Bonkers new rule at our GP surgery

Can anyone recommend a do it yourself surgery book? I should really have another blood test as I had a seizure last year but the rigmarole puts me off asking unless there is a really urgent problem. I got a bladder infection sorted after a wait of a few hours when a very busy doctor got around to writing a prescription after looking at my specimen.That lump mentioned should have been seen promptly.

This is a message for Oreo.

I promised that I would ask doccy daughter your question of how patients she sees in a day.

Her answer is that it is generally held that it is safe to see around 25 patients daily in face to face consultations.

Currently, she sees 25 patients face to face... then takes around 25 telephone consultations but reckons she deals with at least 60 patients in an average day.

Please do not forget all the blood test results that have to be run through, patients then contacted etc. Oh and prescriptions that need authorising and signing and ... well, I won't go on (haven't mentioned admin, sick notes, emergency contact with hospitals etc., etc.).

I really hope that people understand that your doctors really want to help but they really can't do much more. They are all becoming exhausted, demoralised and no, they do not earn a great amount of money for their hours, responsibility and loss of family time.

If it is held that seeing 25 patients a day is the safest highest number of face-to-face consultations, can you imagine how the doctors feel working under such pressure?

Two small points: many posters here seem to have surgeries with antiquated administrative systems, why not consider doing something to change matters? There should be a 'Patients' Association' at your surgery. Do contact them and make suggestions as to how things could/should be changed for the better.

Alternatively, contact the Practice Manager and ask for an appointment with him/her. Run through your concerns and perhaps work with her/him to make things better. I did a similar thing at my surgery and we have improved the system for repeat prescriptions - it can be done.

Secondly, my daughter says that many patients actually like telephone appointments. They are not obviously appropriate in all cases but patients do not have to dress, drive, park etc., and can speak to a doctor on the 'phone. Not everyone hates telephone appointments!

The flak that doctors have to take is a sad reflection of the state we are all in. The situation will not be a quick fix so we had better all try and do what we can to make things better at our surgeries and give doctors a little credit for their hard work and yes, dedication.

I hope the above numbers answer your question.

Regards.

Very good post Candelle.

I like telephone consultations. I much prefer them, and so many things do not require a physical exam. My doctor made me go in when I had a kidney infection even though I was in bed feeling poorly and didn’t really want to bother. But she told she needed to examine me, so I went. She gave me an appointment for that morning.

When my daughter was working during the lockdown she did lots of telephone consultations, but she continued to do face to face appointments too. As she said to me about a patient she’d seen,
‘I can’t do a vaginal exam over the phone.’ Doctors know when they need to see you face to face.

I don't dislike telephone consultations. When you're ill, you often don't want to go out, and surgeries will send your prescription to the chemist's which can be a boon.

I love phone appointments, and wish they'd been around years ago.

Regardless of that, I would like the option of being able to ascertain when I need to see someone in person.

My own experience is that if, after being triaged by the surgery (I send in a typed, online written explanation of my concern using the 'PATCHS' system. There are several of these online systems around, Klinik is another. They enable the patient to write and explain to the doctor the nature of their problem which a clinician then reads, decides the importance of the problem and makes appointments accordingly) I have confidence that my problem is known and dealt with appropriately.

If it is thought that one needs to be seen face-to-face, an appointment is given. I have had several experiences of being contacted within a few minutes (and in one instance an ambulance called by the doctor).

The problem is partially that people feel entitled to a face-to-face consultation even 'though the need for one is not there.

Obviously, my writing about a great online system is not much consolation to those whose surgeries have outdated procedures and I urge those people to try to change matters by speaking to the Practice Manager or joining their Patients' Association.

I've never heard of those systems.
It's all so patchy, it seems, the way each practise is working.

There do appear to be a variety of systems operating across the country. I will tentatively suggest that possibly it’s because GP practices are actually private businesses. They receive funding from the NHS it’s true, but GPs also pay a huge amount of money into their practices, in other words they ‘buy in.’ They become a ‘partner’ in the practice which effectively means the partner GPs actually own the business. Of course they also employ some salaried GPs too, but basically the partner GPs buy and own the practice and then receive other funding from the NHS for treating NHS patients. My daughter was a partner GP and paid in thousands over the years, which when she left the practice they had to pay back to her, and it took over a year and a half to get her money back. I may be wrong because I don’t know enough about it, but I wonder if because GPs own their practices, they can make their own rules and decisions about how their practice is run, usually with advice from a Practice Manager who they employ.

I think that is what's happening.

My friend took her daughter to the hospital yesterday evening as she's been ill for 3 days and 111 wanted her checked at a hospital. The waiting time was 8 hours so she went home and saw GP this morning. They sent her to the hospital again. Saw a nurse twice then waiting time 6 hours for a Dr. After 4 hours the waiting time was increased to 22 hours!!!
Fortunately my friend's daughter was seen after 5 hour wait as it was deemed urgent. It wasn't as serious as the GP thought so they sent her home. This was for a child with suspected meningitis at a children's hospital.
Our NHS is badly broken.

maddyone
I said after 4 years of being qualified so qualified after 6 years, work as Dr 4 years that's 10 years. Then work as GP year 11 year 16 year 21 etc.
People are dying from terminal cancer because we have a huge shortage of GPs and they wait too long for appointments.
Also General Practice would enhance specialists knowledge of other diseases and ailments, different treatments, new tests, etc which may later appear in their chosen speciality patients. People often suffer from several ailments at the same time.

Since I said several times in this thread that there is a shortage of GPs, why is your post addressed to me sazz1?

With regard to your friend’s daughter, it seems to me that everyone involved in her care did the right thing and made the right decision except the friend who declined to wait eight hours to be seen with a child with suspected meningitis. Yes eight hours is a long time, but meningitis is a serious disease and your friend opted to go home. I wouldn’t have done that if my child had suspected meningitis!

I don’t understand the first sentence in your second post.
Earlier in the thread I laid out exactly how many years it takes to train as a doctor and as a GP. I know what I’m talking about with the training of medics since my daughter trained as a medic.

I got a blood test done and chased the results for 8 weeks as two of the GPs didn't understand what the result was. Finally another phoned me to tell me me he thinks it's Sjogrens and has sent a referral letter to hospital. As I'd never heard of this it frightened me so of course I enquired what it meant for me. He just sound annoyed I asked and said the hospital will be in touch when there's appointment and rushed off the phone. I know I shouldn't of, but I Dr.Googled it to find out about it and now I've myself all worried. It was the only way to find out what Sjogrens actually was though until I hear from hospital and our waiting lists are dreadful here in N.Ireland, well in all of UK.