One appointment, one issue

29 things 😮 That’s really quite impressive.

I can’t even imagine how many people come in with lots of unrelated complaints (to make GPs so jumpy). I have ADHD and write down what I want to say as it saves time - sometimes my mind goes blank - and I’ve been told off for that as well.

I really do wonder about the general public!

We have paramedics at the surgery where I work but they’re for acute problems like ear infections and uti’s - it works great for that and eases the doctors workload bit it sounds like you need a gp for this! I’d go anyway if it’s all they are offering and the paramedic should refer you to a gp

I k is it’s so annoying as they could all be linked. Book a double appointment next time

I totally agree about not joining the dots and some symptoms being related. I saw the GP several times with "anxiety" which was being caused by peri-menopause and they didn't even look on my notes to spot I'd had a hysterectomy 3 years previously. Or that I had attended with repeated UTIs for the same reason.

People are trying to squeeze multiple issues into one appointment because you simply cannot book multiple appointments. Getting a routine appointment means hanging on the phone for 30 minutes while you listen to "you are.... number 26... in the call queue" and then you might if you're lucky get an appointment for 2 weeks time. My GP does no online anything, no email, no video calls, no e-consult.

The whole GP system is falling to bits. We have recently had a private GP open near us, a 30 minute appointment is £95 and they cna usually see you the same day. It is a very popular service.

if I have a issue I do a load of research and look what I think it might be and if it is what tests/ referrals I need. I then go to the doctors and tell them. Sometimes they agree but I have also been fobbed off. But I never go looking for them to advise anymore.

The trouble is they look really cross if you “help them out” with a diagnosis gleaned from Dr Google.

I guess GPs are swamped with the worried well, but it does mean they are inclined to fob off the genuine cases. I was told I had indigestion, and then indigestion again (ozemaprole) until I was 7 stone and ended up with a ruptured gallbladder. I suppose that 99 out of 100 people do just have indigestion, and they can’t assume everyone is really ill.

Yes, that's how they've done it in the past, but it doesn't seem to be so this year (unless it was because I ignored the text telling me to book when it first came in.)
I am back tomorrow to talk blood test results, so I will ask if they can do it then as well, which will then free up an appointment for someone else, if they agree.

I think the poster was saying the opposite, not sure how you read it as that? She was surely saying that she wants as much information as possible - so much so that she was willing to listen to 29 symptoms in one appointment...

You’re absolutely right.

I had constipation and then a lumo
formed in my abdomen.

They wouldn’t treat them as seperate and kept saying IBS and faceal impaction.

ignored other symptoms.

Grudgingly eventually sent me for an ultrasound still stating feacal impaction suspected.

Found a huge 8cm complex cyst probably on my ovary which couldn’t be seen due to the mass and within 13 days I’ve just an MRI under the cancer pathway.

If they’d listened to me months ago instead of constantly saying buy laxative OTC it may have been caught earlier.

The only bright side is the cyst has a much higher chance of being benign - but we have a family history of ovarian linked or ovarian cancers.

Did he actually say you were "shit" at breathing?!!!

Its a massive issue, dangerous, inefficient, costly and harmful

Its part of how backward the NHS is and how disjointed and disconnected health care is in this country.

I don't think the policy is deeply harmful or even slightly harmful, unless you happen to see an incompetent muppet instead of someone who knows what they are doing. You were unlucky and clearly saw an incompetent muppet. I have no medical training and a fair idea that all the symptoms you mentioned could be linked, the fact that your supposed medical practitioner didn't is a problem with her woeful lack of knowledge she needs for her job.

The policy is to stop you bringing your ingrowing toe nail into today's appointment, which is fair enough.

Ive seen the dr 3 times in 3 weeks because i can only talk about 1 thing at a time. I even said surely a 3rd app is a waste of your time too and she said yes but im running way behind (and it was only 9.15am) and so you need to come back. What's worse is i wss being referred to the hospital for a skin issue and I wanted to talk about another skin issue, so they could very well be related. I also have a chronic condition and my body react different, so really, I do need to talk about "unrelated" issues because they need to know the whole picture to diagnose properly.

One appointment one issue is the reason that early diagnosis and treatment of cancers is so bad in the UK. My DH had a cluster of symptoms and I was reasonably sure that they were indicative of something serious. When we saw the GP she was only interested in the main one - shoulder pain, dismissed the rest and said they weren’t connected so he would have to make another appointment. She diagnosed him with a trapped nerve in his shoulder - he’d been suffering with worsening pain over a period of about five months and had seen the same GP at the practice throughout this time - fobbed off with painkillers and anti inflammatories.

This time she reluctantly referred him for physio. He never got there - before they could make him an appointment he fell and broke his femur. Apparently this is the strongest bone in the body and the ease with which he broke it prompted a full investigation when he got to hospital. He had lung cancer which had spread to his bones and the shoulder pain was apparently a common symptom when paired with the other symptoms which we tried to report and which the GP dismissed - I believe in favour of the easiest diagnosis to get us out of the surgery.

He never recovered - they couldn’t even treat the cancer because while in hospital he developed pneumonia secondary to it and had to be placed on a ventilator. He died a week later. They may not have been able to change the progression of the disease but at least we would have known about it earlier and would have had the opportunity to say our proper goodbyes. Instead of which I watched him slip away in front of me, unable to communicate. I will never trust another GP as long as I live.

When you try to book a double appointment you get the Spanish Inquisition anyway, why do you need it whats the symptoms, who has told you to book a double appointment, questions questions questions

I’m ever so grateful for private medical care, it’s a necessity now it seems. Went to the Gp the other day and I think I spoke about 7 different issues, went away with a few referrals too. It’s an absolute joke, 1 appointment per issue

I have found taking my own notes (that I am happy to hand over) saves them time and they are more open to discussing the crossover due to having some of the ‘legwork’ in front of them.
I understand not all GP’s view this as helpful but mine finds it particularly useful and my appointments are much more efficient.
Hope you get sorted soon OP

In an ideal world, I would agree that longer appointments would be a good idea. However, the current mismatch between demand and resource is such that it would simply create a new set of problems, because if a GP had 30 minute or 45 minute appointments- or however long is decided upon- they will inevitably be able to see fewer patients in a day.

So even if it did result in fewer repeat consultations (which I agree it probably would), that reduction would need to be very substantial to prevent the almost inevitable consequence of longer GP appointments leading to even longer wait time to see a GP (which would be viewed as unacceptable). I have grave doubts that the reduction in repeat appointments would equate to the number if appointments lost due to lengthening appointment times.

I don’t disagree with the principle, the practicality under the current resourcing model seems likely to cause other issues. the resource- financial and staffing- is highly unlikely to change in the near future.

Ridiculous. I have chronic complex issues and only see one gp as he knows and understands and remembers which is very efficient.However you have to book ahead. If something urgent comes up you get a gp in training, which can be ok , but they seem to follow a script. I have no objection to a nurse giving me antibiotics and have seen a pharmacist for a med review. I would only let an actual doctor diagnose me. I dread my lovely gp retiring as I know many don’t have this luxury.

The demand exists because of the 10 minute appointments - if the same system continues, the same problem will continue. Obviously, changing things would be difficult and require a big initial push, but the fact is that most people don't want to keep going back to the doctor over and over - they want their issues dealt with and once that's done, the demand will go down.