phone but have to put up with 1 minute 40 secs of spiel before it gets to the selection (you can't do it earlier - I tried!), then you get another 30 secs or so of how busy we are and that there could be a long wait. Then you are connected and are (in my case) no 1 in the queue, wait another 4 or 5 minutes and -  B*gger! The battery in the handset gave out. so I had to start again with a different handset.

 

In the end I couldn't book either as 1) they had run out of Covid Vaccines and 2) no appointments until the week beginning 3rd June but the dates in the appointment book weren't yet available to book!

 

I can remember when this practice could book you in within a few days.

The number of doctors hasn't changed, the number of patients registered hasn't changed.

Edited April 30 by melmerby

[melmerby]

On 30/04/2024 at 12:12, kevinlms said:

A drivers licence is NOT technically an ID card, although many people assume that it is.

It can be used as an identity card in the UK.

[Reorte]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

It can be used as an identity card in the UK.

Technically there are no identity cards in the UK (thank heavens, although the ever increasing expectation and demand for ID is unpleasant).

[cctransuk]

3 hours ago, Reorte said:

Technically there are no identity cards in the UK (thank heavens, although the ever increasing expectation and demand for ID is unpleasant).

 

Probably best if we don't get into the FOR / AGAINST debate - it always descends into acrimony.

 

For that reason, I won't oppose the opinion above.

 

CJI.

[ian]

A UK driving licence can be used as proof of your identity for certain purposes but is not an 'Identity card', ditto UK passports, bank cards and such like.

 

Being able to prove your identity is one thing, being forced to carry a document whose sole purpose is to identify you is another. Once such a thing exists many institutions will demand to see it because they can.

[PhilH]

On 30/04/2024 at 17:38, melmerby said:

It's an NHS thing.

We can still phone for appointments, prescriptions etc. but it was so much easier doing it on-line.

 

 

I live in an area of extremely high growth not matched by provision of medical facilities. To get an appointment at one of the two doctors surgeries serving this area you first have to do an econsult. You are then advised by text within two days whether you should book an appointment or not, either same day for more urgent cases or routine for the more normal stuff. Note, you are not given an appointment you are given permission to ring up to try and book one. You cannot book a routine appointment without having done an econsult.
 

Routine appointments are only released at 11am on a Wednesday for the week ahead. Additionally you are allowed to ring up on Thursday at 4pm to see if there are any cancellations or such. As I said earlier you can only ring for an appointment if you have an econsult on record.

 

I enclose an image of my attempts today to get through to my surgery starting at 10.58 am today. The number next to the phone number is the number of attempts I made before I gave up. Mostly I could not even get through, a recorded message telling me that the phone lines were full. This is the reality of trying to get to see a doctor round here in the 21st century.

 

Edited May 1 by PhilH

[kevinlms]

4 hours ago, PhilH said:

I live in an area of extremely high growth not matched by provision of medical facilities. To get an appointment at one of the two doctors surgeries serving this area you first have to do an econsult. You are then advised by text within two days whether you should book an appointment or not, either same day for more urgent cases or routine for the more normal stuff. Note, you are not given an appointment you are given permission to ring up to try and book one. You cannot book a routine appointment without having done an econsult.
 

Routine appointments are only released at 11am on a Wednesday for the week ahead. Additionally you are allowed to ring up on Thursday at 4pm to see if there are any cancellations or such. As I said earlier you can only ring for an appointment if you have an econsult on record.

 

I enclose an image of my attempts today to get through to my surgery starting at 10.58 am today. The number next to the phone number is the number of attempts I made before I gave up. Mostly I could not even get through, a recorded message telling me that the phone lines were full. This is the reality of trying to get to see a doctor round here in the 21st century.

 

So the American Republications and insurance companies are correct in their claims about 'communist countries with long queues to see doctors'?

[Colin_McLeod]

I am still impressed by the sign at my own medical centre that apologies that they might not be able to give a 'same day' appointment if you ask after lunch time.  One of the advantages of rural Ireland.

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

I am still impressed by the sign at my own medical centre that apologies that they might not be able to give a 'same day' appointment if you ask after lunch time.  One of the advantages of rural Ireland.

Rural Australia apparently has the opposite problem - largely because new doctors do not want to work away from cities and large towns. Lack of fine dining and things like arts have a lot to do with that decision.

Districts are offering doctors free housing and the like, because they are desperate.