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

You’re absolutely right. I’m so sorry to hear about your mum x

The worried well! I’m going to start using that term, it perfectly sums it up 😂

I can see the day coming when we'll have our own personal Chat GP (t) robot.

Who will be kind and courteous at all times. Will welcome you to the virtual surgery. Will ask for your history and your issue. Will look at photos of your lump, bump, rash, sore throat. Will look at the temperature you take at home, together with the blood pressure reading. Will look at you sitting, standing, at your face, eyes to see if you look pale or yellow. You will check your ears with a video enabled wand. Will listen to your heart/chest via your own equipment. You will instantly send a Kardia mobile type 12 lead ECG direct to the Chat GP. And so on.

All from the comfort of your own home.

Then Chat GP will refer you on to consultant, xray, MRI, U/S, blood test, scan whatever.

At the moment a lot is done remotely by GP anyway. Few reasons for the majority of ailments to be seen face to face anymore.

Any GPs/docs around to rubbish my predictions!

You don't have an app to do all this?

I've not called a receptionist in 5 years

This is not my experience. Our receptionists have a list of things the various types of practice nurses deal with. They will suggest it, which means you can be seen quicker, but if you prefer you can still see a doctor. You can also say you’d rather not tell the receptionist and that’s fine too.

I’d much rather a system where doctors aren’t tied up with things nurses can deal with, which may mean sometimes you need to have another appointment with a doctor, than one where GP appointments are even harder to get.

Not surprised. People don’t make enough use of pharmacists as a first step.

I was also told that out of a practice list of eg 5,000 the GPs would only see 5% of those patients - and mostly the same patients all the time.

I don't think the OP was talking about time wasters, more people who go to the doctor's honestly not realising their symptoms are trivial. Sometimes called 'the worried well', instead of taking a couple of paracetamol and feeling fine an hour later they go to the doctor. I don't know if people just no longer trust their own judgement or just automatically think I'll ask the doctor to be on the safe side, but it swamps a lot of appointments. Of course once in a long while a trivial symptom isn't trivial and those cases make headlines, reinforcing the I'll just go to the doctor. And any type of triage system to sort the more serious from the trivial meets resistance because people want to see The Doctor.

I agree. We get triage via an online form now and then the GP contacts you and gives you a face to face appointment if necessary. I think previously a lot of people wasted a lot of GP time.

I saw at least 20 different GPs over the course of about 15 years. All with the same issue. They all were dismissive. They all probably thought I was wasting their time.

Finally a switched on optician spotted the clue (which with hindsight should have been obvious to a well trained GP)- my droopy eyelid. I have Myasthenia Gravis.

So unless those GPs later go back and check all those "time wasting patients" notes to see what they missed, they may well be misplaced in their disdain for their patients.

How, though? We can’t all just self refer.

I had this too for my child. Phone Dr’s gave DC an appointment with specialist nurse who couldn’t find the issue and put DC on a waiting list for an operation that they didn’t need.

I paid for a consultation with a consultant paediatrician who identified the issue was fine and no treatment needed. A few months later DC did get a Dr appointment for something else but the DR had to check the first issue and could tell straight away it was a benign issue.

Point is the DR would have realised there was no problem whereas the specialist nurse didn’t know. Had I not been able to afford the £120 for the consultation we would have ended up waiting 6 months to see the NHS consultant about an operation that was never needed and within 2 minutes the consultant would have also found the non issue and be scratching their head how the issue wasn’t found by the GP surgery. Waste of everyone’s time and money!

I’d argue they’re not trained to triage effectively. They’re not medically trained and have no business triaging. Receptionists, in my experience, are the high-failure rate of being directed elsewhere or dismissed due to their own misunderstanding.

I had to see a PA for my asthma review last year. I didn't know this until I'd turned up. She wanted to change my medication slightly. Fine. Except when I got the prescription it was wrong and I was left with no reliever inhaler. If I'd seen a nurse they could have changed it there and then

I agree with this for ongoing diagnoses or treatments but not for initial concerns otherwise consultants would be overwhelmed with people who don't need to see them.

Well you can't have it all ways.

When you've got persistent symptoms and Google directs you to the NHS online information and everything you read means you fall into the category of "make a GP appointment" are you supposed to ignore them because it's "probably" nothing?

For 18 months my DM went back and forth to the GP, got put on the Fodmap diet, and her worsening symptoms meant she had to be a squeaky wheel. Actually she had ovarian cancer, which was stage 4 before it was diagnosed essentially by accident. She's dead now.

But because the GP was fixated on IBS, she would have been categorised in the 80% until, well, she wasn't actually.

Either GPs exist to monitor people's health, or they don't - which is it? And how many people will die because we're not supposed to "bother" doctors. I've often been reminded by doctors that I'm not a medical professional and they are, in lofty tones. Well, that's why I'm here mate. And if it's nothing, all well and good, if it's something perhaps we can nip it in the bud with thorough evaluation before it becomes life threatening and a drain on NHS funds.

Sorry but this kind of thing really puts my back up.

If there are a cadre of overly worried well wasting GPs time, then figure out why, because obviously they need some kind of help too. Vanishingly few people relish a visit to the doctor as a fun day out in my experience. I know plenty though who have had their symptoms dismissed or have avoided seeking help with really poor outcomes.

GPs waste peoples time too!
My 9 year old had a diabetic appointment made by the surgery, they cancelled the first one & then made a second. We got there & the nurse didnt have a clue why my son was there “we dont do diabetic appointments, im not even trained in diabetes.”
A GP later that week actioned for my sons bloods to be taken to test for celiac, I asked why and nobody could tell me why even the GP themselves!

When my father was alive, 20 years ago I used to collect 3 months worth of medication at a time. Now my husband is on lifetime meds it’s strictly only one month at a time even though he’s been on the same prescription for years and will be till he dies…It’s a pain, but I’m told it reduces drug waste! However my HRT comes in three months worth, so not sure why thats different!

I have had ds's special school day that I have to take him to the GPs when I know it is a waste of the GPs time. Ds is now in adult supported living and they frequently take him to the GPs when I know it isn't needed because protocol says they have to take him.

But of those 80% (if that truly is the figure) how many knew they didn’t actually need to see the doctor until they visited and were examined? Surely you see your GP because you’re concerned or advised to. If you need no further treatment, great. GPs are not supposed to be emergency only.

Are we really supposed to be our own GPs these days and know how serious (or not) our conditions are without medical advice?
Give me my own prescribing powers and I’ll gladly stay away from the shitshow that is British GP care these days.

When something is free, people treat it as if it has no value.

As other threads have noted the NHS is broken beyond repair and GPS are at the forefront of that. In my case they have complicated and drawn out the input of specialists because they have not correctly diagnosed issues. AI has a great contribution to make in the future helping triage appointments. I know that will be an unpopular view but it will be transformative and save lives.

Receptionists are not trained to give medical advice!

I used to get 3 months worth of the pill (I'm not on it anymore) But for every other medication other than inhalers, it's 28 days