Are GPs as busy as they keep telling us they are?

Both the large waiting rooms in my surgery are almost empty and the few people in there are usually waiting to see a nurse.

I feel its such a waste to be heating and running such a large practice to have it almost empty. They appear to be doing flu jabs but not Covid.

It would be easier to get into Fort Knox than our surgery. They took on a man as finance manager who had been in hospital management and will do anything to prevent patient access, unless it’s something that gets extra payments. He actually put out a message that the reception staff had been on a two week course and must now be regarded as equivalent to doctors!! It got taken down quite quickly!
He also installed a switchboard that cuts off
after 20 rings do that you have to redial. It probably saved my life ironically, as I thought I had a severe stomach bug, but when I gave up and rang 111 they sent an ambulance straight out. I was dangerously ill with pancreatitis.

Yes, they are.
GPS do home visits out of surgery hours, telephone consultations and a mountain of the dreaded paperwork.

Some enlightened practices now have a time dedicated to telephone consultations rather than each go trying to squeeze them in between face-to-face consultations; maybe you were there while this was happening?

Last time I visited my Doctors the waiting room was very busy, apparently the 2 Doctors (husband and wife) were running a least an hour late, eventually we were told they were visiting the 3 care homes they own!!

We went for a vaccination last week to our very big surgery. We were the only ones in the waiting room.

lixy

Yes, they are.
GPS do home visits out of surgery hours, telephone consultations and a mountain of the dreaded paperwork.

Some enlightened practices now have a time dedicated to telephone consultations rather than each go trying to squeeze them in between face-to-face consultations; maybe you were there while this was happening?

home visits? I don’t know a single soul who has managed to get a home visit for years!

Last one was a lady in her late 80s who was really poorly. That must be 10 years ago. She lived next door to her nephew and his wife who were very worried about her. They asked for a home visit. When the GP arrived his first words to her were “I am going to be very cross if you called me out unnecessarily.”

Home visits? GPs get an extra allowance for older patients (is it for over 80s?) which is supposed to cover home visits.
I've not heard of anyone having a home visit from a GP for years.

Not just GPs; I was assigned to a new Consultant five years ago but so far I've never met him, only had telephone consultations.

It's impossible to compare a current GP surgery with pre-Covid surgeries because the rules are so very different. Our GPs haven't done home visits in years - even pre-Covid a mum on our local Facebook was complaining about it and eventually changed to a nearby surgery.

There is never anyone waiting in our surgery because they rarely do face-to-face appointments. After a telephone appointment they usually either ship you a prescription, field you out to a consultant of some variety or, on very rare occasions, tell you to come to the surgery. We've never even seen our doctor.

My parents get regular GP home visits. I think it is very practice dependent.
What the GPs now do first thing in my morning in my practice is telephone consultations, they arrange then to see in person the people who really need it and signpost the others. By doing this they are reducing their workload burden. They work harder than ever , but there are not enough of them, and they are swimming against the tide. I know several who have become so burned out that they have had to leave, retire early or go part time. The fact that they are a convenient butt for people to sound off about the ills of the NHS doesn’t make their jobs any easier either.

I had to phone for results last week. It was 1hr.20 mins for them to answer the phone. This was a dedicated result line. I despair of the NHS.

The GP Surgery where I go rarely has anyone in the waiting room.Nigh impossible to get an appointment.A neighbour has just had a toe amputated because he could not get a Dr appointment.

Ours spend that time on home visits, triaging econsults, discussing caseloads and making phone consultations. They open for covid and flu jabs last week, queues were snaked outside. Our last few visits, four this year between us, the waiting room was busy reflected by the full car park.
We are very happy with our surgery.

It seems to be that most GPs, particularly the women, work part-time. The pressure on GP practices seems to vary a lot. Our big city-centre practice isn't too bad, but you never see the same GP twice same with the practice nurses.
I'm 79, recently out of hospital after a major operation. No home visit from GP or district nurse, someone had to drive me to the surgery.

Are GPs as busy as they keep telling us they are?

Yes.

My husband was recently hospitalised with a nasty virus. He received wonderful care at the hospital and on discharge. They put him in the care of a 'virtual ward' when he was home. They rang every day and sent a nurse to check him over and take bloods. We couldn't complain.

Knittypamela

I had to phone for results last week. It was 1hr.20 mins for them to answer the phone. This was a dedicated result line. I despair of the NHS.

I believe this is why some Practices complain about missed appointments. You simply cannot get through to tell anybody you cannot keep your appointment!

On the NHS app you can cancel an appointment right up to moments before the time. There is no need to be hanging on the phone for over an hour just to cancel an appointment.

I really feel for the “oldies” who are often more likely not to have iphones or be on the internet and possibly cant hear well enough to make phone calls (ie me even with hearing aids I cant use a phone). What are folk like that expected to do? How worrying for those people.

Lisaangel10

lixy

Yes, they are.
GPS do home visits out of surgery hours, telephone consultations and a mountain of the dreaded paperwork.

Some enlightened practices now have a time dedicated to telephone consultations rather than each go trying to squeeze them in between face-to-face consultations; maybe you were there while this was happening?

home visits? I don’t know a single soul who has managed to get a home visit for years!

Last one was a lady in her late 80s who was really poorly. That must be 10 years ago. She lived next door to her nephew and his wife who were very worried about her. They asked for a home visit. When the GP arrived his first words to her were “I am going to be very cross if you called me out unnecessarily.”

GPs do make home visits and they make visits to care homes

They also have a huge number of tasks that do not mean that the patients will be at the surgery - go through and interpret the myriad of test results that come in each day and update patient records, write letters and referrals, deal with repeat prescriptions, attend meetings and case conferences outside of the surgery and many surgeries now have times set aside for telephone/online consultations

I consult more now with our chemist than I do with a doctor. I'm up in the north of Scotland and a new system has been devised whereby we phone our prescription needs into the chemist who then forwards it to the surgery who obviously check it and then sends it back to the chemist. This system takes an extra couple of days at least before you can collect your presciption. Not sure who benefits from this new system but it takes longer for me to get my prescription and it is quite confusing as there are a couple of items I need to order direct from the surgery. I used to order all items on-line and this took 4/5 days to process.

Lisaangel10

lixy

Yes, they are.
GPS do home visits out of surgery hours, telephone consultations and a mountain of the dreaded paperwork.

Some enlightened practices now have a time dedicated to telephone consultations rather than each go trying to squeeze them in between face-to-face consultations; maybe you were there while this was happening?

home visits? I don’t know a single soul who has managed to get a home visit for years!

Last one was a lady in her late 80s who was really poorly. That must be 10 years ago. She lived next door to her nephew and his wife who were very worried about her. They asked for a home visit. When the GP arrived his first words to her were “I am going to be very cross if you called me out unnecessarily.”

Well, I am sorry to hear that.

My mum had a home visit from her gp last year. He called in on his way home at the end of evening surgery. She was very poorly and a friend had contacted the surgery that afternoon.

My gp friend makes home visits between morning and evening surgeries, both to people in their own homes and regular visits to nursing homes.

Mum lives in Sussex, gp friend practises in the Midlands.

Romola my friend works three twelve hour days a week, as do all the doctors at her practice. That is full time, but she doesn’t work every day. It’s how her surgery arranges things.

Our GP surgery is excellent. I've had far too much contact with it this year and honestly can't fault them. I've had telephone consultations with doctors, talked several times to one of the pharmacists about the drugs I'm on, had blood tests with practice nurses and had all my jabs, covid, flu and RSV. I've also had two face to face appointments with doctors. Their use of technology is excellent, I did a four day BP check which finished on Monday evening, it was checked on Tuesday morning and this evening I got an email after they had discussed the results with my GP. I can see everything that is happening on my NHS APP, contact them via their website and always get a reply within an hour or so and they send me links if they want me to contact them. The surgery tends to be relatively quiet because those of us who can, use technology which speeds everything up. I've absolutely no complaints.

foxie48

Our GP surgery is excellent. I've had far too much contact with it this year and honestly can't fault them. I've had telephone consultations with doctors, talked several times to one of the pharmacists about the drugs I'm on, had blood tests with practice nurses and had all my jabs, covid, flu and RSV. I've also had two face to face appointments with doctors. Their use of technology is excellent, I did a four day BP check which finished on Monday evening, it was checked on Tuesday morning and this evening I got an email after they had discussed the results with my GP. I can see everything that is happening on my NHS APP, contact them via their website and always get a reply within an hour or so and they send me links if they want me to contact them. The surgery tends to be relatively quiet because those of us who can, use technology which speeds everything up. I've absolutely no complaints.

So glad you receive this level of service but many parts of the UK don’t. We got the app Dr. iQ but usually doesn’t work, is simply a message saying there are technical difficulties, all we can now do on the app is order repeat prescriptions. Our practice doesn’t have GPs anymore, perhaps one but he is hardly ever there, the others are nurse practitioners, and we are lucky to get an appointment to see them. You ring at 8, because the app doesn’t work, are told you are number 25 in the queue so of course you don’t get an appointment.
We now know that we can get antibiotics for some illnesses from he chemist and have used our chemist before for consultations. Will continue to do this. Or ring 111 if it seems serious who send us to A&E.
We are not alone with this sadly.

maddyfour

On the NHS app you can cancel an appointment right up to moments before the time. There is no need to be hanging on the phone for over an hour just to cancel an appointment.

News to me. Maybe it’s certain parts of the country. Our practice should be notifying patients if this is true.

Anyway, a lot of people don’t use apps.