Worried about seeing your GP?

Well, we have medical centres who run a telephone service. Who knows who you are talking to when they ring you. Could be student nurse with one months training, could be a consultant, highly unlikely.

We are all are just inconveniences that come between doctors et al and stop them running a very efficient health service as long as it doesn't have any patients.

Do you mean 111 call centres MOnica or local medical centres, I’m not sure what you mean?

I mean we access our local medical centre where there are GPs, mostly by telephone, but you have no way of knowing who you are talking to you when they ring back. They may say it is the GP or nurse practioner or whatever, but how do you actually know unless, you recognise all their voices?

Still less how can they possible diagnose your problem if they do not see you. There is a huge element of how the patient presents and looks at an appointment that is essential for diagnosis. My daughter ended up classified as critically ill, which means survival not guaranteed, because a doctor forgot to order a test in a telephone consultation, that one look at her would have made aa priority if he had seen her. As it was it was only her own persistent pestering that finally got her the test she needed. When the results came through, she was told she could have a fatal heart attack at any moment and to go to A&E if she thought this was happening

DH's life has been saved twice by 111 acting decisively when the surgery didn't and I have had to pay for a private consultation, to get anyone in the local surgery remotely interested in a serious problem I have.

Yes I know what you mean now. We have to do an e consult at our surgery and then someone will contact, usually by phone. It can be anyone from the team, GP, nurse, physician associates, paramedics, or pharmacist, and I agree it’s less than satisfactory except in routine cases. Physician Associates are the latest “import” from USA, and have a science degree, prior to a year’s medical training. They cannot prescribe, but seem otherwise to be doing a doctor’s job (for less pay). They take a lot of responsibility, and are supposed to be supervised by a GP.

I agree this level of triage and assessment is less than satisfactory, especially for elderly people, but seems the accepted way of primary care now. IMO some patients will be put at risk without face to face assessment and I am concerned that there doesn’t appear to be any evaluation of outcomes to justify this change/restriction in practice.