"A tragic death due to over demand and under capacity"

I know i could make good use of the items on my list , rose!

Whereas the ones on my list?

The article doesn't say that the woman's husband found her in a coma but did not call an ambulance. On the contrary, I assume that is how she was admitted, the day after she took to her bed. Perhaps the dad did talk to his son at that point, we don't know from the article.

The GP who wrote this doesn't simply blame the NHS - he says he was let down by the professional leaders and academics, the government, but also a community of Britons. In other words he blames the system.

I think the point he is making is that of over-demand and under capacity in primary care. We certainly see that in the huge practice (15,000 patients on the list) that we attend.

I have had to learn to say that I need an emergency appointment, even when I don't consider it as such, to get an appointment when I don't want to wait weeks.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'free dental care, free eye care, free prescriptions, etc all gone' amarmai. Certainly prescriptions are free in Wales and Scotland, and I thought that eye tests were free for anyone over 60 throughout the UK.

And dental treatment for anyone under 18 is free.

Eye tests are also free if you have a close relative suffering from something like glaucoma. I know this because I have such a close relative and I get a free eye test every year because of that.

doctors just cant relate to ordinary people no matter how they try, they have better lives, more money and this makes it hard to relate to ordinary people. They should try working a zero hour contract/living on a sink estate, for a period of time during their training so they can relate to ordinary people. Most doctors are middle class and have the bank of mummy and daddy to rely on and they do their training not knowing what its like to struggle not just financially but struggle to understand the minds of uneducated people, people who cant communicate well/have little confidence and don't want to bother the doctor.
Ive never met a doctor yet without a middle class accent.

I've met some amazing, caring and compassionate doctors in my time. My dear uncle recently passed away, and from his diagnosis of oesophageal cancer a year ago, to his death last month, he was treated with kindness and respect from his medical team. The systems and processes were sadly lacking in parts, mind you!

obvi meant 'for everyone' . Eye care used to mean more than eye tests. Under 18 and over 60 leaves out how many, Ana? Hey Rose- never say never!

Well, etheltbags, what a lot of sweeping statements. Not all doctors are middle class, though they may, by occupation, be classified as such. Yes, some are affluent, but when did affluence become a barrier to compassion? Not necessarily. Doctors all have middle class accents? My GP has a County Antrim accent which he doesn't attempt to hide behind an assumed RP accent, despite having received his medical education and training on this side of the Irish Sea.
So what if some - maybe most - doctors have been born into the middle class? They didn't make this choice!

An eye appointment covers more than a sight test. The pressure inside the eyeball is tested (glaucoma) the retina is inspected with a lens and powerful light, and a photograph taken of the blood supply to the retina. You are asked questions about medication and any eye problems you have been experiencing.

Other things can surface during the test. I know someone who was experiencing problems with his vision. He went to the opticians for new glasses, and was sent straight to the eye hospital, where tests showed a small tumour on the optic nerve. Fortunately not malignant, and could be treated with radiotherapy.

My GP is German and he is very pleasant, always does his very best to help me. It is the jobsworth on reception that annoys me and having to go to another part of the health centre to have blood taken which involves another appointment, nothing ever gets done the same day.
I do not understand why an ambulance wasn't called, the woman was clearly very ill.

Ethel, I agree completely with anno. My GP is public school educated, well spoken and the most popular gp in the practice! His speciality is substance abuse and he volunteers for a couple of charities on top of the long hours he puts in!

I just thought "Gosh! how prejudiced!" when I read those sweeping statements.

I think this man is very upset about his mother's death and probably feels guilty that, as a doctor as well as a son, he could have done something to help her but he did not, possibly because his father failed to involve him. How often did he phone his parents to see how they were, especially if he knew his mother was ill?
Perhaps he is lashing out in an emotional state and blaming all and sundry because he feels guilty.

You see so many cases in the media where families blame the NHS, the government, the social services, local authorities - anyone but themselves.

My DSiL is a Dr and had a very underpriviliged upbringing with an absent Father and an alcoholic mother with a personality disorder.

I have huge admiration for the struggles he had to get the qualifications he needed and to become the caring, compassionate and genuinely good man he is. I think Ethel's comments are biased and just incorrect.

Etheltbags It is unfair to generalise about Doctors. Many of them are caring and compassionate, there are others who are not, but don't condemn them all.

Also, re "wants" being vague - I was thinking, that's not vague as opposed to "needs".

I had a skin condition about two years ago - the GP gave me the hugest bottle of very good skin cream that I have ever seen, way more than was needed at the time. It was great and I used it all up long after the skin condition had healed. I want some more of it, but I no longer need it. I could go to the GP and say how much it helped my dry skin or lay it on (excuse the pun) and get some. But I would be wasting resources, time and money.

with regards to some of you thinking I am predjudiced then maybe I am, however it is from experience that I make my comments. I have never met a doctor that had not got a middle class accent, never met a doctor that I trusted nor liked, they have a distance about them, they know about all our lives and backgrounds but we are not allowed to know theirs. We have to make appointments but if they visit us they just arrive when they feel like it etc. Their lifestyle due to their high incomes (I dare any of you to say they are not well paid), put them out of reach of most people I know, ie they send their kids to expensive play groups/have expensive holidays etc. My friend had a son who is a doctor but I have never been allowed to meet him, I am not invited if he is there and would not impose by going uninvited.
I meant what I said earlier that all professionals in the care industry should have to work on a zero hour contract and live on a sink estate before qualifying. (perhaps for a year or so).This would give them an insight to real peoples lives. Politicians should do this also

I agree about politicians, ethel, but not necessarily about GPs.

Some are better than others at communicating with their patients but all those years at medical school do at least ensure they're qualified for the job and I don't really care where they choose to have their children educated.

It takes years for doctors to qualify; if they then had to live on sink estates on a zero hours contract for year or so, I think most would either emigrate or not bother in the first place. It is a truly daft idea.

I presume you also think architects and lawyers should do that, Ethel.
Wouldn't it be better if there were no zero hours contracts or sink estates?

No absent what I meant was that during their training for maybe a year or so they should live like ordinary people and work for low pay, most students do this anyway. They should be learning to live like normal families with kids running around their gardens, drunks hanging around/druggies lurching all over etc . They would see normal life. After all patients are very good at hiding things, they can tell doctors they drink 10 units a week when they really drink much more etc, if the docs had the experience of living with people like this they would be more perceptive.
My friend bought her medical student a house in a nice part of town and went every day to clean and cook for him, he has never known what real people live like, not just the benefit scroungers, the many people who cant get off they rough estates who want to.

That medical student was not the norm.

durhamjen good idea, for lawyers, don't know much about architects but I also think social workers would benefit too. They will never stop zero hours or get rid of sink estates, there will always be someone at the bottom.