Staff training at our Doctors’ surgery.

In many surgeries now patients see a different doctor every time.
In my surgery I got a letter saying they had been going through their patients records and could I make an appointment for a blood sugar check up.

So I think on the closed afternoon they get together and discuss their patients... also maybe looking at ways to manage their finances better... discuss new drugs and if they are working well for their patients etc.

And are medical staff not allowed coffee breaks?

GP surgeries are private businesses commissioned by the NHS, exactly the same as your local pharmacy. They get paid for providing a service, so the more appointments etc that they do the more money they get. They do get some payments for training afternoon etc but honestly most of the staff use the time to catch up on admins such as prescription requests, referral letters etc. at least some of the time. There is a lot on mandatory training too. So, they aren’t generating money if they aren’t seeing patients, it’s not really in their advantage to shut besides for the fact that the volume of work is insurmountable without some flex in the system. Most staff are working unpaid evenings and weekends to keep up with everything. I really wish people could see what it was like from the inside. Years of media manipulation has lead to people’s views being skewed, if you cannot get hold of the surgery it’s because they don’t have enough funding to staff appropriately. They are getting less money to provide more services etc. Pharmacies have this but 100x worse, they will all shut down if things go the way they are

Join the Patients Forum if they have one.

My surgery does, and it’s very useful for finding out information and making suggestions.

It’s similar with teachers and support staff, Mirren. Schools have to have so many training days per year, formerly known as Baker days. Some parents seem to think it is just an extra day off for teachers to have “a bit of a jolly, what do they do”, etc, etc. Similar to you, they have to keep up with new initiatives introduced by the govt, discuss pupil progress, dissect statistics, implement changes to the curriculum and so on. These things are impossible to be done in teaching hours, just as the things GP’s have to do can’t be done during surgery hours. I’m sure similar will be the case in other professions.

How do hospitals cope with all the new information without closing for an afternoon?

Theexwife

How do hospitals cope with all the new information without closing for an afternoon?

All hospital staff have to complete regular mandatory training. As there are more of them it can be done on a rota basis, and nowadays much of it is done online. Just because they don’t close doesn’t mean it isn’t done.

Think maybe my local surgery could do to close for training, perhaps we'd get better service eventually!

GPs are not paid for each consultation. They are paid for the number of patients registered with the practice. The amount of inaccurate information on these threads is huge

Thank you, Jellybeanpopper and Miren.

Most staff are working unpaid evenings and weekends to keep up with everything. I really wish people could see what it was like from the inside

Although you have evocatively described how GP surgeries are run, many still won't believe you!

I have had an occasion when I was ill and couldn't access my surgery so I do know how it feels from the patient's view however, I also know from a GP's mother's point of view just how hard they work.

I have written before that every so often a profession takes a 'bashing' from the media. In the past it has been teachers (they only work 9 - 3.00 p.m.), policemen (can't be bothered to respond to a call), social workers (do not do their job thoroughly) etc.

At the moment it is doctors, particularly GPs, despite the fact that there are fewer of them, they are undertaking work that was previously done in hospitals and, oh, there has been that pesky pandemic.

Closing one afternoon a week is probably not enough! My daughter has to spend four weekends each year with colleagues, completely away from her family, so they can catch up on surgery matters (as her evenings and much of the weekends are taken up with more work).

If only people knew.

Pharmacies have this but 100x worse, they will all shut down if things go the way they are.

That's interesting. Our surgery is trying to persuade patients to use pharmacists instead of doctors. As well as notices on the website and in the surgery recommending that people visit a pharmacist in a shop, there is one on the team at the surgery, who reviews medication and can be seen by about minor ailments by appointment.

I'm not sure what I think about that, to be honest. I am 100% fine about medication reviews and follow-ups being done by support staff, but unsure about diagnosis by staff other than GPs. I'm not sure what sort of appointments pharmacist will take. If it's something like verrucas or ear wax it seems fair enough, but if someone goes in with what seems to be a minor ailment and it is actually serious there could be terrible consequences. Are pharmacists appropriately trained for this? Absolutely no offence is meant, incidentally. I know that pharmacists do a lot of training, but it's for a different role, isn't it?

Mirren

As a GP ,I know that EVERY practice has to undertake this " Protected Time for Learning " every month. It's a government diktat and has been for many , many years.
Yes , Medicine is forever changing and evolving ( think of all the new medicines and illnesses that are forever being discovered...Covid for instance.
However, the training is for every practice member so that the admin and clerical staff are up to date with ever changing legislation and IT changes.
The world of medicine is a,difficult and complex beast !
However, the cynical side of me thinks these sessions are only there so that those of you who love to bash GPs can have another good old moan about us . It's very upsetting for those of us who work so very hard in a world of great difficulties!

Mirren I appreciate all doctors.. you are overworked and often get little thanks but lots of moaning.

Doctors are an amazing group of people! They sit all day and listen to all the ailments and meet many depressed and anxious people in their working day. It is not their fault if we can't get appointments.

It's a shame that people here are putting doctors and nurses down because really they should be looking to the government and their purposefully mismanaging and downgrading of the NHS.
Governments have an amazing knack of getting us to fight amongst ourselves to take the spotlight off their bad behaviours!

NotSpaghetti

Why not write to the manager and ask?
Think I might do if it bothered me.

... or join their Patient Participation Group, there should be one?

I am on ours, but then my surgery is one of the best in the UK, and I am very lucky ...

Doodledog I would hope that dispensing pharmacists are trained to know when to refer to a doctor. I don't have any problem being seen by a pharmacist or nurse practitioner for minor ailments/injuries which benefit from being seen quickly and require simple medication.

Our surgery also closes once month for staff training. They don't improve, but only because they are first class already and I don't see any way they could improve. Perhaps it's because they do have this frequent training becausse they are so good.

I was invited to join the PPG to represent disadvantaged people who are patients at my local surgery and it’s been a real eye opener. Doctors, receptionists, medical secretaries and nurses have left in droves in recent years because the working conditions are so dire; and ours is an excellent medical practice. The drain in other local surgeries is as bad, or even worse I understand.

Almost anything that improves the working conditions for staff gets my vote, including taking time out for cake and a catch up. In fact it was actually a recent suggestion of mine that staff birthdays should be celebrated this way. I thought it might go some way to offset the sheer nastiness that staff encounter every single day. (My initial suggestion was that staff were given a day off, for or in lieu of, their birthday.)

Honestly, if you think patient services are inadequate or could be improved I suggest you join your Patient Participation Group and you will then be able to inform your understanding of what is really happening and can try to effect positive change.

My experience is that Pharmacists know far more about medications than GP's.
If you have side effects or want guidance to taper off of a long term drug talk to either the local Pharmacist or it might be that your Surgery has access to a Pharmacist you can connect with by telephone.

I was impressed by how much knowledge they have and are happy to help. They can make recommendations to your GP.

Eazybees if you had rung for an ambulance they talk you through all you need to know you don’t need to go next door to a doctors surgery !!
It happened to me recently again a suspected possible heart attack the lady on the other end of the phone was constantly asking for updates, she gave me the code number for a close by defibulater which I got, After the lady came round and seemed a little better the 999 lady shut the call down but about every 20 minutes she re rang to see if there was any change and reassure us The ambulance arrived in just over an hour but at no time did I feel unsupported The lady was fine she spent about an hour in the ambulance having thorough obs taken it was decided she had low blood pressure and low sugar

I can’t say a bad thing about my surgery , the receptionists , the doctors or our local hospital they are all excellent, kind, caring and wonderful
I completely take my hat off mirren to doctors (I owe my life to a GP) and all NHS workers who do all they can under rules and regulations and the dreadful neglect of the Tory government
Thank you

pinkquartz I agree and it is something that our surgery promotes, but patients then complain about being ‘fobbed off’ with a Pharmacist. I’ve had two very helpful consultations with a Pharmacist in the past month, but locally we’re struggling with access as there’s a national shortage of them.

My doctor's surgery closes on Wednesday afternoons. I think it is because they train in their specialism at the close-by teaching hospital. That's what I thought someone said anyway.

GP surgeries are now independent businesses. I suppose the staff are trained to save money where possible while still retaining a viable service to the customers.

Quite so Philippa111. Bloomin' government 😤

Our surgery closes once a month on Wednesday afternoon as do all other surgeries in our local area. The advice is to ring 111 speak to a pharmacist ( if there still is one near to you) or dial 999 in a life threatening emergency . We call it half day closing day heaven’s knows what training goes on !

growstuff

Doodledog I would hope that dispensing pharmacists are trained to know when to refer to a doctor. I don't have any problem being seen by a pharmacist or nurse practitioner for minor ailments/injuries which benefit from being seen quickly and require simple medication.

Yes, I would hope so too. But if I get an appointment to see a pharmacist and then have to wait for another one to see a doctor, it's just another layer in an already stretched system.

As I said, if it's a verruca or earwax, I have no problem either, but - I'm not sure this is the best example, but the principle holds - if I had a stomach upset it might be something I'd eaten which can be sorted out with a couple of Immodium, or it might be something far more serious. Obviously a pharmacist isn't going to be mopping up an across the board range of appointments, but my point is that AFAIK, anyway, pharmacists are not trained in diagnosis but in treatment.

grannyactivist

pinkquartz I agree and it is something that our surgery promotes, but patients then complain about being ‘fobbed off’ with a Pharmacist. I’ve had two very helpful consultations with a Pharmacist in the past month, but locally we’re struggling with access as there’s a national shortage of them.

I've just seen this (I was half way through my last post when I was interrupted) and hope I don't come across as thinking that pharmacists are in any way inferior - I don't. It's more that their skill set is different from that of a GP, and my posts on the matter have been more in the spirit of enquiry than complaint.

Health and Safety, Manual Handling. Infection control,CPR, Diversity, Care of disabled, chaperoning,…..and this lot is just for starters….I used to work as a Practice Nurse.