To have been patronising to the Doctor?

I am a GP. You did exactly the right thing. People like him give us a bad name. That was a completely ineffective consultation and he needs to (probs wont) do some serious reflecting on why that conversation went so wrong.

Good on you, I've worked in a GP practice and Ive heard from some patients that certain GPs can be patronising and not listen.

Nah yanbu he was patronising towards you, you simply gave him a taste of his own medicine. Ultimately he should have asked you questions and he should have reviewed your medical history it's part of his job.

This is very true. I have had problems with my ears all my life, including major operations. My main gp would always say that it needed the specialist to sort it out but would prescribe antibiotics in the meantime. When I saw a different doctor because l had yet another ear infection, she was very patronising when I said that I was concerned that the lump behind my ear might be because of a mastoid infection, even though I have had the problem with my other ear. She reluctantly prescribed ear drops and took a swab. She then rang me a week later to say that the swab had shown a particular infection and sent me a new prescription. Thankfully, it wasn’t the mastoid bone at fault but this particular doctor temporarily forgot that gp is short for General Practitioner and that, while they know a lot about a wide range of diseases and conditions, they cannot know and should not be expected to know the finer details of each one. We have specialists for this. However, patients tend not to know much about general diseases but can be well-versed in their own conditions and this can help their doctor in turn. Finally, l think the worst non-thinking l have seen in the medical profession was an ENT consultant who, when I went in was talking to his computer, which was placed at a right angle to the patients. I then had to politely ask him to face me as I am hard of hearing. Surely, it should have been second nature in this particular specialism to face the patients as many of them will be deaf.

Going against the grain here, but in Mumsnet-speak you were "drip feeding" - leaving the most crucial and deciding bits of information until the last.
So I voted YABU - your first sentence to that probably overworked doctor should have been "I am a kidney transplant patient and I am concerned that I appear to have a UTI".
Why must you make his job harder for him and waste his time with what sounds like several minutes of discussion before you reveal the most important fact?

Hi OP, hope you are feeling better.
I think you've had a rough time on the replies here.
Surely a GP's job is to LISTEN to a patient and make a decision? Not all patients are as clued up as you, some may not use English as their first language or be elderly or have a number of symptoms which they may not know are or aren't relevant.
I wouldn't complain personally as I think he probably realised that he was wrong but I'd ask not to see him again.
Oh and I work frontlne NHS so I know all about time restraints and appointment and breaches!

Definitely not unreasonable. I despair of GPs at the moment, too many instances if my nearest and dearest being failed by them, happening again and again. I feel very proud of you for speaking up to him.

I wish I had your balls! I went to our GP with tingling and pain in one arm. Suspected a trapped nerve (it’s happened before) GP was more interested in banging on about my weight. Giving me diet advice! I left with no answers about my arm but knew all about a keto diet!

My sister has a kidney transplant. She has a direct number to the transplant centre to call if she suspects she may have an UTI, or indeed any sign of infection.
I’m amazed you have to go via your GP.

Good for you!

I don’t think you did anything wrong at your GP appointment and gave a good summary in the reason for the appointment. I know how much pressure GP’s are under but his approach was completely unacceptable. At the very least he should have read your notes in the consult request. Although not a GP I spent all my working life as an NHS clinician and his behaviour should not be defended in any way , glad to see you are receiving the correct treatment in hospital. My own GP got things wrong at times but would always acknowledge and apologise when he had

Sorry this happened to you. I find being female to be a huge disadvantage to start with when it comes to doctors. If standing your ground and being patronising gets you the treatment you deserve and need then don’t feel guilty about it. My doctors must hate me. I go to every appointment ready for battle because of years of being fobbed off and disregarded. Good for you xx

If you have a transplanted kidney I would expect it to be highlighted on your notes so that doctors like the one you saw couldn't avoid seeing it.

Get well soon OP ❤️

I’d never encourage or congratulate someone for being rude to someone for doing their job.

but @LiveTellyPhrase , as someone who has repeatedly been ignored and not listened to. Well. Fucking. Done. That was a glorious response!!! I hope he’s learnt his lesson.

For those focused on giving instructions to the patient/client about how they should present their symptoms/issue rather than the doctor/lawyer about taking a case history, I would remind you that it is not the patient / client who can be sued for professional negligence.

Judging by spluttering of this particular GP, the same thought seems (belatedly) to have occurred to him.

Doctors are specifically trained and tested on taking effective case histories just as lawyers are trained in client and witness interviewing. Because it is part of their job and responsibility to extract the pertinent information.

I think you handled it well. You’ve been through a lot. GPs are very pushed for time, he probably thought he’d just got another UTI to deal with. I mean, perhaps you should predicate any future appointments with that big piece of information first but you assumed he knew. I wouldn’t worry! I hope you’re better soon!

Omg! Insult to injury....

OP hope you feel better soon. Your note to GP was brief and to the point. It’s so frustrating when GPs behave like this. I saw this recently:

“Reddit is so horrifying bc you can go to a sub for people with health problems and see tons of people desperate for help, strategizing on how to be taken seriously, and then you go to a doctor sub and it's full of professionals talking about hysterical women and blue hair.”

Not unreasonable at all. I have had similar issues with a rare condition that the average GP doesn’t think of, and have had similar conversations.

Just be careful that he hasn’t somehow flagged you as a difficult patient. My last practice was impossible to get an appointment at and the doctors treated me oddly. I got my notes when I left and saw that a couple of years earlier I’d been flagged by the especially idiotic doctor who was irritated by her own failure to let me speak as a ‘difficult consult’. I hadn’t even known that such a category existed.

People who easily get appointments are generally suffering from a known lifelong condition which means they get very ill very quickly if not seen straight away.
In the long run it's very much cheaper for the NHS to see someone like @LiveTellyPhrase immediately and treat them promptly than to make them wait thus causing an expensive admission to hospital.

It doesn’t seem to make US doctors any better at listening to patients, and money is changing hands directly there. Which adds insult to injury 🤷‍♀️

I've got a few health conditions including bronchiectasis and I'm on immune suppressing drugs. So I'm a frequent flyer at the GP in spite of bending over backwards to avoid going.
They will see me the same day, I know what to say. I don't expect every GP to have read my notes but it winds me up immensely that they haven't even read the triage form that was completed and hour ago and gives the reason why I need to be seen urgently.

I do this when I'm writing a lot - waffle the background and finally get to the point. I have had to train myself to bring my 'summary' up front and make it the intro. It's good to have this pointed out - start off with the big stuff and if he/she needs to know, explain details later.
This is so obvious but clever. I am totally guilty of rambling in order to not miss anything and will make a point of doing it this way.

Another thing to mention is when in A&E and as you progress through the system you are asked for the history by every man and his dog who comes along. Don't be tempted to abridge on the grounds that you've already given your story. Don't assume the last person wrote it down or the current person read it.

Something else occurs to me @LiveTellyPhrase . Are you certain it was a doctor you saw? Just because the most arrogant "HCP" I ever saw turned out to be a PA.