GP’s, what merits a face to face appointment?

There certainly seem to be major problems with GP services at the moment, but from my experience I think other areas of the NHS may have improved since the pandemic began. I have to say that I have had first class service recently from our local hospital, as did my baby DGS at his as I posted about earlier.

I broke my shoulder in October, DH took me to A & E and drove home to wait for my call to be picked up. He’d hardly got there when he’d to dash back - I was triaged, examined, x-rayed, a support fitted, meds prescribed and given and advice re sleeping etc provided by a specialist nurse and out within 45 minutes. All my follow up appointments and x-rays were done very smoothly with no waiting around at all. And I’d four telephone physio appointments, which I much preferred to having to travel for them. I was also given direct numbers for the fracture clinic and physio that I could use if I ever needed them.

My only GP involvement was a call from her to check that all was well and to suggest a bone density scan, which she arranged to suit me. Again straight in and out.

I think I would put in a formal complaint about this. A one year old child who was obviously very poorly should be seen face-to-face by a doctor within a short time, in my opinion.

This telephone appointment system is getting totally out of hand. I think it will lead the way to those who can afford it paying to see a doctor or a counsellor because telephone consultations are no replacement for face-to-face contact, particularly when people and frightened, distressed or in pain.

There really is no excuse for this. Dentists and other practitioners are seeing their patients so why can't doctors.

DH is now so worried about his BP and the constant fiddling with his drugs by telephone that he is taking up my suggestion to see a private GP and or Consultant. This is a massive decision for us both who have always had great faith in the NHS. As a Nurse I can't let him go on being experimented with by telephone.

Best if I keep stumm on that one ... but yes, indeed. All part of the plan.

AND. . . Another thing that winds me up is folk having to pay privately for procedures presumably done by the same doctors. We have a hospital doc in the family, admittedly run ragged by covid but still doing private work!!

On a lighter note (I know this is a serious subject) my friend had to take and send photographs of a cyst on her eye. for the clinical commissioning group to decide whether it warranted NHS funds for removal.
“Good thing it wasn’t piles” she said!

I just seen on a Facebook post that a lady was complaining the she had phoned 999 because she unable to get an appointment was attended by a paramedic and when he phoned the surgery and asked for her to be seen he was told she could have an appointment in 2 weeks? She was admitted. It's disgusting that staff are using the pandemic as an excuse not to see people and people should be reporting these GP to the local health boards as GPS get paid by the number of people on their list and a service should be provided to everyone at least by telephone if not face to face initially. Thankfully ours are with no problem after the initial telephone call.

Sago, that was bad treatment of this baby . It is a worrying story which I fear is a sign of the times.

While tonsillitis may be a sign of serious disease, tonsillitis is also sometimes a sign the little immune system is hard at work.

Nevertheless , the strict rules governing immediate medical attention used to include any alert about a child under two years.

The only time I have seen my dr is when we are both shopping in Waitrose, the rest of the time it’s a fight to get a telephone appointment. Yet my daughter who lives in a different part of the country has aa wonderful surgery and has had no problems, even with home visits.

Writing from France I am horrified and very sad as to what is happening in England. I am so sorry for anyone who has been treated in this appalling way and I do hope the children have recovered.

I have seen my GP, (even in the first week of lockdown) consultants, had scans, blood tests and x-rays and acquaintances have had operations as well as cancer treatment throughout the pandemic. My doctor even gave me an unplanned vaccination, because there had been a delivery.

The UK health service is being run down, money is not being invested, (350.000 joke), and because of Brexit the UK has make it difficult for Europeans to stay therefore a huge amount of medical staff have left. The new doctor’s pension system makes it unattractive for doctors to stay on after pensionable age (my friend’s son is retiring at 60).

Okay you say medical treatment is not ‘free’ here but for the people who have poor resources it is, as my friend who is in this situation is having no problems, she doesn’t pay at all and sees the same people etc. as everyone who has medical cover.

This is terrible, poor little soul. I agree complain and don’t let it go. My mum at 90 is receiving excellent care from her surgery has even been given a priority number to phone, and boy has she been using it ! Hope he feels better ASAP.

last line should read ....as a condition where diagnosis was often triggered....

Has anyone else had problems with completing the econsult form!?
I have tried a few times and each time it states I should ring 111 and my request will not be sent through to the surgery.
When I have tried to phone 111 there is a message saying they are busy and to contact surgery.
Round and round it goes. Really unsatisfactory and very frustrating.

DD was trying to see a doctor as lockdown started she was offered a telephone appointment. He did prescribe but, given her problem should have ordered a blood test.

If he had seen her he would have seen that she was very anaemic. By the time she finally had a blood test, three months later, she was so anaemic, she was told she could have a fatal heart attack at any moment and if she thought she was having one or fainted or felt dizzy, she should immediately go to A&E (she lives alone).

Last week I heard a GP who believes doctors should go back to seeing patients, quote anaemia as a cpondition diagnosis was triggered by seeing the patient.

You have had some great advice here especially from B9exchange. My local practice can be quite useless but I can request to be seen in person for anything I think I need to be ‘seen’ for. Hope your grandson recovers quickly, so ridiculous not to see babies and young children promptly as they go under so quickly.

I am sorry to hear about your grandson and think the lack of care and attention is inexcusable.
We have experienced the lack of care from GP and DH has deteriorated as a result. We have rung the surgery countless times just to be fobbed off.
We made a complaint to the practice manager but nothing changes and terminally ill people's quality of life is severely compromised. When this is all over I am going to create such a fuss that I will probably be barred from the surgery but hey I can't get through the door anyway.

I find these posts incredible.

Here, in Melbourne Aust., I can call my GP practice and get an appointment virtually the same day unless I want a specific doctor. I am asked if I want a phone or face to face consultation. I am asked to wait in the car and let them know I'm there, the doctor then rings me when they are ready to see me and in I go. If I'm sent for xrays, blood tests or any other external tests I am able to get one in most cases by just walking into the pathology place. Some of the more advanced tests such as MRI's do need an appointment but there is usually one available within a short time.

I recently had a knee replacement. I saw my GP for the referral, saw the Surgeon and had the surgery within 6 weeks. I was a private patient. I needed a special MRI which took measurements and was sent to Belgium so a custom replacement could be made (this is standard practice apparently). This process takes about 5 weeks but I could not get an appointment for the MRI until the week before planned surgery. Once the situation was explained the radiology people created an appointment for me within a couple of hours of me calling to make the appointment.

Even though our system is not perfect and I'm sure there are many who have unsatisfactory experiences your stories make me realize just how lucky we are.

Good grief. The child could have had meningitis. How awful. DH was prescribed antibiotics for his leg over the phone ( he had been seen at a walk in centre prior to that) but it turned out to be a blood clot. Now on blood thinners. A request for his b/t form to be sent to the house wasn’t acted on but there was no apology from the surgery when he had to go there to pick it up. So having requested it to avoid an unnecessary trip to the doctors he ended up having to go there anyway.

Your daughter was definitely justified in taking her complaint forward Sago. I hope others do the same to highlight the problems that patients are having regarding face to face appointments in some practices. Perhaps doctors and nurses in A&E should be making their Unions aware of the additional pressure on them as a result of some practices not seeing patients. Not good for anyone having to wait for hours and hours in A&E either.

Mixed experience with our surgery. Reporting a potentially serious range of symptoms Mr C had an immediate telephone consultation followed by a face to face consultation the next day with a GP who arranged prompt testing and necessary ongoing hospital care.

The GP I had seen for six years left the surgery. With a couple of chronic conditions to manage we saw each other three or four times a year. She understood how I had learned to manage my health fluctuations and we worked as a team. I was passed to another GP during first lockdown, we have spoken on the phone half a dozen times, she has made several referrals, some necessary others as a consultant (face to face!) said knee jerk. She refuses to see me, speaks at 100 miles an hour and cuts me off after six minutes. I can’t believe our non understanding of each other doesn’t frustrate her as much as it does me. I am frustrated and also embarrassed at unnecessary referrals, the cost alone makes me cringe. I don’t feel I or my ability to manage my conditions with medical support am understood. It is my belief that a face to face meeting would help her understand a fairly complex history and also something of who I am. I’m told it’s not necessary. Having said all that she did expedite one very necessary referral so sometimes her approach does work.

The major difference between my experience and that of Mr C is his initial consultation was with a GP in training who is otherwise hospital qualified and as she told him knows how necessary it is to see many patients to make an accurate diagnosis. She has moved on from our surgery now, Mr C is as adrift as I am.

I’m relieved your grandson is recovering sago and pleased to hear your daughter has formally raised the lack of care. The effectiveness of Primary Care intervention has always varied across areas and individual surgeries, the differences do seem to be getting wider and surely responsible and caring medical staff must be as concerned as their patients are.

I plan to contact our Patient Participation Group and ask for a question about policy for face to face appointments to be posed at the next liaison meeting. I truly can’t predict the response.

Our GP practice uses 'Ask Your GP' on line which enables us to ask questions and request appointments. I asked for an appointment with a specific GP whom I had seen before for skin problems and stated that this was a skin issue, but not urgent. the GP sent a message on line making an appointment for me last Friday. After he had dealt with the skin thing, he turned to me and asked me how things had been for me. I'd had a bad time (psychologically) during the initial lockdowns last year, but didn't refer myself to the practice and now I regret holding back, as I now know I would have been listened to sympathetically.

Goodness I feel privileged, I rang yesterday. Got a call back and a face to face appointment made for Monday. I’ve had one phone consult and one face to face visit with no bother in the last year.

I am really sorry Sago and hope the baby is getting better. DH is converge run around with wildly fluctuating :P and various experiments with drug regimes. GP now on hold till end of August but he has been called in for the nurse to check his BP. Thank heaven for nurses. I am a retired community nurse and manager who spent a lot of time running around trying to get GPs to do their job in the community not just in the surgery.

OP here Thank you all for your contributions, our dear little grandson is almost back to his cheerful self.

It’s been distressing hearing your experiences, something that had not occurred to me was that the GP’s are working from home, this throws up even more concerns re data privacy etc.

Our daughter has taken this all the way!
The press, local MP, practice manager and NHS England.
She worked in marketing and PR and is good at getting information to the relevant people.

This is clearly a huge issue in some areas, my GP practice is appalling.I’m suffering with sciatica but have given up even trying to get any help.

I really believe that COVID has given the GP’s the excuse they wanted to avoid patient contact.
No reception just a computer to greet you on entry, ( pre COVID) no repeat prescriptions by phone, online only …. I have a neighbour who cannot order online, I’m sure she is not alone, now consultations by phone not face to face.

It’s no wonder A&E are inundated.

No complaints about our GP practice - prompt prescription renewals, email enquiry resulted in a GP telephoning within half an hour - but clearly lots of practices are not functioning properly.

So far I have seen no reasoned response from the BMA or the RCGP, explaining why so many practices are, or are seen to be, performing so badly, particularly now that so many of their patients have been vaccinated. If I was a GP doing my best, I would want to cancel my subscriptions to both bodies.