Worried about seeing your GP?

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.

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.

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

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.

Eh?

What is a GP?

It would indeed be a worry for all professional bodies if that was the case GSM.

It is odd that the OP was encouraging people to write to their MPs about the issue she raised. Does she seriously believe that the government controls the GMC and might overrule its policies?

It’s by no means ridiculous that the GMC - not the government - is concerned to ensure that all doctors who returned to work as a temporary emergency measure are still safe to practise.
This.

So now the discussion widens, since the OP appears to have sheepishly left the building, and it becomes interesting. Seeing as the thread is in Chat, I will add a little point from my true experience.
Until recently, we had a retired GP in the family. He was probably a good, very good GP in his day, but at 60 he was burnt out both physically and mentally, despite being an active sportsman. He had to live off sleeping pills at night because he couldn't get out of wide awake doctor mode, his eye sight was nothing like it was, and even his patience had deteriorated. One of my children had a bleeding head accident while we were staying with him, and we could tell that he straightaway went back to his pre retirement medical days of 5 or 6 years earlier to treat the patient.
Things evolve, systems change, new discoveries, new treatments. Retraining is essential.

Perhaps your GP has retired or is unwell Lovetopaint. Unless he returned to practice after retiring, like the OP, why would you assume he is on a refresher course? It’s by no means ridiculous that the GMC - not the government - is concerned to ensure that all doctors who returned to work as a temporary emergency measure are still safe to practise. A doctor who hasn’t kept up to date is dangerous, no matter how popular they might be with their patients.

Farzanah

Encouraging retired GPs to return, is not the answer to the problems in primary care, it is just a small sticking plaster. The really good GPs in my practice retired as soon as they could because they were burnt out.

You've hit the nail on the head Farzanah.
Also, there are many more women in medicine these days as there should be. The training and forward planning has to take into account that many will want maternity leave or part-time work.
It isn't very often I see things from a male point of view but having had first-hand observation of what goes on in hospitals and GP practises to the men who are there full time I can appreciate why so many retire as soon as they can.

Encouraging retired GPs to return, is not the answer to the problems in primary care, it is just a small sticking plaster. The really good GPs in my practice retired as soon as they could because they were burnt out.

I know DD's friend had to do a refresher course when she went back to work as a GP several years before Covid. She was a slightly unusual case as when she originally stopped practicing she sued her NHS trust and it was all very acrimonious.

The most popular GP in our practice must be older than you. Now I realise why I haven’t seen him of late. It’s ridiculous. If patients can’t get appointments then we still have an emergency. Our MP is the most uncaring and incompetent man you could imagine sitting in his safe Tory seat. However, the Liberal Party - I won’t be voting for them - send me regular news reports on local issues. I will try them and after the General Election we will have another alternative. Thank you for everything you have done to help your patients. Let’s hope this ridiculous situation will resolve itself.

petra

Mirren
You’re not alone. I read this some weeks back.

www.msn.com/en-gb/health/health-news/dr-martin-scurr-i-had-to-do-13-woke-doctor-courses-to-rejoin-nhs/ar-AA1n4whj

This.

Farzanah

Totally fishy and smacks of someone picking up on the DM article. Of course refreshers are needed for return to practice.

Oh, was there a DM article?

Of course refresher courses are imperative!

Totally fishy and smacks of someone picking up on the DM article. Of course refreshers are needed for return to practice.

Which is what will happen to those who were temporarily re-registered during the covid pandemic, if they don’t agree to take whatever course the GMC thinks appropriate.

Dr. have to do a regular updating programme to stay registered with the General Medical Council,if you do not do so i.e. in retirement you lose your registration.

Me too. It doesn’t sound like what a GP would write, imo. And the mistake of 13 March for 30 March sounds rather like mis-hearing. That is not a typo. Encouraging posters to write to their MPs about the GMC’s requirements is not, I think, what a GP would do. This poster has I believe only posted once before, about a Ukrainian family outstaying their welcome.

I'm with you, Germanshepherdsmum. When I first read it I was a bit shocked by the over emotional outpourings... love, love, love, love yes, x 4, distraught and lots of !!!!. It sounded like something I would write (because I overdo stuff!), but not what a measured doctor would say.
I am happy to have got it wrong though if the OP returns.

These are serious typos, MOnica. Things that make one suspect whether what the OP says can be true. The figures simply don’t add up. On the face of what she has written, what she has said cannot be correct. Not a simple spelling mistake or two. I agree with Callistemon that accuracy with numbers is vital for a GP prescribing medication. A simple slip could be fatal. I just don’t buy the ‘I am a good doctor and shouldn’t have to do this ‘. I would not want to consult any doctor with that mindset.

I don’t see a problem with doctors who have had a break , having to do a return to practice course

Me neither. Anyone in any sphere of work should have to keep up with the latest developments, especially in a job which deals with people's health (life and death).

Not being very good at arithmetic is worrying for a GP who is prescribing medicines, though.

Please come back and tell us it's a typo, Mirren! 🙂
Or autocorrect (I'm always having problems with that).

I think it depends on what the courses are: clinical updates are obviously ncessary, but reading Dr Martin Scurr in the link given above, many of the 13 courses he had to do could have been reduced to an online document with a handful of questions at the end that had to be answered to prove that the document had been read.

GSM if I returned to correct all my typos, I would never post.