Why flu to GP?

I am one of those in favour of charging to see the GP. We hear a lot about the great health care in France but it costs 23 Euro for a GP visit, more in big cities. Admittedly most (but not all) of this can be reimbursed, however, it is a deterrent against casual and non-essential booking because its obviously more hassle. I am sorry to say that many people today dont seem to properly appreciate what is 'free', nor do they have the 'dont bother the doctor' mentality that helped the NHS to function in the early days. By all means have a reimbursing system, but I just feel paying up front would make people value the provision more and use it less casually.

ninny who do you by the ‘others’ that come and everything handed to the on a plate? Do you mean the Syrian refugee families with little children who have settled in my area after enduring the most dreadful situations? Should they not be able to access health care?

An upfront charging system would also cost time and money to implement. I wonder if it would stop ‘time wasters’ anyway - surely there would have to be exemptions and the well off may be quite happy to pay to see the doctor even if it’s not necessary. I also wonder how it might change the culture to one of more entitlement?

Well, here's the answer to why some people are at the GP with flu - an article in the DM quoting a doctor as advising people to go to GP if they have flu symptoms. No idea how valid this doctor is, but it's in mainstream media and read by loads of people www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5289675/Are-SURE-flu-just-cold.html

I have wondered how they can measure the prevalence of flu by the number of people visiting the doctor, when most of us would, quite sensibly, do not visit and indeed would be too ill to visit the doctor. Also how on earth do they manage to get urgent appointments.

Please Seacliff ... go electronic and you can avoid the surgery altogether, your surgery will send your prescription straight to pharmacy! Unless your doctors don't have that as an option?!

We have no walk in system at our GP so anybody in the waiting room has been given an appointment by phoning up and talking to a doctor. Some may have called 111 first and been told to make an appointment. The trouble is that doctors and 111 staff have to err on the side of caution in case there is a complication.
Like others, I think that anyone with genuine ‘flu’ would not be able to get to the surgery but it could be that the people who go had the coughing virus, or are getting over the ‘flu’ and need a sick-note.

Perhaps it would help if the NHS/govt were to place ads in prime slots on tv or make public service announcements, and or use the daytime chat show programs (which I have never watched) telling people which symptoms are normal and what to take for them, and that the dr can do nothing for flu, also advising which symptoms do require medical help.

I am in favour of charging to see a GP too, when I was in France I paid 46 Euros to see a doctor but I was so grateful I would have paid anything they asked.
I spoke to a woman who was complaining that she had to sit and wait almost 4 hours in our surgery waiting room ' not fair when you have a sore wrist ' words failed me.

So Harriman how expensive would it be for a person with a two chronic medical conditions that require visits to the dr to keep it under control, would I also have to pay for the blood tests?

Genuine flu needs actual bed rest and careful nursing, and the patient should not be traipsing about to the surgery. How lay people are expected to diagnose their illnesses for themselves mystifies me. Truly the age of DIY medicine is here.

We are also advised to ask the pharmacist for advice . These people are worked off their feet and the pharmacy assistant will offer advice !

In Cambodia it is free for Cambodians to see a Dr, no problem, but thenthey have to pay for all the medicines and tests and this is what they can’t afford. Recently a friend of mine his young son had dengue fever and sent into hospital. The family have to provide the care and meals and the medicine and tests cost $260 which is a fortune when the average wage is $40 a week. Let’s just be thankful for what we have.

Our doctors used to have a daily "walk in" surgery. It started at 8 am until 12 noon and was very busy. If you were unable to book a regular appointment with your own GP you would check in at reception and then wait your turn. Depending on the amount of patients your wait could often be up to two hours as there was one GP and a Nurse Practitioner who dealt with these patients. The system seemed to work very well, then around three years ago they stopped it. Our surgery became part of a group practice with three other surgeries in the town. Now it is often easier to book an appointment with a GP but not necessarily one at your own surgery but at one of the others within the group. Don,t think everyone's happy with this, but if you,re ill surely it's better to see who you can than have to wait ages to see your "own" named GP.

Listening to More or Less, the programme about statistics on Radio 4, makes me suspicious of all these pronouncements put out in the media. For instance, they explained on the programme that missed appointments don’t cost what the media reports say it does. I always wonder who is behind them amd what the real purpose is behind the stats. -usually to put the blame for problems on the users. Like others have said, people with flu are too ill to go to a surgery, 111 often tell people to go, workers need sick notes and in any case, who can ever get past the appointment systems in many GP surgeries where, if you are lucky, you’ll see a nurse practitioner (who may then have to consult a GP or pass you on). Just making the call, being kept in a queue and getting through requires more energy than anyone with flu will have.

Barmeyoldbat: In France if you have any chronic conditions you do not pay the doctor upfront nor for treatments or medication. We all pay a top-up insurance (varies according to what you decide you want to cover - rather like holiday insurances have additional categories) and for non- chronic conditions pay 25 euros upfront to the GP which is reimbursed via the health service and the insurance. Low wage earners / benefit recipients are exempt.
This ensures us a same day appointment, specialist appointment usually within the week (same day if deemed urgent) and scans/surgical procedures within weeks at a time and hospital of your choice.
All the records appear to be computer linked so the hospitals can access your previous treatments immediately. We receive copies of all specialist reports and x-rays before leaving the specialist clinic and are responsible for retaining these for future appointments. Your GP also receives copies.
Yes, we pay and this is accepted if such a health service is to function and people take far more responsibility for their own health and the pharmacist is often the first port of call for minor ailments. I have had to visit A &E on two occasions and waiting time was minimal - friends have had similar experiences.

Received a letter from surgery yesterday asking me to make appointment for important (their word) annual vascular review. I also have chronic asthma (controlled) but am allergic & couldn't have flu jab. No way am I visiting surgery until main risk of contracting flu from other patients has passed.

I would just like to issue a warning not to ignore flu like symptoms if they get worse over a period of a few days. My son in law came down last November with what he thought was flu - aching muscles, headache, general feeling of malaise although no cold like symptoms. He went to bed rather than go to the GP and over the next four days got progressively worse so he could not even get out of bed. My daughter took him to the out of hours doctor on the advice of the NHS helpline as it was a weekend and he ended up in A and E. Diagnosed with stapphyloccus aureus which had caused him to contract severe pneumonia. After a few hours he had got so much worse and sepsis had set in. After numerous CT and MRI scans and a chest drain over the next week they eventually discovered the staphylococcus bug had lodged in his heart valve causing endocarditis and had pumped the bug around his body. Over a period of less than one week he had 4 life threatening illnesses and was critical. He was in hospital for 7 weeks and only released on Christmas eve. He is still not back at work now and facing a long recovery.

There has to be a balance between self diagnosis and going to bed and not infecting everyone else at doctors surgeries but if my son in law had left it another day before going to out of hours doctor he would not be with us today. The hospital consultant told him that.

hereshoping I wondered that too. Just how do they measure the ‘flu numbers when most people cope at home without a GP visit? Perhaps they estimate that 12% will visit will visit GP and extrapolate from there???.

Frankly I feel that bringing in charges for going to your GP is a very bad idea, as it may well prevent people from being diagnosed in time for serious conditions.

Likewise as others have said, unless you are yourself a medical professional it can be very difficult to be sure that you are "only" suffering from the flu and not, say, from pneumonia. So fine, if you are sure, it is only a cold, or the flu, stay at home and don't risk infecting others or wasting your G.P.'s time, if not do consult your doctor.

Charging for gp appointments worries me for several reasons. I think certain people will have even more expectations of having instant attention because they have paid for it - putting even more demand on the doctors. There will inevitably be those who should see a dr who will not have the ready money to do so or feel that it would be a waste of money. It will also add hugely to admin costs.

Maybe a charge for missed appointments? There again, people will have reasons which are valid. For example, they tried to 'tough it out' with the flu, and ended up in hospital!

The minute I heard on the news that doctor's receptionists were going to ask your symptoms then decide who you ought to see, I knew that GPs were doing less and less. No home visits, no Saturday surgeries, no slightly later evening surgery on one day a week. Home visits were a regular occurrence when I was a child and family doctors ALWAYS delivered your babies in hospital or at home as well as follow up visits. Now they get paid well over £100k pa and we get a much worse service.
My surgery still does a drop-in every weekday from 12.00-13.30 for 'urgent' cases or if you have a sudden bad nose bleed or such like as they can refer you to the cottage hospital which is right next door.
The thing is, that if you DON'T need to see a doctor for 2 years they can take you off their list.

I suspect that these days many people expect that any problem can be 'fixed' by the GP giving them medication of some sort. I think that patience is a virtue which is in short supply.
Also, some folks are scared of taking time off work because of the pressure that you must 'tough it out' and not go off sick unless it's really serious.

Maybe, just maybe, the current flu epidemic could have been less severe if we had been given the more efficacious inoculation which helps avoid 4 flu strains as opposed to the 3 flu strain version. The 4 strain one cost an extra £3.00. I wish I'd been given the option to pay for the better one.

Agreed, Teddy123

A word of warning, I agree that too many people may go to their GP with flu like symptoms but how do we know it isn't something else? I tend not to go to the doctors very often and usually whatever was wrong has passed on its own. I moved house in 2010 and registered with my current surgery, in those 7 years I have been to my GP 5 times. About 3 weeks before Christmas I had an annoying persistent sore throat and chesty cough and woke up coughing one night and couldn't catch my breath, I was honestly frightened but it passed. I mentioned it to my daughter the next day, she made me an appointment for later that day. After examining me my GP gave me a nebuliser and called an ambulance. I spent a few days in hospital on IV antibiotics and steroids. It seems the persistent cough is COPD and the shortness of breath was due to an infection on top of COPD (which I didn't know I had). I have had tests with a respiratory technician and have to see the consultant in a couple of days. My point is although I avoid going to the doctor with trivial problems, I am not qualified to decide what is serious or not, I hadn't realised how bad my chest was getting as it happened gradually but since having daily medication things have improved a great deal. COPD is incurable but managable
ONCE DIAGNOSED. Sorry for the long rant.