GOING TO THE DOCTORS

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.

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 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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 !

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

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.

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?!

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.

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.

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 .

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'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.

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.

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.

apparently from this winter one will have to ring 111 first before going to A&E. so no more casualty, just turning up.
what about real emergencies in the vicinity of the hosp; hope they won't turn away someone bringing in person with an obvious injury or severe illness, or to be told, go outside and ring 111.

I really don’t have a smartphone and I’m going to say (should I need a doctor) that I don’t have the Internet.

Two can play at that game.

We haven’t required a doctors appointment since lockdown but prior to that we’ve had phone appointments and they’ve been fine. I’d be happy to do that again, or have a video appt. It means in winter there’s no need to go out in bad weather and/or struggle to find a parking spot or hang about in a waiting room.

Doctors nowadays are trained to be skilled at making a diagnosis from the patient’s history alone and examination contributes little to the decision they come to. There are some exceptions, of course, and those will be the patients who will need to be seen in person.

MerylStreep

I don't know what device you use in your home but why not
Face time or Skype your doctor in the privacy of your bedroom or other.

Hahaha, MerylStreep. This is a GREAT idea. Grandson has to see the doctor because he has a lump on his willy. I'd feel like a pervert getting THAT angle!

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.

One good outcome - it cuts down on appointments that are not attended. In that way it frees up doctors to spend more time with other patients. Failed appointment slots cost the NHS thousands of pounds per year. Scandalous really. It beggars belief really that some individuals can’t be bothered to pick up a phone and say ‘I’m not coming’.
☹️