What to GPs actually DO?

Here we go again.
As a GP who has just flogged her guts out seeing umpteen patients with umpteen problems all day I am constantly hurt and upset by GP bashing.
We work flipping hard for you all.
Be thankful you aren't in Afghanistan at the moment.

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And thank you, Candelle. Well said xx

Mirren, ?

My GP’s surgery has proved almost impermeable during the pandemic with a fierce receptionist fobbing off patients or directing them to a paramedic.

A couple of weeks ago I slipped through the net and got a phone appointment with a GP who asked, most reluctantly, if I wanted her to look at the problem area. I had to take my courage in my hands to say I thought that was a good idea.

It was a good idea. She ‘red-lighted’ me to A and E with an instant referral and I spent days in hospital on a drip with a cocktail of very strong antibiotics.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility to suggest that, but for luck that afternoon, my GP’s surgery could have consigned me to oblivion.

If everyone is being encouraged back to work, why are GPS exempt. Doctors in hospitals can’t hide behind a receptionist or a computer. It’s no wonder A&E is busy with non urgent cases when your GP takes weeks to call you back. You can’t diagnose something over the phone or FaceTime.

There's not a lot of crowded waiting in hospitals at the moment. Can you make an appointment?

I’m sorry to say that it has become a default position that it’s almost impossible to see a GP in their surgery. There are continuous complaints about our surgery where patients are sent to the emergency department with none emergency disorders

I've had a bad knee for over 4 months now. By bad, I mean painful, can barely walk, woken up by pain every night, huge lump to side of it.
I was told the consultant at the knee clinic would phone me. I had a letter telling me the time of this phone call. He didn't phone (I literally sat by phone for hours).
When I phoned the Receptionist (on my husband's phone, lest they try to ring mine) I asked her why he hadn't phoned. She said: "I don't know. Today's his day off."
I said that was fine but I wanted to know why he hadn't phoned yesterday.
Her response (I shit kid you not): "I don't know. Yesterday was MY day off!"
My own GP is lovely and had referred me to the knee clinic for an MRI. I have to admit, I am curious as to how an MRI is to be performed over the telephone!

Be thankful you aren't in Afghanistan at the moment

Hang on a minute Mirren, that's unfair. No one, that I can see, has in any way compared their difficulties in accessing healthcare in the UK, to those poor souls in Afghanistan right now. But negating the concerns of people, right across the country, who have been trying for several weeks/months to get medical advice from their GP Practice, isn't comparable to a country on the verge of civil war. Patients do have a right to expect to see a healthcare professional if they have concerns and simply telling them why don't you think of the people in Afghanistan is, quite frankly, offensive; especially coming from a GP. As for seeing umpteen patients with umpteen problems all day it's actually your job isn't it? Like, what you're paid for?

I've had good GP experiences and I've had bad ones. I complained to the Ombudsman about one GP who miraculously took early retirement, just as things were hotting up. I once complained to the Practice Manager about a receptionist who lied to me.

But I've never felt the need to come on a Social Media site and tell people that GPs are lazy and must sit around all day doing no work whatsoever. If you're not happy, complain to the surgery and remember this the next time you are given the chance to vote for a government that will chart the direction of the health service.

to the GPs on here and to those who have GPs in the family.

GPs are lazy and must sit around all day doing no work whatsoever.

Who said that?

Some years ago I had a frozen shoulder, went to GP who told me it wasn’t worth having treatment as it would fix itself, few years later the other shoulder did the same. I can now not lift my arms very high and dressing is a problem.
Had to go to hospital for something else and was told to raise my arms and when I couldn’t was asked why I didn’t get treatment for it and I was silly as now it was to late to do anything about it

the thing is, the people most in need of medical attention are not best placed to make written complaints or join users groups.
some are struggling to get by everyday.
quite apart from the very seriously or acutely ill, there are the disabled, those with long term deteriorating conditions, some people cannot read/write English, don't have smart phones, may be of limited intelligence.
it often feels like a kind of obstacle race while wearing waders. with flippers attached. and distorting goggles.
being told, just hop along to a pharmacy, or somewhere...

I have been to the surgery to see the nurse and have blood tests done, I have had regular fortnightly appointments with a podiatrist who has clinics at the health centre where my GP is situated, but have not managed to get an appointment with the GP for ailments that have been ongoing since before the pandemic. (not really tried, as I was managing) But the other week I actually managed to get through on the 8am phone line, I had started to have vertigo, I told the receptionist (as you have to these days) the problem and that it had been a problem for almost 10 days, on and off, she took my details and said I would get a phone call from the GP that morning, true to her word I did, and he asked me a few questions, then asked if I could go for a face to face appointment the next afternoon. I went and got a bit of a shock as he was testing me for a possible stroke.....I did not know that vertigo was a possible symptom of stroke.....he was happy that I was ok, but told me if the vertigo came back, out of hours, or worse than it had been,

to phone 999 straight away !
He also asked me to book an ECG with the nurse, that's happening the end of next week (earliest they could give me).
At least the doors to the health centre are now open, during pandemic locked and only opened after you had spoken to a member of staff.

I was feeling unwell and dizzy and needed to see my GP. I am 98 and housebound. They said I would receive a home visit. It turned out to be a young paramedic.
A GP does not leave the surgery and only does phone consultations.
My home help cut her finger badly and instead of it being dressed by the Practice nurse was told to go to And E. Twenty six miles away. She waited four hours with her finger bleeding copiously. It was seen to and told to return in ten days time to have the dressing removed. Fortunately managed to do that herself.

Surgeries will never get back to normal. Why? Too few GPs, qualified doctors don’t want to be GPs. I wonder why? Perhaps they read one of the many threads on Gransnet about how dreadful GPs are in this country. They certainly are aware of what the Great British public think about them. That’s one of the reasons my daughter and her husband, both GPs, have gone to work in New Zealand. They’re fed up of the abuse and lack of respect many patients display towards them.

There’s one poster on here who complained about being unable to see their GP but then went on to treat their own condition and it healed. So why was a GP required?

My daughter and her husband both caught Covid from their patients. Many GPs are working in the hospitals, in the Covid hubs, are working in the vaccination centres in case of any adverse reactions that require immediate treatment from a doctor, or are isolating or have caught Covid themselves.

The elderly friend, who I mentioned earlier on this thread has now been rushed into hospital tonight and is very poorly. She had been trying for two weeks to get to speak to a GP but each time was told to ring back the next day because there were no appointments left. How long can this go on for before something is done?

Chewbacca

^Be thankful you aren't in Afghanistan at the moment^

Hang on a minute Mirren, that's unfair. No one, that I can see, has in any way compared their difficulties in accessing healthcare in the UK, to those poor souls in Afghanistan right now. But negating the concerns of people, right across the country, who have been trying for several weeks/months to get medical advice from their GP Practice, isn't comparable to a country on the verge of civil war. Patients do have a right to expect to see a healthcare professional if they have concerns and simply telling them why don't you think of the people in Afghanistan is, quite frankly, offensive; especially coming from a GP. As for seeing umpteen patients with umpteen problems all day it's actually your job isn't it? Like, what you're paid for?

Excellent post well said

Gwyneth I’m very sorry to hear about your friend, I hope she/he makes a good recovery.

But what is the ‘something’ that needs to be done? There are too few GPs. We can’t magic more GPs out of the air. It took my daughter twelve years to become a fully trained GP.

1) Six full years reading Medicine at UCL. She graduated firstly with a B of Sc qualification, gained after working in university 9 - 5 every day ( unlike courses such as Geography with only two lectures a week) and some clinical experience in a variety of departments, then followed by further three years of clinical practice, working in different departments and hospitals finishing with gaining her Degree in Medicine (equal to a Masters degree.)

2) Two full years working at a hospital in Dorset, as an F1 and F2 (Foundation One and Foundation Two)

3) One full year working at a hospital in Psychiatry.

4) Three full years working in General Practice in a number of different Surgeries and studying for her final exams at the same time.

Alegrias1, thank you. I will post your virtual bouquet on to my fed-up, worn-out daughter!

Is it possible that posters read the original comment then dive through to the last page to make their own comment?

This means that they do not read other people's comments so there is not a balanced discussion, merely venting of spleens.

This is the only explanation that I can come up for some posts.

Again: there are only so many GPs. There are only so many hours in a day. It is impossible to suddenly acquire more doctors to improve the ratio of available GPs. It can't happen. This has been flagged up as a slowly developing situation but has been ignored.

It is not the fault of a GP (or practice) that they cannot supply the demand. It is the fault of successive Governments coupled with unrealistic expectations of some patients.

One minute example is that of a patient at home who asked for a home visit. This person was ambulatory but wanted the doctor to visit them as otherwise, she would have had to call (and obviously pay for) a taxi to take her to the surgery. A home visit by the doctor would entail him being away from other patients in the surgery for forty minutes. Which was the better option?

In an ideal world, this conundrum would not need to happen but we do not live in that world as in days gone by. There is a lack of money and obligation from Government. We are sleep-walking into a private medicine system.....

The practice I attend has three surgeries. Once vaccinations started one surgery was used as a vaccination point and patients were seen at the other two. I've had two appointments in the last year, either the same day or the following day. I was given another appointment for an ECG and blood tests and it turned out that the nurse I saw was a hospital phlebotomist helping out, so that was a bonus because I've got awful veins. Got a prescription query sorted out over the phone in minutes. They really are doing their best.

I think it varies from surgery to surgery, just as has always been the case.
There do seem to be a lot of issues that one would assume needs a face to face appointment, though.

It's false economy to palm people off when their problem hasn't been properly addressed.

Bijou nice to hear from you! I thought I hadn’t seen your posts on GN lately x