Getting through to a doctor

Some GPS surgeries are run by the NHS and some are run as a business by the GPS buying into the business.This is very lucrative for the business GPS. They can run their practices as they like.so long as they reach their targets for doing various jobs,eg immunisations,cervical smears,diabetic checks etc.
GPs employed by the NHS don’t earn anything like the money the business GPS do,that’s why they have difficulty recruiting them.

My husband's surgery is terrible, I don't think we ever got a call back during last year's lockdown, even when we were 7th in the queue at 10.30 in the morning. We were sitting by the landline all day.
On the other hand I rang my surgery yesterday to make an appt for a vaccination. I was 4th in the queue and was through in no time at all.

It is those patients who go private to jump the waiting list who make the waiting list longer for NHS patients. The surgeon who does your operation under BUPA or you can afford to pay privately is the same surgeon who also works in the NHS. It’s common for a surgeon to work Monday morning out patients clinic Monday afternoon operating in the NHS Monday evening seeing private patients same on Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday the surgeon may go to different NHS hospitals in the week. Then at weekends Saturday and Sunday operating at a private hospitals. It is no wonder mistakes are made when you know how many hours a week the surgeon has worked. The surgeons become tired so they tell the NHS appointments to reduce their list, hence the waiting list just gets longer.

Well done Candelle for speaking the truth. Don’t allow anyone to bully you into silence. Don’t take any notice of how dare you. You dare because it is the truth.

We are in the Highlands of Scotland, and have to wait up to 10 days for a telephone appointment! Having said that, once you do get to speak to someone, they are Treatment at Hospitals, once appointments are made, are usually very good!

I appreciate there are times you don't need to see a doctor face to face - prescription reviews etc. The online system has pages of questions that I'm not sure are needed. I don't have a smart phone and don't do zoom and apart from that a picture doesn't always show the problem. I apparently had a skin infection a few months ago in my hand, it was so swollen I couldn't bend my fingers so couldn't drive or do a lot of things. I managed to send a photo on my ipad. They prescribed antibiotics and said if no better ring back. My neighbour, bless her, got my prescription. It was actually worse the end of the course so rang again. I was going to be fobbed off again but said I was concerned as a friend of mine was misdiagnosed before Christmas, ended up at A & E and nearly lost her hand (true). She went to same doctors - funnily enough I then got an appointment. It meant the doctor could see it, feel it (said infection as hot). It took 5 weeks before I could do anything.
The thing that made me cross is the main GP at our surgery was in the local paper nearly every week saying how they were still open and seeing people...
I only go to doctors if I really have to and I think most people know if something isn't right with their own body and doctors should trust that.

I have to say our GP surgery is amazing. I have had to contact them a few times recently and have done so via a Quick message system online which says they will get back to you with ing 48 hours. Each time my GP has messaged or rung in just a few hours. This morning I sent a message and in less than 2 hours I had received a response and antibiotics were waiting for me at my nominated pharmacy. Excellent service!
Right now I think the nhs is under extreme pressure and I’m sure that everyone is doing their best in incredibly challenging and difficult circumstances.

Cambia I have actually flown to Greece in this time and seen a doctor here immediately. My husband had a prostate problem and has seen a doctor three times in a week, had blood tests and an ultrasound carried out, all within a week. Last year he was able to get an MRI scan on the same day the doctor sent him to the hospital. I know we have paid privately but only €150 for MRI and €30 for Ultrasound. A shot of cortisone is six euros from the pharmacy. Why oh why is everything so expensive and slow in the UK? Greece puts our medical system to shame. We fully intend to have any further medical problems seen to whilst we are in Greece but what is happening to people unable to do this?

I don't know how Greece can afford to have such a prompt health service when only a few years ago they were bankrupt. Billions have been pumped into the NHS. Why can't they manage? My surgery has 22 doctors listed but none of them work there fulltime. They work perhaps 2 days a week there, and presumably elsewhere the rest of the time.

It was impossible to get an appointment without a 3 week wait before Covid .... now it's 3 weeks to speak to someone I've never heard of on the phone. I have an appointment for Friday to discuss some worrying blood test results - she does not work at my surgery and when I googled her, I discovered she is a yoga teacher, but used to be a GP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable! I have a very complicated health history which she won't have had time to read up.

I want to change surgeries but now, in the middle of a pandemic, is not the time. Sigh.

So, all in all, we are all receiving an inadequate service.

It’s an utter disgrace.

I do wonder what’s to become of us if, and when we genuinely do need a doctor .
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How dare you address people like that Candelle? People want to see a GP because they are ill (in some cases seriously ill) and will inevitably be worried. It's not their fault if GP surgeries are under-resourced.

Its a ridiculous situation.Covid was the excuse.But my friend is a receptionist and GP's love telephone consultations they get through more patients hence more money.
They are keeping it permanently.

I wonder if and when any of the governments will actually sort out the NHS. The standard of care I witnessed before my retirement was absolutely heartbreaking

Long post but I feel it is necessary to refute some information here...

Here we go again, doctor bashing - have some of you nothing better to do? Do you really think that doctors are not working? Do you really think that they are lining their own pockets at your expense whilst having a quick fag with feet up on a desk, letting the patients ring and ring in again? Have some common sense.

Maddyone put it succinctly at 13.35, there are not enough doctors. The situation will become worse too but I will add a rider: there is not enough money.

No, not money to line those jammy doctors' pockets but to run the whole NHS. In some medical quarters it is thought that the Government is deliberately trying to run the NHS down and we are definitely being gently nudged towards privatisation. Want your ears syringed? Pay for it. Want some medications previously available on prescription? Pay for them. The general public don't notice these baby steps as their wrath is saved for GP surgeries.

I have posted before that my daughter is a GP. She arrives in her surgery at 7.30 am. She leaves at 9.00 pm. Her half day a week is from 7.30 am to 4.00 pm, i.e. 8.5 hours).

I have written before to say that if she averaged her salary out including the weekday, weekend and evenings she probably earns less than the minimum wage. When I manage to speak to her (usually on her way home whilst driving) I know she needs food and sleep so am unable to have a deep or long conversation with her. I can't for example, ask how her children are as she replies 'Don't know, haven't seen them', which makes her feel dreadful, so I don't ask.

Shall I see her at the weekends? Rarely. She is working, either at her Covid hot hub, giving inoculations or at meetings elsewhere. Yes, meetings at the weekends. Her 'phone had, one time I remember, 450+ messages for her to respond to. When we do see her, the 'phone will be in her hand as she works her way through them. No doubt everyone else's families are able to give their parents their full attention!

Mirren (at 11.14) is obviously speaking to you first hand but this still doesn't matter to many of you.

People forget that my daughter is a GP and when I am with friends, the conversation turns to GP's and off they go, complain, complain, complain. One recent gem was 'I spoke to my GP who called me in and spent over 25 minutes with me', followed by 'how disgusting it was that there was no one else in the waiting room'! I really think some people are stupid, or would you all rather sit crowded together whilst someone who has not bothered to take a lateral flow test before arriving at the surgery in the middle of a pandemic coughs all over them?

Many of us are 'entitled', we NEED to see a doctor when often we don't. Growing up, I was a sick child but seeing the doctor was reserved for very serious situations, we certainly didn't have as many visits as we do today. Common sense has flown out of the window and Dr Google (and I know, I am guilty of using it too...) is culpable as it flags up severe problems when there are often none.

I have ongoing conditions and when I know I am 'going off the boil', write in to my practice via their website and receive a telephone consultation without fail an hour or two later. A prescription is electronically whizzed through to my local chemist and I can collect it after half an hour. A fantastic resource and I am very grateful. Can my practice be one of the only ones who offer such a good 'service'? I doubt it.

There have always been poor GP surgeries and it is the job of the patient to move to another if need be but... with fewer and fewer doctors available, please don't assume matters will improve any time soon.

Yes, it must be frustrating if you are unwell and feel a GP should speak or see you. In these cases, please contact (write, email or ring (later in the day would be best!) your Practice Manager. They are the very best people to help you but please stop railing at people who cannot do any more.

Rail against the Government, squeezing the NHS left and right - if you don't want a privatised NHS, back our GPs now, write to your MP and above all, stop whacking these hardworking individuals over the metaphorical head.

Waited 45 mins to speak to someone. Doctor will ring you in three weeks…..spoke to doctor three weeks later and got painkillers. Ring back after a month in case we need to change the painkillers. Same thing…..one hour on the phone and doctor will ring you in three weeks.
I have actually flown to Greece in this time and seen a doctor here immediately. My husband had a prostate problem and has seen a doctor three times in a week, had blood tests and an ultrasound carried out, all within a week. Last year he was able to get an MRI scan on the same day the doctor sent him to the hospital. I know we have paid privately but only €150 for MRI and €30 for Ultrasound. A shot of cortisone is six euros from the pharmacy. Why oh why is everything so expensive and slow in the UK? Greece puts our medical system to shame.

We fully intend to have any further medical problems seen to whilst we are in Greece but what is happening to people unable to do this?

I cannot understand why the doctors surgeries are not back to normal by now as the majority of things are.

I live on my own, increasingly deaf, so can't use the phone, docs surgery also Fort Knox. Masks prevent lip reading, I bought an iPad, collected on the day before lockdown, managed to freeze the darn thing.
My ancient kindle is struggling, as my grandson iPad expert, was inaccessible, due to Covid. Just sharing...?

Many businesses and medical practices now give you a choice: if there is a long wait to get through to someone, you can leave your phone number and they will call you back. That way, you can at least hang up and get on with your life. I was skeptical at first, but they really do call back, usually in a relatively short time.

I was always thought you had to ring the surgery at 8 am but when I did so I found I was 45th in the queue (after listening to all the recorded messages). After an hour I was able to speak to a receptionist who snootily told me that the 8 am calls were for emergencies only. Next time I rang after 11 am and was in a much shorter queue, and I told a GP would ring me back. When he rang me back I told him I had injured my ankle he told me to send a photo of it! He said "that's how we're doing it now". How on earth could he diagnose what was wrong without feeling it and looking at it. He said it could be tendonitis, but it hasn't healed. Waste of time.

I had to wait in phone queue as usual and eventually spoke to receptionist. Explained my problem [blood in my wee, actually looked like a good merlot], consultation over phone with the doctor who then asked me to come down to the surgery. Following an examination, she sent me for blood tests, all on same day. Within about 2 weeks I'd had a cystoscopy, closely followed by a kidney scan. The cystoscopy revealed a tumour in my bladder. About 2 weeks later had a small op to remove the tumour. Thankfully this was not the cancer that we expected. Had a catheter for two weeks but was able to call on the Urology nurse for couple of problems. I know that the NHS has huge challenges and I can only imagine the anxieties experienced by not being able to speak to a doctor. The treatment I had through our surgery, then local hospital has been brilliant. All staff were so caring, from the lady bringing round the coffees and teas up to the consultant. This is the experience everyone should be having. If our local surgery can provide this, why can't others?

I was a GP receptionist for years, we had appt lists for the day as long as your arm. The older, long standing GPs would say if a patient needs to be seen they need to be seen, add to the end of the list. They did house calls for vulnerable patients and on call nights and weekends. Unfortunately the ethos changed as time went on and the long standing GPs retired.

How come there were enough doctors for appointments before COVID?

Its rediculous now, how come there is no mention of returning to normal at the drs.

Here we have email consultations with the aid of a photo, and its always been followed up by telephone call with GP or practice nurse who have prescribed and things generally sorted.

But this doesn't work for so many. I found this in the BMA Medical Ethics Today its practice and philosophy book (admittedly it is the 1998 issue) -

"Compassion is a long accepted facet of medical practice, counter-balancing the power accorded to doctors in their relationship with vulnerable patients. Doctors are expected to put patients' interests before their own. In the past, doctors often damaged their own health by treating plague victims and other infectious patients. In modern times also, the BMA has emphasised that doctors cannot refuse to treat patients simply for fear of risk to themselves".

By now there is enough space surely in every surgery to see patients at a specific time.

I was called in to see the practice nurse last week after an email consultation and half an hour wearing a mask while she called up doctor to look at my leg, really did send my BP up. It's very hard I find being there for 30 mins with mask on.

I’ll say it again loudly

THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH GPs

That’s why it’s difficult to get through.

I was told that doctors are paid annually so much per patient regardless of whether they see them or not. My DH has not had to go much over the years, but they still get payment. Now he needs to see a doctor and cannot get an appointment. Something is very wrong with the system.

My DDs have both had to resort to private gps recently. One had shingles and spent all morning trying to get through to the GP. She was seen by a private GP in the afternoon and given a prescription. Fortunately she was able to pay. The one one needed a GP to look at her daughter’s ankle which is very painful after a fall. No phone appointment available for 2 weeks. She also went to a private GP who said that a scan is urgently needed. Both DDs are feeling guilty about this as others are unable to pay but their is needs are urgent.