In despair with GP practice .....

Work our not out!

All of my medications have disappeared off my NHS app.
It happened yesterday, so I phoned and was assured it would be put right, but it hasn't been.

I phoned our surgery yesterday to be greeted by a recorded message stating if my medical needs were urgent to phone 111 and then cut me off! I wanted to book a non urgent appointment so had to walk round to the surgery where I was told all appointments were now triaged and I would get a phone call in ten days to see whether I needed to see a doctor. Ah well I suppose that is better than nothing.

I've had 2 emergency hospital admissions in past 4 years, one was for a hip fracture after a fall and the other, in February this year, was initially for hypoxia/respiratory failure. I am a lifelong asthmatic, have also experienced pneumothorax so I'm well used to managing my own condition. I recognise when my breathing is deteriorating and have oxineter and nebuliser at home. I hadn't been feeling well since Xmas, dh and I both had some sort of virus, but he recovered while I was still feeling ropey after 6 weeks. After much harassment I finally managed to make an appointment with the ANP. Her words - " I've never heard your chest so clear!" That was on the Friday, by the Monday I was admitted to hospital with sats of 65. Heaven only knows how I was still functioning. Many blood tests later I was told that I had a deep seated infection, it had probably been there for around 6 weeks and I now had pneumonia. Why was this not detected by ANP on the Friday? I didn't become that unwell in 48 hours - sats had been dropping for weeks. I was released after 4 days but am still on overnight oxygen. Have I seen a GP since? No. Phone call? No. Have I had other significant issues which need to be addressed? Yes. I finally plucked up the courage to call for an appointment and try to get past Cerberus (receptionist) I asked for a face to face appointment with the GP - wait for it ..............end of September! I've long given up on NHS for consultant appointments and book privately. I'm now going to be doing the same for GP care. £50 for 15 minutes face to face which I know I'm extremely lucky to be able to afford, but it's worth it to/for me.
(ANP-Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Scotland)

My neighbour was told by a gp at her practise that her blood tests were "Fine, fine!" In an exasperated manner.

Two days later the nurse phoned her and said the tast had shown that her blood sugar was so sky high that she really needed to be in hospital.

Joseann

I'm sorry people are having such bad experiences with their GP surgeries. I need to praise excellent service where it's due.
I had a troublesome tummy pain that wouldn't go away after several weeks. Popped along to our surgery at 8 am Thursday, managed to get an appointment for 9.15 am, bloods taken. Doctor phoned me this morning, a Saturday!!, prescription for antibiotics sent to local Boots to collect in one hour.
I haven't visited our surgery in over 4 years when we moved here, so was prepared to have a long wait on my hands. Maybe I was lucky, but I'm giving it 10/10.

Do you live in France?

My surgery in North Devon is very good. There is a same day team that will phone you and then see you if you need to be seen, if you do, they will actually see you on that day
It is a bit different if I want to see my own Doctor that can take up to 2 weeks just for a phone call,,,😬

Devon now fancythat.

I’m not in U.K. so, not very familiar with how NHS works, but I work for a cardiologist and our patients call us for prescription renewal because they can’t get through to their gp and would rather just pay the extra to get it done than go through all the hurdles of getting the gp to do it. Myself, i just book a private appointment now if i need to see someone for something specific like that because the gp I go to is the same. And i think with things like heart issues, they don’t want the responsibility, I see a lot of gp letters referring patients back because they don’t want to deal with it.
Would it be possible for you to just see a consultant privately or is it crazy money for private appointments?

MissAdventure

My neighbour was told by a gp at her practise that her blood tests were "Fine, fine!" In an exasperated manner.

Two days later the nurse phoned her and said the tast had shown that her blood sugar was so sky high that she really needed to be in hospital.

For some reason results for the Hba1c test always take at least a day longer than most other blood tests. My guess is that the GP had only seen the full blood test results.

Luckygirl3 What kind of cardiac rehab is the hospital offering?

My heart attack was in 2017, so I appreciate things might have changed. I received 6 (8?) weeks of cardiac rehab, run by the hospital. This consisted of a follow-up appointment with a specialist nurse, who told me the results of my echocardiogram. I also had stress tests on a static bike. I then had to attend weeks of "education", which consisted of talks about topics to look after my heart and a dietician. Quite honestly, I thought they were a bit of a waste of time. I had my weight and blood pressure checked every week before I was "signed off".

During this time, the GP was a waste of space. They couldn't give me any sort of appointment for five weeks, so the hospital rang the surgery and told them to get the prescriptions sorted, which they did. The appointment itself wasn't really necessary. It lasted no more than a couple of minutes. By the time of the appointment, my meds had been sorted and I already had all the advice I needed.

If your hospital is following you up, I don't see what else the GP can do. If you're not being followed up, you do need to make sure you have an echocardiogram and maybe see your practice pharmacist. You can check your weight and blood pressure yourself.

growstuff You were fortunate. DH had his heart attack in late 2020. He had bypass surgery, but unfortunately picked up a anti-biotic resistant infection, that came close to killing him and resulted in him lying almost comatose in a bed, with tubes everywhere for 8 weeks. When discharged he was very frail and weak.

During COVID rehabilitation was by phone. He was issued with the standard rehabilitaion literature that assumed he had made a standard recovery and was raring to go. He was rung every few days to see whether he was exercising and walking as directed. Each time he explain about his infection, that he had a damaged lung and had lost three stone in 8 weeks. Walking outside in the February cold in his condition would be impossible.

They took no notice of what he said, just berated him for not following The Plan. In the end I took all the calls until finally they said they would not ring again as he wasn't prepared to cooperate with them. I rather thought the problem was that they would not cooperate with him and give him a plan that matched his medical circumstances.

Luckygirl please come back and tell us how you are.

Some of these experiences sound serious and frightening. We have had a minor incident with the lack of GP involvement in my DH’s problem. It would have taken someone at the surgery two minutes to have a Quick Look and refer him to the hospital. We got there 4 days later when the condition was much worse and treatment more intensive and expensive.
What is even more worrying is that we are articulate people, as are those on this site, what happens to those that aren’t?

I have a serious heart condition and I too struggle with my local surgery.
You have to ring at 8am here and by the time you get through there won’t be any appointments. If you go into the surgery they tell you to go home and phone.
If you do eventually get someone to answer the phone they put you down for a phone consultation, of no use whatsoever if you have something that needs seeing eg a lump. When you get a phone call, 5-7 working days later, more often than not you’ll be told to phone and make an appointment…. Repeat process.
If you eventually get offered an appointment it’s 4-6 weeks for GP, 12-18 weeks for bloods, 6-10 weeks to see a nurse.
So, if GP wants bloods then see you again it’s not unusual to be 6 months down the line before getting anywhere useful 🤬
Utterly ridiculous, no wonder people just go to A&E, no minor injuries other than 10-12 at a hospital 18 miles away, who then send you to A&E!
It’s no good trying any practice, the nearest ones have closed their lists, the closest one still taking patients is 15 miles away, no public transport goes anywhere near and doesn’t have a dispensary so you’d have to collect your prescription and trek into town.

These stories are so very depressing. Perhaps we should forward these threads to new PM.
I am struggling here: recurrent chest pain and breathlessness, low BP and pulse due to raft of meds. I do not seem to be progressing. Seeing cardiac rehab nurse on Tuesday. Have had calls from 3 different cardiac nurses but do not feel any further forward.
Managed to get all my meds again thank goodness.
I am basically flopped our.
I am going to research private GPs as well as looking for an alternatice NHS surgery.

Thats exactly what we should do.
It's too exhausting to keep battling to be heard any other way, and it highlights the lack of joined up care.

RosesandLilac

I have a serious heart condition and I too struggle with my local surgery.
You have to ring at 8am here and by the time you get through there won’t be any appointments. If you go into the surgery they tell you to go home and phone.
If you do eventually get someone to answer the phone they put you down for a phone consultation, of no use whatsoever if you have something that needs seeing eg a lump. When you get a phone call, 5-7 working days later, more often than not you’ll be told to phone and make an appointment…. Repeat process.
If you eventually get offered an appointment it’s 4-6 weeks for GP, 12-18 weeks for bloods, 6-10 weeks to see a nurse.
So, if GP wants bloods then see you again it’s not unusual to be 6 months down the line before getting anywhere useful 🤬
Utterly ridiculous, no wonder people just go to A&E, no minor injuries other than 10-12 at a hospital 18 miles away, who then send you to A&E!
It’s no good trying any practice, the nearest ones have closed their lists, the closest one still taking patients is 15 miles away, no public transport goes anywhere near and doesn’t have a dispensary so you’d have to collect your prescription and trek into town.

And it is all some time consuming for everyone involved, disheartening, dangerous in an increasing number if cases, expensive for the NHS, etc etc.

I actually now regularly pray for the NHS.

The ridiculous thing is, I'd imagine all this admin and rescheduling, and so on, probably cost more, in the long run, both in hours, and pounds.

Our surgery stopped my husbands Vit D and Folic Acid prescription becuase the recent blood test showed his levels were normal. Of course they were he was taking huge doses on prescription. Took three months and two hospital visits to get the meds reinstated with a huge note saying DO NOT STOP.

I really have no issues with my GP surgery have always had excellent service and care .Recently diagnosed with diabetes ,have seen the GP and the diabetic nurse each twice.I have also had appointments made by the GP with the hospital for a diabetic eye test and have a home visit from a chiropodist tomorrow.The GP has phoned me regularly with results and advice .I,m 20 miles outside of Glasgow the only and ongoing problem we have is that our A and E was closed during the last Labour administration and we haven,t managed to get it back….yetOtherwise the 8.30 phonecall debacle is the biggest problem we have though I have been told they are going back to the advance booking system before Christmas

paddyann54 I thought the SNP had been in power in Scotland for over 15 years, surely if they wanted to reinstate your A&E that’s long enough?
My GP surgery is excellent too (in Wales), but I’m not pretending that means everything is wonderful for everybody else here, I know it isn’t, so I count myself fortunate to live where I do and get a good service.

paddyann54

I really have no issues with my GP surgery have always had excellent service and care .Recently diagnosed with diabetes ,have seen the GP and the diabetic nurse each twice.I have also had appointments made by the GP with the hospital for a diabetic eye test and have a home visit from a chiropodist tomorrow.The GP has phoned me regularly with results and advice .I,m 20 miles outside of Glasgow the only and ongoing problem we have is that our A and E was closed during the last Labour administration and we haven,t managed to get it back….yetOtherwise the 8.30 phonecall debacle is the biggest problem we have though I have been told they are going back to the advance booking system before Christmas

So, seventeen.or more years ago your nearest A&E closed and in all that time the SNP government haven't reversed it.

Luckygirl I’m so so sorry to hear of your bad service from your GP. my GPS are very good they even do house calls. When I had a recent ear infection she came to see me and prescribed ear drops and when I phone the surgery the gps will phone me back same day to discuss my symptoms - they are so so good. I’ve just received a letter from NHS Fife telling me I’m due for an injection to prevent chest infections now that im 75 however I’m really terrified of needles. I’ll just have to put my big pants on and get on with it

I don't think that there's any GPs in our surgery. I think that generally they are on the phone elsewhere. In the actual building there are only nurses and now a physician assistant. Who was very nice but way out of her depth. It's all about money, the system needs an overhaul.