Have I been a twat or should the GP surgery have given me an appointment?

You have a minor injury and as such have been correctly advised to attend minor injuries. There is nothing to escalate OP.

I’m not a medical expert / have never broken my toe so wouldn’t know what the treatment is, if any. But it’s the GP practice that’s told them to go to minor injuries, not me.

having used minor injuries it was a dream. We were in and out very quickly. I've been loads as i have sports mad children! We did find that my daughter had broken her foot on one occasion. We were quite blase and told her to stop being dramatic!

Minor injuries only X-ray toes/fingers if they are not straight/aligned, her Gp (or other clinician at the surgery) could have looked at the toe & depending on its presentation either sent her to minor injuries for an X-ray or home with advice.

My GP surgery will not make appointments for anyone who might need an x-ray - we get directed to A&E. Even their online system filters out patients with possible broken bones.

GPs don't have xray vision. They don't tend to do anything for broken toes anyway, when I did mine I couldn't walk properly for weeks (I didnt bother having it looked at, but given I was in agony for a considerable amount of time I assume I did). If the swelling is already going down and you are driving just fine I wouldn't do anything personally. I couldn't drive when I did mine it was too painful (big toe), yours doesn't sound that bad from what you say.

The GP is right, MIU is the correct place to review this.
They cannot XRay and make a decision on possible fracture. It’s the correct way to use resources.

She doesn't. A swollen toe does not necessitate xray.

Use surgical or medical tape from a chemist. I have broken a big toe and that was treated the same way.

Stop spreading misinformation she needs an xray

I haven’t read all of the responses so sorry this has probably already been posted. However, I have broken many toes over the years and unless it is out of alignment they wouldn’t do anything. Treat with RICE, paracetamol and if necessary splint with tape to another toe.

I guess the question to ask yourself is what do you expect the GP to do.

If you’re after pain relief then maybe they can help but anything around whether it’s broken is completely beyond their remit.

Minor injuries doesn’t take as long as you might think. And if you go straight after school drop off, it will probably be on the quieter side so I suspect you will be seen and treated before school pick up.

The GP can’t do anything without an Xray so an appointment is pointless. It’s either broken - needs to be confirmed by xray - or it’s not and so there’s no treatment except ice and elevation.

You’re not being a twat OP, probably just super overwhelmed and worried.

It’s really for them to do a lot for a toe (unless it’s literally at an angle or dislocated). So if you go to minor injuries they might xray it but they’ll prob tell you it’s not worth x-raying - they could strap it for you to your other toe and then at least you know how to strap. Take care, it’s ok to be worried.

The whole system is broken but it's not ok to use the GP surgery as your emotional punch bag. If your issue would be better dealt with in ED or minor injuries then it's really not the GP's problem that you can't be arsed to do that. Tbh it's highly unlikely you're going to lose the toe or die either way so either strap it up or go to minor injuries or ED and accept that the GP doesn't have the capacity to help

Oh op as everyone else has said its a swollen big toe, it doesn't even matter if broken as treatment is the same, tape to the toe next to it.

Elevate your foot to reduce swelling, ice it and take painkillers.

I disagree that if you don't think it is broken then it probably isn't. I broke a toe, wrist and elbow and carried on as normal. Only went in once the swelling and bruising on my toe was rather alarming. They did indeed strap my toe to the next one. The broken one was the one next to the big one and was strapped to the middle one.

You need an x-ray - I know more than one person who ended up with a boot for a broken big toe. You can't just hope that it heals okay, your big toe is key to balance. If it was your little toe then meh, but it's not. Your GP can do nothing as they can't xray, so you need minor injuries. Sorry OP, but you are being unreasonable.

You are lucky to be referred to minor injuries, it's just a bruised toe!

So much misinformation on here. As I’ve said, if it’s your big toe you need to go get it x-rayed and depending on how bad the break is you may even need a boot. You may also need follow up in fracture clinic. I’m a nurse practitioner and worked in an and e and now gp. Your surgery advice was correct. If it had been longer than 2 weeks you might have needed to get an X-ray form from gp depending on area rules.

YABU

The GP cant say if its broken, just tell you to get it reviewed in case it needs an xray.

And if it does need taping for anything they don't have the equipment.

So you'd just be going. And they'd look at it and say.

It probably needs an xray.

Then you'd be in the same position you're in now except you'd used up an appointment.

You'd complain if you are told to go to minor Injuries without being seen.

You'd complain if the GP said it didn't need an xray and it was broken.

You'd complain if GP told you to go to the Minor injuries and they told you it doesn't need an xray and was just something bruising cos the GP had wasted your time.

The GP isn't an expert in injuries.

For them the complaint after attending minor Injuries if you didn't need to would be easier to respond to.

So they would tell you to go even if you don't need to. Just for that tiny percent chance that it may be broken. Because obviously the GP doesn't have xray eyes.

If it’s not bothering you enough to be worth a forty minute drive then it probably doesn’t need minor injuries tbh.

The GP surgery has limited appointments to give out so they were absolutely right not to waste one on a sore toe when minor injuries units exist specifically for this reason.

OP, for what it is worth, I stubbed my foot about 3 months ago. It was very painful and so swollen that I couldn’t narrow it down to which toe was hurting the most. I knew I had broken at least one of the little ones. I knew there was no point going to my GP. Without out an x ray, the GP would not be able to tell better than me which toe(s) was broken. After 2 weeks the swelling went down and went to the minor injuries unit and they said that now, unless the toe is sticking out at a funny angle, they only x ray big toes for fractures and wait for it to heal. They also said I could buddy strap my toes together but I didn’t want to. It is still painful when I dry in between my toes but so much better than it was.
GP appointments are like gold dust because they are short of GPs and a lot of people go for things they don’t need to, for example, a cold they have had for 3 days. People don’t want to wait for things to get better. Life for you isn’t a bed of roses at the moment, but really the GP cannot do anything about your toe and you would just be another person wasting time.

Even if the toe is broken there is nothing they can do. It will heal itself. A lot of minor injuries open late and on the weekend

I’ve broken several toes including a big toe twice. The first time I went to A&E and they didn’t even strap it to the next one. Obviously if it is sticking out at an angle or in any other way deformed I would go and get it xrayed.