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.

I thought I was doing the nhs a favour. The service is Babylon… it’s a virtual GP service. As part of BUPA.

I need to go back to step one. I’m amazed at how much inefficiency there is in NHS. This is just another example.

not long ago I called about a 3 year olds throat and persistent temperature. The GP literally had me put my iPhone near her mouth so he could “see” if throat was sore. It’s like they don’t want to see people in person anymore.

previous poster… I get people can work part time but actually if service is compromised that is not ok surely. I had my flexible working request denied. It isn’t just a right.

why are there not enough GPs here? Where did they all go?

I work at a GP surgery where currently 1/4 of staff have covid not to mention the start of holiday season meaning more staff are off.
Being 20 th in a line might mean a long wait but at certain times of day when there are multiple staff answering phones may not mean a long wait.
It sounds as if your surgery is struggling for medical staff. There really aren't any where near enough trained GPs. You might think that everyone is knocking off early and it is true that lots are part time but a half time GP has a very relentless, responsible naively as is stressful job for £40-45 , 000 and works about 38-40 hours a week. That might seem a lot and
I don't think any GPs would complain about remuneration but at the same time it is a difficult job made much more do fgg Fi ox up t by shortages of staff.

Most part time GPs are only working 'part time' because doing full time is impossible as they might be contracted (and paid) for 3 days but already working the equivalent of more than full time.

My GP surgery are really good. It's the first good GP surgery I've ever had and, tbh, it's one of the reasons we continue living here even though we don't love the area otherwise - good GP surgeries seem so hard to find these days.

Our other local practice seem pretty poorly managed/easy to fall through the cracks so not sure why ours seems to be doing better than them. They do offer phone appointments initially, which I don't mind as some issues don't need to be seen face to face, but when I've had a phone appointment and needed to be seen (I.e. for a breast lump) they've had me in and in front of a GP on the same day. I can't fault them, I know they're hugely busy and overworked, though, as with all surgeries.

The one where my parents are is terrible. My Dad had sepsis, for the second time, and they fobbed him off and told him to book a routine appointment until he ended up being blue lighted into hospital, where he spent 3 weeks recovering.

Hope you manage to get sorted soon, OP.

“Where are all the GPs?” Maybe some are working for private companies after feeling burnt out in the NHS by the relentless work and hours and hours of unpaid work.

I'm north east and actually have no problems with mine. Yes it can take a while to get through on the phone in a morning, I was trying for about half an hour the other week and couldn't get through. But then I did, and got DS an appointment for that afternoon. For myself, I've only ever had to wait a couple of days max for an appointment I think. I know I'm pretty lucky with that though

www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/pressures-in-general-practice-data-analysis According to this, in May 2022 there were 1737 fewer qualified GPs vs 2015. Remember those extra 6,000 GPs promised by the Tories? In fact I think it might have been Hunt who put that number forward. Bear that in mind when you see him pitching to be PM.

We always moan about our surgery but to be fair they were open over the whole of covid. You could go in and talk to receptionists and face to face appointments went ahead after triage. They organised the covid vaccination and flu vax really well. They've just been back doing normal appointments and have been doing so since after the second lockdown. So I can't complain about the service really. Plus the staff (apart from one doctor 😒 )are all so lovely and helpful.

There's nothing worse than someone paying to go private then coming in and demanding the prescription or blood tests or scans etc from the NHS that day/week. If your paying private you should see it through privately. A private consultant/ doctor should be able to do blood tests, stool samples the amount they are being paid.

This is my experience. My surgery we done-consult and get an appointment same day or next day. Prescriptions same day! And it's a massive surgery. The surgery I work in go above and beyond. Patients can use e-consult, email or ring for an appointment. Same with prescriptions if it's very urgent we message the GP to sign off then & there. We are allowed to add extra if we feel appropriate. I always wonder how some surgeries can be so bad and whose running them. I'd love to get in to them ones and change them completely.

Because some GPs have left cause of the massive workload to do virtual work and locum work for lots of money and better conditions and don’t manage issues themselves leaving the few of us left to take the abuse from patients and do numerous extra hours without pay and recognition to try and make surgeries run the best we can.

This evening I've booked an appointment with my gp. The first one available was next Weds, I had a choice of doctors and type of appointment additionally I know that if I called and said it's urgent they would speak to me. As it stands it's not urgent.

We are very very lucky, our surgery is great, we especially have great nurses. We are rural though so smaller population density.

I'm in the West Midlands and a lot of the gp practices in the suburb I live in were taken over by a private company in lockdown. Since then it's been awful. I've had very good service from the gp and the receptionist in the surgery is great but the phone lines are always at capacity and the 'care navigators' you get put through to are hit and miss. Some very helpful and others not so much. It must be very stressful for them though but the system just doesn't work. Usually you can only get appointments on the day and when you are 50th in the queue at 8am you don't stand a chance. Trying to book an appointment in advance you just get told the gp hasn't opened their appointment book yet.

It is not possible to book an appointment at my GP. I have not been able to see anybody for 2.5 years.

I think I might have something really wrong. I have a lump that won't go away and I'm very tired and losing weight. It's still not possible to see anybody. If you call 111 they just tell you to urgently see your GP and don't listen that the GP doesn't answer the phone. I call at 8am and I never get through. There isn't a health service any more.

@maravais I really think in your position you would be justified in walking in to A&E and explaining the situation. My surgery is operating, not normally, but you can see a doctor or nurse have blood tests etc. Exh's surgery still has the same answerphone message on saying they are extremely busy with covid and advising people to try and ring again in two weeks and it's been like that for weeks. There is outrage on the local nextdoor pages about it.

So your private GP service did literally fuck all to help you but it’s somehow the NHS that’s shit?

I think the way things are going, private and NHS need to work a bit better together. They aren’t on different teams. If a private appointment has taken the burden off NHS ever then isn’t that a good thing.

as I explained… Babylon (private) is a virtual service. There is nowhere physical I can go to poo in a pot! It’s a virtual service.

I’ve been ringing for a week now to try and see someone to get a private referral for an orthopaedic consultant (I am a physio, already know the diagnosis, just need things formalised for BUPA to pay out). Every time they just say that they are not taking non emergencies at the minute, but is that not the whole point of a GP? To deal with the mundane things?

DD also had recent spinal surgery and a subsequent infection which took them far too long to take seriously - consultant was fuming when he found out and couldn’t work out why the first step wasn’t to admit her, not faff about doing bloods for weeks on end

I have Bupa (international) and the virtual care is a recent add on to the main policy. Can you not get a face-to-face appointment with a GP and/or a referral to a gastro - or just call Bupa and get a preauthorisation and book your own gastro appointment? Otherwise what's the point of PHI?

When I read these stories I am just horrified and it seems to vary so much.
our surgery has been great. Its in our village but serves lots of the surrounding villages as well. Benn open all through covid. It's a dispensing surgery as well and next nearest pharmacy is 10 miles away so pretty important they keep functioning.

DS has a poorly ear. He phoned them on Tuesday mid morning got seen by the nurse Tuesday afternoon, she called in the doc and neither could sort it (they think foreign body). He now has an appointment at the hospital tomorrow. So some bits do work.

But then ..... yesterday a letter arrived for DS saying he had an appointment in December but he didn't need to attend it as this wasn't a letter for the patient!! Essentially it was total gobbledegook but the NHS had paid for it to be produced and posted. We all had a good giggle but it could have been very confusing for an elderly person.

My GP is great. You just have to make to set an alarm for exactly 8am to ring and get an appointment. Last Monday I went complaining of stomach pain after I eat. I was brought in that day to be examined, given medication for gastritis, a lot of bloods taken and they gave me a Qfit test for bowel cancer screening and referred me for an ultrasound. I had the ultrasound on Friday which told me I have gallstones. Rang the GP surgery, all my results were back, some need repeated and have been booked in. It takes a few days to get an appointment sometimes but when you do, it's really worth it.

You should write a letter to the practice manager about this

Surrey here. 3 week wait for a telephone apt.

Love my GP service. I sent them a text query on Monday, appointment on Tuesday and referral done as well.

i had a question about my blood tests so I called them to ask & my GP text me back the answer (via NHS texting system obviously!)

Its a huge practice and they’re amazing. There’s only 2 practices serving the entire city and they both do it with such grace

Get well soon OP