GOING TO THE DOCTORS

My DD and I both use the same surgery. I recently had a telephone appointment with a doctor about my sinusitis. I have a history of this and so was happy with using the phone as I knew what the problem was. My DD had earache and was also given a telephone appointment. The doctor said he needed to look in her ears and asked her to come to the surgery and ring the bell. He came out in full PPE and examined her ears in the street. The street was busy with shoppers and they were standing next to the queue for the nearby pharmacy. The issue was resolved with a prescription but she found the whole experience uncomfortable and embarrassing.

the mind boggles if it had been a gynae problem...

My Surgery has been using telephone consultations for the last few years, a face to face appointment will be arranged if necessary.

You do not have to tell the Receptionist why you want to speak to a GP but it does help if you can give a brief outline.

I have attended my GP Surgery twice during lockdown, once after a telephone consultation when GP decided he needed to examine me & once for a blood test. Book in at Reception, wait by external door (not sure this will work in wet/cold weather). GP/Nurse etc opens door, checks temperature & lets you in. Must provide your own mask. Surgery operates a one way system. It works very well & an added bonus of being able to park in Surgery car park.

I know it won't suit every-one & I'm sure a good Surgery will make allowances for Patients who find it difficult to use telephone/email/video.

Our nearest hospital is a large teaching one, and still has an A & E dept to which you can just turn up. The local hospital in the town where I lived until four years ago, stopped the ' turn up ' option, and adopted a referral by GP system.

No way would I have a video consultation for haemorrhoids. It would also risk doing myself an injury trying to film them.

I had been in contact with Shingles )2 children aged 3and 6)yes it is rare Wanted to get my husband the Shingles injection (free aged 70)got told NO by GP as Jab in short supply next day phone call by receptionist to give my husband date and time of appointment

Our GP surgery is like a castle with a moat, you can not get past the door. You have to ring from the car park and someone comes to the door, it is not acceptable, what about the very old and those without faculties to ring ?
I am sorry but when you train as a doctor or nurse you accept the possibility that you will come in contact with nasty diseaeses. Been there, done that and got the certificates to prove it.

Face to face consultations are a vital part of the diagnosis process in my opinion and for various reasons.

Further to my earlier post about my friend being fobbed off with phone /photo contact, and her cancer treatment being ignored, well she went into hospital recently, then was discharged a couple of days ago, sent home to die - prognosis of a fortnight or so left to her. Distance consultions? I think not.

Growing, so sorry to hear that.

I saw someone or other on TV last week, saying that cancer now needs to be prioritised as highly as vivid was/ is, because people are missing vital care.

Covid!!! Not vivid.

Sorry to hear that Growing Old.
DH slipped off the radar and lost five months of drug treatment that was keeping him stable. It is extremely worrying that cancer patients are not getting their treatment.

Harrigran, sorry for belated response. Wishing you and your DH all the best and hope the interruption to his treatment hasn't been detrimental.

So sorry about all the people who needed their treatment and didn't get it. Must have all that worry on top of everything else. But why stop something so important?!

I use the NHS app to book appointments and check test results, medication etc.
All the GP appointments have been changed to phone calls.
I went to the surgery last week for an annual blood test and it was empty.
The only problem with our surgery is that there is always a queue to get through on the phone.
Our local A&E has a triage/minor injuries/out of hours in front of it so that you are seen by the best person for the job. I believe you need a referral from 111 to go there at present.

Things are easing up in the surgery, our local was closed until yesterday, you had to go to the nearby surgery which is a bus ride away. Most consultations were via phone, so was surprised to be offered one. I hadn't been there since February, only half a dozen seats well spaced out and one in one out. Excellent!

Just before the lockdown I went to my doctor with a very minor but worsening problem with my scalp. During the examination my doctor noticed a birthmark that she didn’t like the look of . She did an emergency two week referral. I never for a minute thought it was anything serious. It turned out to be a rare cancer. If I’d have contacted the surgery after the lockdown I would probably never been given an appointment about such a minor problem and sent a prescription for just the scalp treatment. Even if I’d had a video appointment I’d have just shown the front of my scalp not the birthmark which is situated at the back. The cancer was successfully removed within a week of lockdown being lifted because the consultant insisted that the cancer was growing. I’m sure that had my doctor not been so prompt in her in referral the condition would have worsened. Distance consultation will end up causing some patients conditions to worsen and may cost others their lives. I worry that Covid will be the excuse to decimate our precious NHS services.

But morethan you can also look at your situation from a more pragmatic point of view What if you hadn’t had the scalp problem you would still not know so in a way there just a series of lucky moments for you and thank goodness there was
I think there will always be the missed opportunities in this system as in the old system and your case illustrates it well but that doesn’t make the whole system wrong because of one lucky happening