Why do doctors only give you 10 minutes these days?

When I have an appointment with my GP, I know that he'll never be on time as he always gives you as long as you need even though it's a 10 minute appointment.

The extra millions of patients without a suitable increase in GPs

Janal1 They are a well known treatment for vertigo but if you don't do them, you'll never know if they work for you!

Our GP surgery apparently is quite good on the rare occasion I have called I get an appointment the same day Probaby surprised to see me I have had around 5 visits in the last 30 years. But my husband goes in 3 times a week to have his surgery wound dressed by a nurse and he can't fathom out why there are rarely many patients waiting if any at all. Once upon a time the waiting room would be full at this time in the morning.

I haven’t seen a GP at my Health Centre for many years, it appears to be a very long winded process.

The last twice I called I was told to go to A & E (palpitations).

However after hospital treatment I was sent an appointment to discuss medication needs with a clinical pharmacist, at my health centre.

He was so helpful and discussed in depth the pros and cons of differing treatment. I was not rushed in any way and he assured me to call if I had any queries.

At least a clinical pharmacist frees up the GP to do other things.

The doctor I usually see tells me to slow down and relax. She has said no rush and makes me feel able to explain properly.

I used to live in France, and whenever I had a doctor's appointment, first we used to catch up on how our families were doing, ( that could take a good 15 minutes) and then we got round to whatever I had come for. The appointment rarely lasted less than 30 minutes.

SueDonim

eazybee

Because many only work a four day week.

Doing ten or twelve hour days. My trainee GP daughter often misses lunch because she’s out on house calls. Do people really want to be seen by an exhausted GP at the end of a 60 hour week?

I agree. I am so sick of people falling for this Daily Mail crap about doctors being part time. Sadly they'll still spout this idiocy even though they are told repeatedly.

Janal1

I saw the Doctor last week for the first time in years like a lot of people on here.For a while everytime i go to bed and lay flat the room spins so decided to make an appointment.He asked some questions and did a few tests,then printed out some exercises to do at home but warned me they would make me giddy.
I did one,the room spun so much i haven't done them since.
I just wondered whether anyone on here has ever been given these exercises to do and did they work?
They are called Brandt-Daroff.

Yes my husband did. They made him feel dizzy too but he persevered. Problem was more or less gone in a week.

When I attended Great Ormond street hospital in the 1960s-70s you got 5 minutes

It looked like you got 15 as the outpatients were 1,30, 1.45, 2.00, 2.15 etc until you realised that 3 patients were booked for each time. The clinics used to run hours behind - especially when the consulting rooms were crammed with students

As far as I know, the NHS instructed all GPs last year, or the year before, that they were only to allow a patient 10 minutes time and only to discuss one health issue with that patient.

This was supposed to combat the fact that many patients were having to wait weeks to see a doctor.

I doubt the GPs find it more satisfactory than their patients do.

Come join me for a day. You will be horrified at the rubbish we get from the public ...

Mirren you have my sympathy. In my long ago working life, I remember sitting in a meeting where a policy wonk was telling GPs how something should work, and one weary GP responded "You clearly have no idea what I sometimes have to deal with".

The GPs at our practice are great. Just the other week I was seen by a GP to give me feedback on a recent ECG, and despite it being 6.30 in the evening he took time to explain the results to me. Our GP practice is open for patients until 8 p.m.

I have just looked up some stats for GPs

Average number of patient consultations
*In 1995, the average patient had about 3.9 per year
*By 2019, the average was estimated to be around 8.7 consultations per person per year with a GP, (face-to-face, telephone and online).

Face to face was down a little at 3.3 - but many more in total.
- I don't know if there were phone "consultations" or if these were counted at all in 1995 - but I do know my mother's GP called her at our request in 1991 (when she was ill) as I was there.

Average number of patients per full time equivalent GP (UK-wide average):
*Mid-1990s ~1,600 to 1,800
*Current (2024) ~2,241

The increase in the consultation rate compared to 30 years ago seems to be (as people have already said) driven by several factors:
​
- Older patients with multiple long-term conditions require far more frequent appointments.

​- GP practices now manage a much broader range of conditions than before, including a lot of mental health care.

​- Remote Consulting - telephone and online contacts, which can be more frequent because they (apparently) tend to be shorter.

I don't know really about telephone calls necessarily being shorter - I had a call a few weeks ago that was only a minute or two (to clarify something) but previously a very long call from my (lovely, careful and helpful) GP (40 mins?).

WelshPoppy

My GP sorts out my initial problem then checks if everything else is okay, then just checks about hubby (no breaches of patient confidentiality) and finally checks that our dog is doing okay, as she loves dogs. Never feel rushed.

and all about her holiday and how her OH is doing now retired. I have to allow at least 20 mins for an appt 😂

You got to see a doctor??? In the same room?? Unless the doc actually needs to feel your bumps, we are lucky to get a 5 min phone call. Our nurses do bloods a most simple physical checks ( breast cancer scare got me 2 mins with nurse, referral to our wonderful hospital unit quickly, but results are now a 10 day wait to be loaded on to the computer for the GP to look at)

Sending you all good wishes Fran
Waiting is really hard.
💐
Hope all is well - or at least, easily remedied. 🙏

It’s nigh on impossible to have a face to face appointment with a doctor at our practice. The last time I was physically seen by a GP was after I’d been diagnosed with a TIA, following a brain scan and that was to adjust my medication.

We have the iniquitous Patchs (sic) system at our surgery, requiring patients to answer many (largely irrelevant) questions only to receive a request to complete two more of these wretched long winded forms if more than one condition is mentioned. This has happened to me this morning resulting in me having to ring the surgery to insist on having a consultation as they had asked me to contact them in the first place for a medication review. I now have a pharmacist ringing me next Tuesday and a GP should be in touch regarding my annual review eventually!

The good news is my repeat prescription request has reached my wonderful local pharmacy so I can collect that later this morning. 💊🩺🩹

ashcombe at my mums surgery I went in about something trivial and then stood by the receptionists desk just wittering and keeping the conversation going - we went round in circles a few times! - but there was nobody queueing for anything and I wasn’t in a rush.
Eventually she got fed up and offered me an appointment for my mum to see her own doctor. It took a bit of perseverance but got there in the end.

I get cross when people moan about GPs because I know how very hard they work, but sometimes receptionists just don’t help themselves!!

Book for 2 appts

They are convinced the majority of patients only needed a phone consultation and they hope next time that's all you have

Goodness me, I’ve come back to a proper flood of replies, thank you all so much. It’s lovely (and a bit sad) to know I’m not the only one who remembers sitting with the doctor for a good twenty minutes having a proper natter.

You’re all quite right though, they’re run off their feet these days, poor lambs. I do feel for them. Next time I’ll do as several of you wisely suggested: jot down my two or three questions on a little list, get straight to the point about the swollen ankles and the hearing test referral, and try not to waffle on about the grandchildren. We’ll both get more out of the ten minutes that way!

Thanks again for all the kind solidarity.🤞

This tale may explain why GP’s are short of time. My medic dd recently went on a home visit but she couldn’t get a reply to her ringing/knocking on the door. A woman carrying shopping bags then approached her on the street and asked if she was the GP. Dd confirmed that she was and the woman said she was the patient but she hadn’t expected the doctor to arrive that quickly so she’d gone to the supermarket to do her shopping!

Time-wasting is such a problem, the stories have to be heard to be believed.

Yes, SueDonim, that and the still scandalously high rate of ‘no shows’.
My dentist (private) is charging £50 now for a missed appointment as he says it’s unfair on other patients. I wish doctors had been allowed to charge the £10 when that we mooted a few years ago, it it got shouted down in a storm of moral outrage.

Just for the record, I contacted GP surgery online at 0805 this morning. They rang back at 0839, and booked an appointment for 1030. Thorough examination by doctor, painkiller prescribed, precautionary xray arranged, on my way home by 1100.

It has been 10 minutes per appointment for some considerable time.
My Gp/nurse often recommends me booking two sessions for any follow ups just in case test results need in depth discussion etc.