New system at GP surgery.

The nurse practitioners are good

Oh maddyone we wasted 8 months seeing the advanced nurse practitioner at our GP surgery. For ages I thought she was a doctor. They are allowed to prescribe and to refer. But she didn’t refer Himself. Not until I cried at an appointment with her and begged her to refer him on for a ‘camera down’ test. Which then revealed StageIV inoperable and incurable cancer. I feel bitter looking back at those wasted months Sept - April. A tick box exercise on a computer screen. Vit B12 injections for 6 weeks. Bowel ‘poo’ tests (x2) “negative, but your obviously bleeding from somewhere are you’re so anaemic”.

Never again.

Pennypie

Urmstongran

"I suppose UTIs and tonsillitis can now be prescribed ABs by your local pharmacist. That’s the plan now apparently for seven ‘common’ ailments."

Not for UTIs if you are older than 64. Pharmacies can only prescribe antibiotics for uncomplicated UTIs for females age 16-64, under the pharmacy first scheme.

Good to know.
Thank you.

When my friend's surgery went on line to book appointments she pointed out she and many others were not on the internet. The reply was get a friend to do it.

I am sure if you were taken ill in the night and you phoned your friend at 7am to ask them to get on line you would not be very popular.

AlpineGranny

Our surgery started this system on July 1st. Please note pharmacies will not deal with a UTI if you are over 65!

Thank you AlpineGranny for clarifying this too. I didn’t know beforehand.

Our same day appointments are only for illness recurting in the last 48hrs, anything else could be up.to 4 weeks 🙄

I can't understand how the surgeries are overrun with people wanting appointments, so much so, that you spend hours on the phone, trying to get through, but they flatly refuse to book you in for a non urgent one a few weeks later.

Me too MissA! Surely it makes for more admin work in the long run.

How come dentists can book you in for your next routine appointment in 6 months but doctor’s surgeries won’t give out non urgent appointments any more?

Why does bluddy everything have to be decided ON THE DAY?

It’s crazy.
I think we should send this thread to Wes Streeting….

In the post this morning came an out-of-the-blue letter telling me my doctor's practice is closing in 5 months' time. But not to worry, they'll "try and find me somewhere else." I wonder how many hundreds of those letters went out. I don't go to the doctor very often - last time was three years ago and before that maybe ten years ago. But at 83 my health is probably the best it's going to be and I'm more than likely going to have to stop driving at some point. It's a worry. Making an Everest out of an Alp, I'm now worried that they will tack me onto a practice in one of the nearest towns, both 12 or 13 miles away. Our nearest A&E is 30 miles away. The NHS is now presumably for people who conveniently live in cities close to a hospital with an A&E department. Oh well, ranting won't change anything - and I doubt if the new government will be able to either!

That's what they say... "You have to phone on the day"
Well, if I phone on the day, it still won't be urgent, and I only want something checked out by a nurse or practitioner.

Nope. Can't do that.

Recently I have had to call the surgery a number of times. I have called at 8am, but still have been no. 28 and above in the queue.
After explaining my situation to the receptionist, each time a GP has called me back within two hours and I've had a phone consultation or been asked to come to the surgery.

On the last occasion, a few weeks ago, I was so unwell that the receptionist on realising how unwell I was, said there was no need to explain, a GP would call me back. I received a phone call in less than an hour from my own GP.
We have no online facility for contacting our GP.

MissAdventure

That's what they say... "You have to phone on the day"
Well, if I phone on the day, it still won't be urgent, and I only want something checked out by a nurse or practitioner.

Nope. Can't do that.

That's what so frustrating! There must be loads of people out there who have things they feel should be checked out - but which are not urgent in any sense of the word. When I went for a routine breast screening last year, I mentioned that there was something which had concerned me for a while, but I couldn't get a routine appointment at my GP to get it checked out. They sent me to the breast clinic and fortunately, all was well, but it could have been very different. There must be a way to give out routine appointments while still leaving space for anyone who has something more urgent.

We ve had this online system quite a while and it works very well in my opinion I have used it for a water infection had the antibiotics by lunchtime much quicker than waiting for an appointment I also used it for a badly infected foot sent a photo and timeline description over at 8 am, and before, lunch I was on the antibiotics with the advice if no improvement in three days to contact the gp again, but it did respond
I think it is a better arrangement and leaves the actual GP appointments for more serious cases

I recently started having uti symptoms while away from home (why is it always at the weekend?), and thought I would be able to get antibiotics from a local pharmacy. When asked my age, was told that at 69 they couldn't prescribe them. I don't understand the logic of this, but as others have said, this only works up to age 64. Then had to spend a couple of hours waiting at a walk-in clinic, where eventually I was given the necessary ABs. Fortunately the doctor gave me extra, so I have 3 day's supply for whenever the next uti occurs.
Thankfully our GP has the 'phone at 8am' system. No wonder A &E departments are full to bursting if GPs are telling patients to go there for urgent cases.

It seems our surgery is a kind of hybrid of new and old systems.
No facility to send pics, I think we can book online, except there are never any appointments available, and if you've anything more complex than a sore throat, then you have to somehow marry all your issues together and get past an unhelpful gp (but only one thing at a time)

I’m with you annsixty wishing for The Good Old Days of doctors.

When I was freshly minted out of college having done my 2 year medical secretarial course - learning about Nye Bevan, mastering medical shorthand squiggles etc I was 18 and went to work at a posh 4 doctor GP surgery in Altrincham. A huge appointment book was written into using pen & paper after patients had phoned in.

Two years later I went to work for our own family doctor in Old Trafford. Single handed practice back in the day (banned post Shipman). He bumped into me in a hardware shop, asked me who I was working for and did I like it?

“Not much” said I and travelling in every day by bus was a drag on the A56.

“Well come and work for me then! Give your notice in and I’ll see you in the surgery you could start on…”

No CV or application letter needed as he knew us all. Simples.

So, first day in I asked “what about an appointment system instead of what you do here - just opening the doors morning then evening?”

“No point my dear, I have to see them all anyway at some point and poorly people don’t mind waiting once they know they’re definitely going to be seen by me once they’ve presented at the reception desk”.

Oh happy days!

We have to go on line as well, it's been like this a couple of years.
Few month ago I put in a request as I had a terrible cough over 3 weeks, explained tried everything. Within minutes got a reply and appt for about 90 mins later.
Both DH and DD have had similar experiences seen quickly.
Worked well for me.

I have to say our surgery is wonderful. You can always get a same day face-to-face appointment with a GP, a later appointment if necessary, an appointment with the nurse practitioner or paramedic, the physio or specialist nurses if you choose. They seem to have employed a number of new doctors recently and the waiting room is always busy.

Urmstongran

^The nurse practitioners are good^

Oh maddyone we wasted 8 months seeing the advanced nurse practitioner at our GP surgery. For ages I thought she was a doctor. They are allowed to prescribe and to refer. But she didn’t refer Himself. Not until I cried at an appointment with her and begged her to refer him on for a ‘camera down’ test. Which then revealed StageIV inoperable and incurable cancer. I feel bitter looking back at those wasted months Sept - April. A tick box exercise on a computer screen. Vit B12 injections for 6 weeks. Bowel ‘poo’ tests (x2) “negative, but your obviously bleeding from somewhere are you’re so anaemic”.

Never again.

Urms

That is too awful for words.

So much time wasted.

Should it not have been obvious that if a problem persists week after week that an investigation is needed...

Oh Urmstongran I’m so sorry you had this awful experience with your Nurse Practitioner. I know you’ve been dealing with this very difficult situation for the whole of the last year, and I so hope that your husband will reach remission soon. I’m shocked that your GP Practice allowed you to think that the Nurse Practitioner was a doctor, we are always offered an appointment ‘with the Nurse Practitioner’ or ‘the doctor.’ I really meant that the Nurse Practitioner is good for UTIs, asthma flare ups, children with tonsillitis etc. A Nurse Practitioner should never be dealing with potential cancer patients, and I feel your nurse should have referred you to the doctor, or at least discussed your case and taken advice from the doctor. What happened in your case is negligent in my opinion.
I’m so sorry.

MissAdventure

That's what they say... "You have to phone on the day"
Well, if I phone on the day, it still won't be urgent, and I only want something checked out by a nurse or practitioner.

Nope. Can't do that.

This is what I don't understand.

If you are not ill enough to be seen 'on the day' - there's no system for seeing you at all, because you cannot (in my surgery) make future appointments.

What are we supposed to do - wait until whatever it is becomes too serious to wait? Or just hope the problem goes away?

I tried 111 for a minor thing - but still got told to go to A&E.

It's completely ridiculous.

I don't know how it can be fixed but surgeries have got to eventually get back to giving patients future appointments - even if it means a bit of a wait.

Thank you Dickens.

When we told Professor Mansoor about the negative poo tests and the anaemia he said “tumours bleed intermittently - when cancer is agitated or growing hence the bleeding that’s why sometimes poo tests can show negative erroneously”. I wish all doctors and advanced nurse practitioners knew this. We thought we were in the capable hands of a GP. We were too trusting thinking she was ruling things out one by one. We were guided by her ‘expertise’. I blame myself with hindsight. We know our bodies don’t we? We should have pushed harder.

The nurse even wrote down on a piece of paper what his iron stores were in case the Professor advised more VitB12 injections. His response:

“We have bigger fish than that to fry now”.

should it not have been obvious if a problem persists week after week that an investigation is needed

Absolutely correct. What happened to Urmstongran’s husband is negligent. He should have been referred months before he was referred.
Nurses should never think they are doctors. They are not!

We should have pushed harder

Please do not blame yourselves.

Thank you maddyone.
Because she could refer onwards to a hospital we assumed referral wasn’t indicated. How wrong we all were. The nurse cried when Himself presented after his initial Christie appointment. Poor darling man.

We've got a great system, ring up at 8am, you are told what caller number you are and can select an option to hold your place in the queue and request a callback. It works perfectly.