My GP has told me that 80% of their appointments don't need a GP appointment.

See the follow up comment I made just before yours.
I am not expecting them to be medically trained.

People go to their GPs because they don't know where else to go. Our local NHS trust is working really hard to address this - trying to work with the voluntary sector to get help to people before things escalate, trying to get the message out to people about where else to look for support. It's not easy to get the message out to people but they are doing their best.

💯

It astounds me how they dare to complain about how busy they are. Makes it hard to take them seriously.

That is bizarre. I mean I wouldn't go to the doctor's unless I was in absolute agony and I knew they could prescribe something to ease the pain or I needed a specialist referral.

It seems peculiar to me that people would choose to go there if they don't need to. I guess colds that the patient wants antibiotics for might be a big one. But I'm struggling to imagine why it's so high.

There IS a gender pain gap. Women are expected to be in pain because of periods. Symptoms and pain are dismissed.

Receptionists are not medically trained

To follow up my previous comment about the receptionists doing "triage" what I meant was just sorting patients to the correct medical person where possible.
So childhood vaccines, adult blood pressure check, ear syringing etc = make an appointment with the nurse.
Blood in your poo or lumps where there shouldn't be = make an appointment with the doctor.
I didn't mean any medical advice but just send you to the correct person.

Unless, as in my case, I'd spent 5 months begging for help from my GP, and I only went to A&E when I genuinely thought I was dying.

I was right to think there was something badly wrong. The GP was incorrect.

Having said that, I'd happily have paid £50 by that point, they could have had my house, I was so desperate for help.

But can you not see that if every person who has a tummy bug or ate something that didn't agree with them is referred to a GP, to conduct all the tests that can be done in the surgery, and if they are also negative on to the hospital for scans and more invasive tests, it would be absolute chaos?

Most of the time if you have abdo pain and diarrhoea you need a day off work, a warm bath and some flat coke (or if you're feeling fancy rehydration tablets.)

Black spots in vision can be serious. I've just had PVD. TBF I went to the optician rather than GP. I waited because I didn't feel it was serious.

I know a young person whose symptoms were dismissed as "health anxiety" and it was suggested that they went on a wating list for counselling They had cancer, it killed them

This response nails it. "Shouldn't be here" is meaningless without further context.

"Shouldn't be here" because thr patient booked a GP appt because they had the sniffles for one day (which to be fair means bad triage process and the surgery needs to fix it), or "shouldn't be here" after they had a reasonable worry and then a medical professional examined them and reassured them no further action?

Statistically it's highly unlikely that this 80% is entirely made up from the first category as above.

I used to have to have an appointment every 6 months to get HRT. I now submit my own blood pressure readings, order my prescription on an app and the pharmacy contact me when it’s ready to be collected. I recently wanted some blood tests, submitted an econsult, got a reply saying a form would be ready to collect. Booked my blood test appointment at my chosen date, time and venue and 2 days later all the results were on the nhs app. All without seeing a doctor and a brilliant service. Not everything these days needs a face to face doctors appointment but it will take time for some people to feel comfortable with that.

It’s scary how many people’s stories I’ve heard who are the exact same.
when I saw the private doctor he was bewildered that I hadn’t been referred but I think a huge thing was just he couldn’t see my notes so no “anxiety” prejudice. Instead he just looked at the symptoms in front of him.

I am so glad you are recovering well, we both went private, I often think about how long (if ever) it would have took the gp to stop saying anxiety and actually do something.

The GP who continually fobbed off my dad with paracetamol for his stomach pain has similar views. It turned out my dad had pancreatic cancer and by the time his GP did anything, it was too late.

Til then, my dad been excellent health and hardly ever went to the GP.

I still have to see that smarmy GP's face. He's 80+ now and refuses to retire.

£50 to be paid at A+E if you haven't been referred by primary care.

If you got rid of all the appointments for viral infections, which should only warrant a visit if symptoms are getting worse after 1 week or no better after 3 weeks, and that includes children, that will be a good percentage off.

Same with sprains, muscle or joint pains, back pain.

Add mild stress and anxiety, black spots in vision, eye twitching, spots, bites, low fever etc....that are not worrisome unless these go on for weeks, that's another good percentage off the books.

I do find that parents seem to be quite dramatic quickly. A temperature of 39 and they are very worried, when it's not in itself. Saying g that I totally agree that this behaviour is encouraged by social media and website, and 111 are also alarmist as they are so scared, understandably, that a dismissal could turn into something serious, however unlikely it is.

Starting with people accepting that antibiotics should NOT be prescribed for a simple viral infection would be a very good start to reducing wastage.

wow I’m shocked. I mean there are never appointments. I’ve been trying to get one for 10 weeks! And to hear 80% are not needed? Then why isn’t there a better process?
there will always be a percentage cos people don’t always know when it’s necessary, but 80% is ludicrous

That would just mean that people who can afford the tenner would be at the doctor’s twice a week and people who can’t afford it would be seriously ill before they saw a doctor.

Mine was a waste, was told I shouldn’t be at the GP surgery but in A&E already and he phoned an ambulance 😬

No one expects that 🤷

Not been to the doctor for 7 years, would not even know how to go about getting an appointment these days. Dreading the day that I might need to see a GP as I hear how tough it is to even get through to the health centre by phone or online let alone to actually be spoken to or seen

Same here
my cancer was not anxiety
or menopause
or just because I needed to lose some weight
it would have helped if the first 5 appointment with my GP hadn’t each been with a different person and telephone only

I paid to go privately
Cancer found and removed and am slowly recovering

I wonder how they've got this data tbh. There's plenty of stories out there of cancer being missed by GPs, genuine health issues misdiagnosed as anxiety etc. Do they count as unnecessary appointments?

In that case they would give you a doctor appointment.