GOING TO THE DOCTORS

Wekbeck you can’t just turn up at our A&E and haven’t been able to do that for years. A&E is for ambulance patients and those referred by a health professional or 111. If you were taken ill close by, you’d go to the attached GP unit and be fast-tracked into A&E, if required.

This is just a step to seeing remote doctors in any part of the country, which is what companies such as Babylon Health, which Matt Hancock has endorsed, offer. It was founded by Ali Parsa, who was the person who handed back Hinchingbrooke Hospital to the NHS when he he lost money. Dominic Cummings used to be an advisor for them.

Bye bye family doctors!

I absolutely hate phone consultations.

I've had telephone consultations with a consultant and a GP and am due to have one next week with a podiatrist (not sure how that one will work out .). Both were fine but I do hope that this will not be the way forward.

Prior to the pandemic our surgery had started a system whereby the receptionist would get the duty doctor to call you back. He or she would then decide whether the problem could be sorted out over the phone or if you needed to see someone and who would be the most suitable person. It worked very well.

I had a telephone consultation with the nurse because of an insect bite getting infected and she sent an antibiotic prescription to the chemist for me that worked well. However this week I had a face to face appointment with a nurse to have my ears syringed , no problem done as usual except for us both wearing masks.

On the way out I asked for an appointment to have diabetic bloods done( should have been done in April, obviously didn’t happen) GP has also asked for repeat of thyroid test urgently. I was told by the ( very pleasant ) receptionist that only emergency/ life threatening blood tests were being done at the surgery and I’d have to pick up a blood form and take it to the walk in clinic at the hospital 40 minutes drive away.

Surely they can continue to do tests at the surgery now it’s reopened Im very unimpressed with this .

SueDonim

Wekbeck you can’t just turn up at our A&E and haven’t been able to do that for years. A&E is for ambulance patients and those referred by a health professional or 111. If you were taken ill close by, you’d go to the attached GP unit and be fast-tracked into A&E, if required.

i haven't come across that in london, yet.
last year i dragged/ wheeled in a seriously ill person. there is only one reception area, you then get seen by whoever they think appropriate.
we actually got better treatment the first time when we were seen by the equivalent of GP service, being immediately admitted, and assessed and treated by specialists.
second time a month later it was obviously major A&E, but it proved nearly fatal due to delay/inaction for hours despite pleading and explaining history. very traumatic.
a condition that is fatal without timely surgery, and often with it too.
i think often the doc needs to actually see the patient.

Admin staff at GP surgeries are only asking questions to patients because it saves time for the doctors, who then have a rough idea of what the patient”s problem is - is it medical when they need to speak to a doctor, related to medication when they can speak to their pharmacist, or to do with administration when the admin staff can help. All staff are trained in confidentiality matters. They are not trying to find out medical details of patients because they are nosey but to assist the doctors who are the ones responsible for their health and who advise their staff what to say to patients.

All well and good Sallywally1 but most of the admin/receptionists live local to the surgery so are therefore neighbours to some patients, do you really want Mrs H over the road knowing all about your incontinence or how your husband has erection problems?!

HAZBEEN

All well and good Sallywally1 but most of the admin/receptionists live local to the surgery so are therefore neighbours to some patients, do you really want Mrs H over the road knowing all about your incontinence or how your husband has erection problems?!

Yes, our (really lovely) neighbour works as a receptionist and has helped us by collecting a prescription recently after a video appointment with the GP but it can feel a little awkward.

HAZBEEN

I dont like the new system. Fill in a form, which is then looked at by the receptionist who decides if you will be contacted by a doctor, since when are receptionists medically trained? What about when people make an appointment for something quite trivial and when seeing the doctor blurt out the more serious problem that has been worrying them. Or if someone has complex medical issues one symptom may sound trivial but taken in context with other problems is life threatening. A receptionist should not be making the decisions.

Spot on

If you feel that you need to discuss with your GP over the phone something that you find embarrassing if your husband is in the room, is there any reason why you can't ask your husband to leave the room while you are on the phone? If he asks, just tell him that it's "women's stuff" and most men will happily vacate the area !

We've just an email with attached video from one of our GPs. He tells us that this is how things are going to be for some time. Our surgery has a blue and yellow zone and if we need to be seen (following telephone/video consultation) in a red zone surgery we will have to travel to another practice and will not be seen by one of our GPs. I agree that in some instances telephone appointments are OK, i.e. after your annual review when all they want to tell you are the results and if you need your medication changing, but I hate the idea of this becoming normal practice. I have already read in the press that cancer referrals are down on what they usually are and I am not surprised. I am by nature a very private person and this does not sit comfortably with me.

My surgery has had telephone appointments for sometime - way before Covid-19. Great! a quick discussion and job done! or a face to face appointment is arranged by the doctor.
If you call the surgery of a morning and speak with the receptionist, she will put you on the list for the duty doctor for that day. The doctor will phone you back and make an appointment with a doctor for that day if they feel it is necessary.
This has applied with covid-19 if they consider you need to see one. My husband went down to the surgery for what turned out to be Shingles. My 83 year old mother too about a lump.
Far more efficient use of the doctors time.

My son has an op scheduled for this week. He’s had several telephone consultations with consultant doing the op and several other health professionals including the pre-op. It’s all worked really well so far. Also I’ve had a couple of physio consults by phone and been given a personal link to my exercises - also worked well.
I’m all for it if the patient is happy. It will save a huge amount of time for doctors and patients, no travel, no struggling to park, no contact with other potentially infectious people.
This would also free up face to face slots for those who don’t want telephone consultations.

JenniferEccles

I really fear that this could become the way GPS operate in the future.

It’s bound to be an appealing for them to be working at home but is it in the best interests of the patients?

Although I can see how it could solve the problem of those who fail to turn up for their appointments, I am certain that without face to face consultations in the surgery that many things will be missed.

How about those who are not competent with technology?

I can understand the need for it when we were at the height of the epidemic but now surely it’s time for GP surgeries to get back to normal.

After all there has always been the option for a phone consultation with a doctor even before the virus struck.

Spot on!

I am very concerned that telephone and video consultations are going to b become the norm. For the new system to work it is assumed that everybody is able to communicate efficiently over the phone and have access to a decent phone. People with hearing problems or other handicaps will be at a huge disadvantage. I also feel it will be a serious disadvantage for people who are shy and find discussing a problem difficult. I am also extremely worried at the thought of relying on the diagnosis of a doctor who can only base his/her decision on what the patient is able to communicate. I personally only had one telephone appointment several months ago and it was not successful. I found myself getting very nervous and unable to mention what my real worry was. I really feel people should be offered a telephone or a face to face appointment. The new system is obviously popular for some people, but it shouldn't be the only method on offer.

I like the telecons. I rang and asked the receptionist for the doctor to ring me. She called about an hour later. I had to go in for an exam which was fine. She was in scrubs and apron and mask. Very easy.
No sitting in that dreadful waiting room full of “sick” people.
I think it works well.

We’ve been doing this for years now, if it’s a problem that doesn’t require an examination, it’s quick and easy , I’m sure the doctors must be able to get through a lot more appointments, and we don’t have to sit in a waiting room full of infectious people, also our repeat prescriptions can be ordered online , I think it frees up lore time for people who do need an examination or treatment.

I much prefer telephone consultations, with the obvious option of face to face should the issue warrant it. My son has telephone and video calls from his specialist team at the hospital, he can do all sorts of tests at home, spirometry, BP, even some sputum and blood tests ourselves which we can drop off. As long as theres a good relationship and patients are educated and do get seen on ocassion, even very complex illness can be managed remotely a lot of the time. At least when it's a phone call the doctor has a chance to read the patients notes. The danger is it being sold off to a private service which isn't able to build up a relationship with the patient and the associated risks of cavalier record sharing, which is open to abuse.

A very dear friend, already undergoing treatment for cancer (and that put on hold became of the pandemic), has now developed additional symptoms. She has had to go through the rigmarole of sending pictures, when really what is needed are physical tests/biopsy, has now ended up in hospital because of the delay. She had also had to repeatedly phone the admin in relation to her cancer treatment, because of non response to her calls. In the end she only got a response because she left a voicemail asking if she was being ignored because they were hoping she'd die and they wouldn't have to bother with her. She is well aware her cancer is not curable and the treatment is a means of slowing its progress, so I fear she is probably right in her assumption.

Fine when it works but we have not been offered any kind of video call, not even from the physiotherapist! Surely they would have more effect by video? I have an appointment tomorrow with an endocrinologist but only on the phone. Not much point if he is only going to tell me blood test results, he can't see my symptoms.

Why can I just turn up at the hospital for a blood test but DH can't go to the surgery for an injection he needs?

What are all the medics doing with the time they used to spend with patients?

Where my Mum lives in Yorkshire, the GP Surgeries aren't even open! Getting even a phone appointment seems difficult .... mine in Wiltshire has been open all along - yes we do have phone consultations which are fine for some things, but if I feel the need to go and see my lovely GP he will see me, I have had injections, smears, the lot since lock down and all has been absolutely fine!

Could you ask them if, for privacy, you could have a face to face appointment? They wouldn’t expect you to talk in the garden and if your landline phone can’t be moved to another room, there really isn’t an option is there. Hopefully they’ll understand, as you are entitled to confidentiality (even from your husband) and you could remind them of this, if they aren’t cooperative.

My OH went onto dialysis just as lockdown started and has now developed pruritus (constant itching) and bullous perphigoid (huge blisters on arms and chest). He is in a bad way. The telephone appointment was really useful as we were able to send photos of the lesions, taken between changes of dressings, rather than having to go in, remove dressings and re-do them, (all painful and stressful).
I think telephone appts are the way forward, (for most things and most people (though not all - the elderly for example would probably be happier seeing someone), BUT, I think GP's should have a 6 mth "well person" clinic for every registered patient, so that stuff we aren't aware of (like the mole noticed whilst using stethescope mentioned above) may be picked up.
It worked for dentistry so why not for general practice?
Would this be a good moment in time to bring about such a change?

We've been having telephone consultations for years now. In fact, even before they happened I would ask whether it was possible for a quick phone call rather than having to trek to the Dr's, sit for (what felt like) hours in an infectious waiting room and then feel rushed through the appointment.
I long for the day when I can email stuff to the GP, particularly if it is stuff like DLA claim forms so they can see what you have said which saves them time ringing me to find out why I am claiming. They often look at the fact that I am diabetic (for which I need nothing!) but completely forget the stuff I haven't seen them for years about because it has been treated as far as it can be but still leaves me in considerable pain.