To expect wet behind the ears Doctors today

Frustrating for you, certainly, but what're the effects on the poor patient?

I'm due to go in for a minor op shortly but the more I hear about inpatient care and staff problems the more inclined I am to cancel. Too scary!!

mollie my DH recently had minor surgery and the care he received was excellent. We all have different experiences at different times,I am just relating a good one.

Oh dear! My son's girlfriend (a wet behind the ears doctor) has just finished a rotation in GP practice and is looking forward now to the next few months of general medicine in the local university teaching hospital. Do hope she keeps her ears open for words of wisdom wherever they come from.
Can sympathise with the hard couple of years until retirement. As a teachet , I knew it was time to go when I had to admit I was putting a lot more into the job than I was getting out of it. For the sake of the children as well as myself, I retired 18 months early and, looking back am glad I did.

Ashmore; once the end is in sight you start to realise how many parts of the job are annoying [I'm afraid that when you actually retire you'll [if you're like me] find yourself fuming about things that you take on an chin now as a matter of course]. I always found it was the lady doctors that went over and beyond the call of duty; maybe it's their [sorry to do a sexual typecast thing] nurturing side coming out. I would have lay down and died for some of the doctors I worked for; others I totaly despised .

The time to avoid is August when the recent medical students become newly qualified doctors. It takes them a good few weeks or even months to get into the swing of things but with a good ward sister holding their hand they should muddle their way through it provided they do not become too cocky and arrogant. It is easier now because they do not work so long hours.

The majority of doctors I have met in GP practices and in hospitals have been ace! Occasionally there has been a harassed /overworked person who has been a bit 'short on bedside manner' , once there was a doctor who was just rude! Just like wider society really!

My DD2 is a new GP and I think she is fantastic.I make a point now of asking by name for the 'new' doctor at my surgery as I have much more faith in him than the tired, cynical has-been coming up for retirement!

Oh yes - avoid being in hospital at these changeover times. Some of them can't even take blood! And housemen/women have always relied on experienced ward sisters to get them through. They are the backbone of the NHS.

I went to A&E with a gallbladder infection at the August weekend when all new doctors arrive! It was fine but very obvious that the experience of routines, resources etc. was with the nurses... but everyone was polite and caring..if a bit lost!

I always like a new wet behind the ears GP. You can fix them with a steely glare and get what you want

Since DH has been ill we have several times had dealings with the out of hours doctors. In our area they all seem to be relatively old - presumably retired GPs making a bit of extra money. They have all been willing to spend as long as we needed talking and all had endless experience to draw on when deciding what to do about him. At 2 am it's very reassuring to have someone say "I've seen many cases like this, what you need to do is ....."

I haven't had cause to use the out-of-hours service here, but a consortium of local GPs put in - and won - a bid for the contract. This means that we aren't at risk of imported doctors from goodness knows where, who can't understand English!

"I always like a new wet behind the ears GP. You can fix them with a steely glare and get what you want"

Not all of us can, Stansgran! You must be terrifying...

Charleygirl, my BF used to advise never going into hospital at the beginning of August if you could help it for that reason!

GP's [I think] work at out of hours places and make extra money for doing so. They started doing it when they were no longer made to do night calls.

I always thought it was August when the Registrars/housemen etc started their new contracts. Obviously not.
I am sorry but remarks like "wet behind the ears" doctors are totally unfair to the talented young men and women who have worked so hard and had to show such determination to get to where they are today. Once we start seriously expressing sentiments like that I think it is a sign that one is ready to bow out and leave the field for the up and coming new talent. They are not "wet behind the ears" - in many cases they will be the surgeons, specialists and consultants of the very near future and deserve some respect as well as any guidance you may feel qualified and able to offer.
Anyone feeling so jaundiced about the current situation, I wonder if you should not be making more immediate plans for retirement yourself.

Doctors attitude is very important. Inexperience is probably less worrying if a new Doctor does not assume they " they know it all", and when in doubt is prepared to ask advice from a more experienced colleague.

The surgery I go to has 5 GPs, all have been there a long time.
The longest serving woman, my named GP, is burnt out and useless.
I will only see her only if I know exactly what I want or need. I would not trust her with anything complicated.

There is another Female GP I have only seen about once.

One really useless male and two good male GPS. The one I go to is a 50 something Egyptian GP. (aka "ET"" from his surname). DR El T***

He is very thorough and keeps working through all possibilities to get a problem solved. He is also very kind and goes out of his way to assist when he can.

I dragged OH off to see "ET" when OH's useless male GP failed to get anything sorted over several months.

"ET" did not stop trying to find out the problem and eventually made a referral for a brain scan and discovered a benign brain tumour that had not given OH any obvious signs (apart from sleeping all the time.)

We really do need two newer and more enthusiastic GPs.

It was a new GP - a young woman - who diagnosed my symptoms that her older colleagues appeared to have been struggling with with the results that I'm now so very much better! The problem is she's gone off on maternity leave!!!!!

It's the wet behind the ears doctors who have a God complex I have the trouble with. Running before they can walk and won't listen to an experienced voice. Of the 12 on our last rotation we had more 'Demi-gods' than we have had for a while. The ones who were hard working taking up their slack. It's when I have to go above their heads to keep a patient safe it becomes a problem. It normally happens so infrequently, however in the last 3 months the same doctors names have come up in our 3 department unit, so it is not just me. The Unit Director has had words but seems they fell on deaf ears. As witnessed in the run up to Wednesday. Let's hope it was all because they just don't like orthopaedics! We can just do without Drs like them if this is going to be their normal behaviour. As for retiring, if it was not going to throw my retirement pension away I would retire tomorrow. Sad thing is out of over 100 staff I a the only nurse with an official Orthopaedic qualification earned from a Specialist Orthopaedic Hospital, of which there are very few left. Any time something out of the ordinary comes in they normally come to me.....
I have known 6 out of our 15 Consultants as House officers and SHO's over my 37 years. We have 2 Prima donnas, 3 fantastic all rounders and a lazy git. My opinion of them as HO's and SHO's was spot on.

The young registrar who kept telling me that the pain in my foot was "just where the plaster had been" in spite of my insisting that I could not weight-bear made me so mad. There was another unhealed fracture that he missed - all he had to do was LISTEN!

Surely you wouldn't 'throw away your pension' by retiring earlier. Admittedly, I lost a chunk of mine and was quite stretched until DWP pension kicked in at 60. However for my own sake and that of the pupils I believe it was a sacrifice worth making. I know things have changed in the last few years and you might have a longer wait for state pension but you sound so unhappy, couldn't you look at the sums again?

@Aka
@Ashmore do please tell us a bit more about yourself so we can suss out the hospital for ourselves. You sound thoroughly miserable in your job.

Sorry I mean Ana

New gps frequently pick up things like under active thyroids as the symptoms come on so slowly that neither patient or Dr are aware.