So many problems with GP practice ....

Have you contacted the Practice Manager at your surgery? Mine was helpful a few years ago.

I had thought of that but the only problem is that this is a small practice in a small village about 7 miles (or 16 miles on a safe route) away and I am loathe to become "that" patient as I fear it might make the service even worse. It is not a big impersonal city practice.

I can really relate to this. When my husband was discharged from hospital he was given prescribed beta blockers to take every morning 5mg, because he has atrial fibrillation which is what caused a stroke and can’t take blood thinners due to bleeds on the brain. The GP surgery has a copy of his discharge notes with the newly prescribed beta blockers but have consistently failed to repeat this prescription, have been in to see the receptionist and was assured it would be put right. It wasn’t, so I had to go to the surgery again because there is no way to message them about this on the app ‘Evergreen’, and waiting on the phone is impossible it can take hours. Finally I made an appointment with the GP, took in my husband’s discharge notes and a contact number for the stroke doctor at the hospital and cardiologist he is under. Thankfully the GP could see that the drugs had. It been added to my husbands list of meds and corrected his record.
Am just so exhausted with having to do this and is not the same everywhere, believe me Luckygirl this level of incompetence is not repeated nationwide. I have a friend in Lancashire who has a wonderful GP practice. Ours is terrible.

Correction - thankfully the GP could see that the drugs hadn’t been added to my husband’s list of meds

Luckygirl3

I had thought of that but the only problem is that this is a small practice in a small village about 7 miles (or 16 miles on a safe route) away and I am loathe to become "that" patient as I fear it might make the service even worse. It is not a big impersonal city practice.

With your first problem, as soon as it was handed to the correct person (pharmacy manager) it was resolved right away.

Had you ASKED to speak to pharmacy manager in the first place, your problem would have been solved right away.

Now you've been advised to take your other complaint about to THE RIGHT PERSON (practice manager) .

Just do it. This would be far easier and faster than changing practices.

A tad harsh there butterandjam for someone who is ill and was reduced to tears trying to deal with her GP practice.

You’ve written a very coherent pist about the problems you are facing. Do you feel able to repeat that in a formal letter to the Practice Manager, copied to the Head of the practice?

You don’t come over as “that woman”, rather as someone seeking solutions to the problems.

A letter is less easily dismissed that a phone call and isn’t so upsetting as trying to talk to someone who who doesn’t listen.

Could you make an appointment to see an actual GP even if it was ages away? Then you could outline the list of reasonable issues that s/he might be able to resolve at once.

For me making a GP appointment was the only way to resolve things, as Aveline says could you do this and perhaps write everything down so you don’t feel rushed and forget things when there.

I agree Lathyrus a non accusatory, factual letter should hopefully provoke a decent response.
I too am in a village Luckygirl and I also think the majority of medical professionals are good people, you’ve had a rough ride.

Babs03

A tad harsh there butterandjam for someone who is ill and was reduced to tears trying to deal with her GP practice.

On the contrary. Because she's unwell and upset she needs help. The easiest least stressful next step to get help is a complaint to the Practice manager.

If the phone is stressful , write it all down and post a letter.

Butteranjam
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt because I don’t think you would have posted ( shouting) to Luckygirl.
I like to think that if you were aware of how ill she is, and on top of this the years she nursed her very sick husband you wouldn’t have been so rude.

I think you were quite abrupt and unkind in manner, Butterandjam, even if you didn't mean to be.

My GP prescribed some codeine for my knee when I saw her. I didn’t pick it up straight away. My partner had to pick up his prescription a week or so later so I asked him to pick up mine. When he arrived at the surgery the dispensary wasn’t open. They’d stopped opening in the afternoon but didn’t put it on their website. When we complained they put a notice on their home page but if you click on prescriptions it still says they’re open in the afternoon. Oh, and my prescription hadn’t been dispensed. I still don’t understand why prescriptions are no longer double checked in that mistakes can and do happen even with double checking. Yet another thing that GP’s no longer have to do. And when my partner pointed out that he’d asked for two months supply as he was going away the dispenser asked him why he couldn’t pick it up on a certain day and a couple of other questions. It was like the Spanish Inquisition.There was no apology and he wasn’t spoken to with any courtesy. I used to work there and it really upsets me. This was after I waited for several days for a telephone consultation which never happened due to staff shortages. And I then had an email telling me to contact the surgery to discuss test results. Which I had discussed with a GP the week before.

butterandjam

Luckygirl3

I had thought of that but the only problem is that this is a small practice in a small village about 7 miles (or 16 miles on a safe route) away and I am loathe to become "that" patient as I fear it might make the service even worse. It is not a big impersonal city practice.

With your first problem, as soon as it was handed to the correct person (pharmacy manager) it was resolved right away.

Had you ASKED to speak to pharmacy manager in the first place, your problem would have been solved right away.

Now you've been advised to take your other complaint about to THE RIGHT PERSON (practice manager) .

Just do it. This would be far easier and faster than changing practices.

There is a separate phone line for the surgery pharmacy and I had chosen that option so the first person I spoke to was from the pharmacy and not a general receptionist. As I was on the pharmacy line I should not have to ask to speak to the pharmacy manager to get a polite and helpful response.

There is a fine line to tread when it comes to deciding the efficacy of writing to the practice manager as explained above. It is something to which I will obviously give some thought.

I am not sure that judgmental posts are in the spirit of Gransnet which is usually thoughtful and helpful.

To all those facing similar problems with their surgeries, you have my sympathy. I find it particularly hard to deal with as my OH was a hard-working GP and I know what good practice looks like.

You have my sympathy. I am on holiday waiting for a call from my surgery since 9 am. I need medication for a problem that has been going on for six weeks and the latest meds prescribed have not worked so my UK much look looked-forward-to holiday with my sons dil and gc has been less than perfect as I am in a lot of pain. 111 passed me on to the local health centre who were so kind and caring but said I needed to contact my surgery as my records needed to be consulted. I was told to say it was an emergency. My surgery’s reply was ‘sorry all appointments have gone, you should have phoned at 8. I had to plead to get a telephone call. Here I wait, six hours later and am wondering if I will get a call at all.

It does feel as though bureaucratic rules have taken over from humanity. I worked in the health service for 25 years and our joint aim was always to do the best for all patients - if there was not an easy answer we would find a way round it.

Speak to the practice manager.dont worry about being ‘that patient’

Ask to speak to the Gp you see most often. They should be managing this

I have eight weekly bloods as in on all kinds of meds. My rheumatologist arranged for the blood forms to come to me via post. My GP surgery do the bloods so I don’t need to drive the other side of town to our hospital

Twice a year my practice add their blood tests and I come home with empty arms )thank you mr Hancock

You shouldn’t be managing this x

I have looked at changing practices and the only option is to go over the border into Wales and that in itself creates various logistical problems. All other nearby practices have very clear geographical boundaries that are immutable. I live in a rural area.
My first reaction was "oh goodness, NO!!" but I suppose every GP Practice is different.

Our GP surgery is in Wales with a subsidiary in England. Everything has become more and more difficult, so I can understand your frustration, Luckygirl. It's difficult to get an appointment, one or two receptionists are lovely but others are quite rude and refuse to give urgent appointments as they've been told to triage but are not medically qualified. We can't phone for repeat prescriptions now, only urgent ones. Because mine are out of sync too and apparently it was too soon to order, I ran out of one of them. Seeing a GP is nigh on impossible, it's usually a nurse now.

I read about the treatments and care other posters are receiving from their surgery and think 'it used to be like that here'. If you get to see a GP it's usually fine but it's like wading through treacle to get that far.

Having the informal chat with the Practice Manager rather than writing was probably best.
Perhaps there's a high admin. staff turnover and they never get properly trained before they've left. Ours always seem to be changing.

Iam64

Speak to the practice manager.dont worry about being ‘that patient’

Ask to speak to the Gp you see most often. They should be managing this

I have eight weekly bloods as in on all kinds of meds. My rheumatologist arranged for the blood forms to come to me via post. My GP surgery do the bloods so I don’t need to drive the other side of town to our hospital

Twice a year my practice add their blood tests and I come home with empty arms )thank you mr Hancock

You shouldn’t be managing this x

Our GP surgery will not do hospital bloods but thankfully we have phlobotemists at the hub. The surgery receptionist was really awkward when the GP and the Consultant wanted bloods and refused to do both lots at the same time so I had to trek there two days running.

I’m with an Outstanding GP practice. I moved there six years ago after the one in our village went rapidly downhill

I was with the centre of excellence for rheumatoid arthritis but it was huge and impetsonable. I waited two hours for a 4pm appointment, saw the consultant at six. He was exhausted, drinking coffe and told me how well I looked then had me out the door. He didn’t read or had forgotten my GP letter asking for urgent review due to symptoms

I moved to the small rheumatology dept in my town. Fantastic service, I’m doing well and now have a specialist nurse who is supervised by my consultant who did the first six years of my care. When mr I died, my nurse phoned with condolences from her and my consultant

I know how fortunate I am

Luckygirl Without wanting to ask for personal medical information. Have you beendiagnosed with 'heart failure'? I ask because DH had a heart attack and bypass surgery, he now has a pacemaker. He was gettibg appallingand casual treatment both from the surgery and A&E and like you having endless problems with prescriptions, when after an emergency he got referred to the Heart Failure Clinic run by the cardiology department at ourmain hospital.

It was like miracle. They look at everything, check everythib

I wish we had such clinics. It has taken me 3 years to find a good cardiologist at the hospital ... I have seen so many on my frequent emergency admissions all of whom gave different advice.
The chap I now see is lovely and lets me enail him!
But a dedicated out patient team would be just wonderful! I am so glad you have found this supportive team.

I hear you, Luckygirl. I am constantly having to do battle on my dh’s behalf for medications and blood tests. I suspect in our circumstances this is about saving money. Whenever the hospital prescribes a medication or wants a blood test there’s an obstacle course to negotiate - we are constantly told ‘Get it from your GP/Hospital A/Hospital B/direct from pharmacy.’ I spend so much time on the phone trying to get what he needs because no one wants it on their account books. On one occasion when he desperately needed a blood test, I ended up on the verge of tears at the surgery and told the receptionist I felt bullied and belittled by being denied the services they have a duty of care to provide. Mysteriously, an appointment materialised in short shrift although I was also told in not so many words, not to let it happen again.

It’s exhausting and dehumanising to be treated as a nuisance. I have no answers for you but understand how you feel. Xx