Gp surgery useless - is it bad where you live?

[Elsa2000]

I recently had a medical issue crop up. I’m lucky enough to have bupa so I went to a private virtual GP. They suggested I needed a stool test. They said my own GP will take care of that. They are virtual so can’t do tests.

I rang my GP and they wouldn’t help. I emailed over the screenshots from my BUPA GP app but they insist it must be a consultants letter before they give me the test.

Finally I get a message saying “call us” I called at 4:45pm one day and I was 20th in queue so I gave up.

I go to the GP surgery today. Queue out the door and one person on reception. Takes 20 minutes to even get to front of queue. Pharmacy shut due to lack of staff. I note that the name board of GPs has barely any names on it.

they still won’t help me. I try to book an appointment to discuss. They say their next appointment is mid august.

I must now call at 8am on Monday until I’m lucky to get a VIRTUAL appointment.

this is insanity. I asked if they had a staffing issue and the Receptionist admitted they can’t get people to work there.

this surgery is the biggest in town and serves most of the large town.

we are in trouble aren’t we? It shouldn’t take this much effort to poo in a tube. So many inefficiencies.

I also picked up a blood test form at same time. Nowhere does blood tests apart from the small hospital. I had 30 people in front of me. It shuts at 3pm. Why aren’t blood tests automated? Why do I need to get a bit of paper from my gp to then take to hospital.

why are there no doctors? Why do they all knock off early or work part time? Why is the service so bad? I live in the south east.

This sounds terrible. I think it’s dependent on surgery, I’ve heard bad stories about one near where I live too but ours have been pretty good. Still mostly telephone appointments but I don’t mind that personally because an appointment isn’t always necessary.

What's the use of a private GP, who probably got paid more for that one consultation than your NHS GP gets paid per patient for the entire year, if they can't even order a test? Sounds like private was a rip off.

They've probably had a gutsful of demanding entitled people and have decided they don't want to deal with them anymore so have left General Practice.

Yes very hard ( impossible ) to get an appointment.
I get on going ear infections , at the height of covid / lockdown I could get antibiotic ear treatment by leaving a message on the prescription line.
Now you have to phone , and like you if you manage to get a line ( 20 engaged tones is not unusual ) you find yourself at caller 19 and 40 minutes on hold to find all appointments gone and try tomorrow .

I work in general practice. They work 'part time' as they are perfectly entitled like many other professions because 'part time' can still be more than 37.5 hours a week and in that environment with that responsibility that's enough for anyone.
We've lost three senior staff with over 100 years experience between them in the last two months. And four of the six practice nurses due to retire within the next five years.
Clinics are rammed with face to face appointments. Have been all the way through. Demand is sky high but we still had over 170 people not attending pre booked appointments last month.

YABU.

I can book a blood test or a stool test at our local hospital but unless my gp or an nhs hospital doctor has requested it, they won't provide a test during the booked slot. They won't do tests without a valid request.

Our local G surgery is great. They do quite a lot over the phone or via video call, but since being diagnosed with BC last year, I have had a courtesy call from a GP to check if I needed any support, they have checked a mole for my ds at my request, they have provided me with repeat prescriptions when I ask, and they provided a reference letter for a firearms licence at half the cost of last time.

It's the only thing I've paid for this year that has actually gone down ! 🤗

Did you read ANY of the OP's post!?

I’m in the south east, not at all like that here. I’m sorry your system is so shit!!

Our MP is Jeremy hunt and GP surgery one of the best in the county (country?) so I’m sure those things certainly go some way. Very lucky. We have options - online request form and doc can decide whether you need seeing or if you can pop in to drop of x y z; video call appts; phone appts; in person appts about 3-4 weeks away. They will always see kids on the day if you do the online form. No chance really if you ring up on the day.

Do they make you aware before hand with private app's that they can't carry out these things? Genuine question.

My GPS has been great tbh, we have econsult, always get a phone call or a reply the same day and booked in within a couple of days if needed.

I’m moving to a town in the midlands. All the GP surgeries for the entire are have been listed as requires improvement by cqc. Not holding out any hope of even getting registered. As for an appointment🤷‍♀️

Ours do their best but they are short of at least 3 GPs so they're a bit fucked really. It's generally doable to get a phone appt if you stay on hold to reception for a hour, but I've only managed to get face to face appts when it's young DC who need seeing.

The GP via Bupa said o had two options… go to my own GP for test or he could refer me to gastroenterologist.

I don’t want to waste time or take up an appointment when it’s literally just a test to see if I have h.pylori. That’s the next step as confirmed by an actual GP.

it could be gastritis, or gallstones… or it could be bad… and that Is scary. It’s so easy to fall through the cracks. In fact at the moment i would say it’s easier to fall through the cracks than get sorted

Exh had a medication review earlier this week over the phone. It was booked three months ago which was the earliest they could book. GP reviewed blood test results that were done at the same time. These were the blood test results that exh phoned to ask about multiple times and didn't get a reply and then eventually got barked at by the receptionist that if there was an issue the GP would have contacted him. They were reviewed but nobody bothered to contact him to tell him his liver results were really worrying and he needed an urgent referral to the hospital. (He has an underlying blood disorder and has been taking chemotherapy tablets daily for fifteen years) GP said he'd make the referral now but he should contact the surgery if he hasn't heard within a fortnight

I can't get an appointment at my GP. Last time I had an issue I ended up going to the walk-in centre a hour away as I had no other options.

Why couldn’t the Bupa consultant do the stool sample and get it analysed? Sounds like they weren’t doing their job properly.

Was the Bupa app just a confirmation of the appointment, or a summary of the consultation. If just an appointment, then it proves nothing, apart from you had an appointment. Could have been for anything.

I actually don’t think,the surgery has done anything wrong. The doctors want to have an appointment before establishing what tests and treatments need to be done. I’d say that was being responsible. Unless they have the consultants letter, they have no info as to was discussed at your appointment.

The practice I’m a patient at, and the practice I work in, are bloody marvellous frankly.

Both have seen patients throughout, including home visits to housebound patients, patients can book appointments by phone or online, great EConsult service and both are doing both telephone and face to face appointments.

I am constantly shocked reading the difficulties other people on MN face trying to get medical help. I also get pretty pissed off with our patients moaning at us when we are clearly offering a lot better service than other practices! Sorry OP, it’s pretty shit. Are any of the H pylori test kits on the market worth trying? Although presumably you would have the same issue with actually trying to get antibiotics.

If I was a GP, I might be a bit miffed if a pt phoned up and insisted on a test because a private GP had told them they should get it done. I would want to make my own assessment of the patient and determine if needed. They should have done the test themselves, or referred you on.

I’ve had the same appointment with my GP this morning and it seems for the same thing?

I rang the Gp this morning for an appointment as I’ve been having stomach pain. I was offers in person or phone but picked in person. 1 hour later I saw the GP and she wants to rule out gallstones and HPylori before treating for gastritis .

I came back 3 hours later with a stool sample and bloods were taken. blood results will be back on Monday and Hpylori a week.

If everything is okay on the samples then I have omeprazole waiting at the pharmacy to start for gastritis.

We had 2 choices of surgery when we moved here; the large modern one or the 2 surgery family one and we picked the smaller one. It seems to have worked well for us and although all the doctors are part time I’ve always gotten same day appointments even when it’s not urgent.

Have you spoken to a GP or just the receptionist? Receptionists can’t order tests, so that may be the problem.

The H pylori kits are £7-£10. I don’t know how good they are.

OP you can buy private blood tests to test for h.pylori At home. They aren’t expensive, about a tenner including from Amazon. Don’t have to send it off.

It sounds like every practice in this area.

Nowhere near enough staff (and therefore appointments available) to deal with the rising number of patients.

Our small city has seen vast numbers of new build properties spring up in the last 2 years - yet there are less GPs & general practice are struggling to recruit in admin & nursing roles too due to the pressure and constant abuse from patients.

It's rubbish for everyone.

Ha! blood tests. My gp shares its premises with another gp practice, and between them they had a blood test arrangement, two phlebotomists every morning, you saw the gp or practice nurses, got the form, went downstairs , had the blood test, or came back the next morning (if it was a fasting one) Easy peasy lemon squeezey , quick, efficient, reliable, accessible.

now you are texted a code, you sign on to a website, you find your local funding authority, you look there to see which places are doing blood tests, you click on their site, find a day and a time you can do and book the appointment. Fine if you have access to the internet and are computer literate,I am both and it still took me nearly half an hour because the website crashes, and is badly signposted. And the first appointment,( not sadly at my local gp which is a short walk away but at another surgery a long walk and a bus ride away, ) was for three weeks time. Tricky, inefficient, and for some inaccessible.

It's absolutely bloody shocking here. They don't allow anyone in the building without an appointment, so you can't queue up to get one. You can spend the best part of an hour ringing every morning from 8am onwards to no avail. When you do eventually get through, there are no appointments left at all. None. They tell you to ring again the next day.

Emails go unanswered. The online booking system doesn't work properly.

On the rare incredible occurrence that you do actually get an appointment... Well. I've been once in the last two years, and I was the only person in the large waiting room. There are around 20 consulting rooms in a massive health centre, and only one doctor on duty. Just one. No wonder nobody can actually get a face to face appointment.