Just been bollocked for not using out of hours GP

[SunlightThroughTrees]

I’ve just called up to get a GP appointment, the usual 8am scramble to get one. Opening question was “what’s the emergency?”, which is new. I explained that I’d had swollen tonsils for several days, which are getting increasingly painful and I now have white gunk on them.

She interrupted me whilst I was saying what was wrong (very concisely) and then twice told me I should have used the out of hours GP service. The reason I didn’t go to the GP on the first few days of symptoms was I was waiting to see if it was viral tonsillitis that would get better on its own after a few days ie following the guidance on the NHS website.

She has given me an appointment begrudgingly but ended the call by again telling me that I should have used out of hours and sounded very pissed off at me. I get that appointments are scarce but I can’t see what I’ve done wrong here. The out of hours appointments are presumably scarce too and to be honest I think of that as more of an ‘emergency’ service to use sparingly than my GP surgery on a weekday.

That's an odd thing for her to say.

You should though be aware that most tonsillitis doesn't need antibiotics, even with white spots and that even when a bacterial cause is proven, 10 days of antibiotics makes symptoms go away roughly 12 hours earlier than they would have done otherwise. So if your GP knows the evidence then the advice may well still be OTC management

I have finally got an appointment with a paramedic who works at the GP's for 10am

Wish me luck everyone. Am feeling dizzy and hot xx

Get well soon @SunlightThroughTrees

This. I had to see a GP last week. Place was deserted, I’d waited outside for 10 minutes as I was early and one woman had come out. I was the only person in the waiting room and the place was silent. Bizarre.

She was rude but ignore her. See the GP, hope you feel better soon.

Our surgery has done away with the triage nurse as well. I assume a cost cutting measure so now it appears the receptionists triage you using a script I assume. I rang to say I thought I had a chest infection, gave name/DOB etc. I explained I had asthma and was worried but told no, I couldn’t see someone today or tomorrow would have to wait at least 3 weeks! I assume someone overheard or the receptionist moaned about the entitled asthma sufferer thinking they were special, because I got a panicked phone call about 15 minutes later saying I must come in there and then. Took weeks of steroids to kick that one.

I will say our receptionists are now all fairly nice, up until a a couple of years ago they were incredibly rude, but they all seem to have gone. When I rang to tell them I was pregnant the receptionist just said “Why are you telling me? Ring the hospital.” And put the phone down!

So the GP and 111 say A&E for chest pain.
I'd say the same.
Them saying 'too young' for heart attack is rubbish, however unlikely.
Many women have undiagnosed heart attacks because the symptoms often aren't deemed serious or obvious enough.
So again, this is something our triage nurse will have on her list of 50 plus today. Not your fault though OP. And no excuse for rudeness.
Yes, we are very lucky to have triage nurses, they see hundreds of on the day stuff because we simply haven't enough GP's.

I would have done what you did - and I assumed that out of hours were for things that needed immediate treatment so they don't tip over into something nastier.
I don't take antibiotics if I can help it and I'm curious to know whether antibiotics are being prescribed more, or less since March 2020

@TheFreaksShallInheritTheEarth This is the thing. They are encouraging us to do this and take responsibility for ourselves. Either do it or suffer, it's just what's happening. It actually works well. I've done it this way twice this year and it's worked a treat. Much quicker too.

@Buzzinwithbez - I don’t know about now but during 2020-21 they were handing antibiotics out like sweets. They were refusing to see people face to face, there was a worldwide shortage of blood vials so no one could get a blood test (I was even denied a gestational diabetes test because of this). So it felt like the default was just prescribe antibiotics over the phone.

Our GP is currently refusing to book any none emergency appointments until after 17th Oct. You can't book them now for after that date, theyre not doing any booking at all until then. They'll be a huge back log when I last heard there was a 6 week wait for an appointment anyway.
I volunteer in local healthcare and our GP has a terrible reputation, they regularly call an ambulance because they don't have any appointments left. 😳yes the refuse to see people until it gets so serious they need an ambulance and then it's not their problem.

Should we be aware of it, though? What about the million and one other health conditions? Should we be our own medical experts? This is what GPs used to be for.
Perhaps everyday healthcare and symptoms of various health conditions should now be taught in school, so we can triage ourselves before calling 🤷‍♀️

We used to be told don’t Google your systems and that doctors get frustrated at patients self diagnosing and now we are being told we should be self diagnosing and trying home remedies first? Which is it?

I’m so pissed off by the rudeness of our GP’s I will break into my savings and pay £120 for a private appointment elsewhere next time. It is so sad they are like this as the nice GPs at the practice all retired and the replacements , all part time are just thoroughly unpleasant.

These past couple of weeks both baby DS and DH have been ill on different occasions. Couldn't get a GP appointment either time as none left by the time we got through, so had no choice but to ring 111 in the evenings. It was SO much easier, quicker and pleasant experience than with the GP. DS got seen, had his meds and was back home within 2 hours. DH had meds sent to the local pharmacy within 1 hour.

The GP receptionists interrogate in an almost aggressive manner, makes me feel guilty for being unwell!

Exactly. The whole point of GP appointments is that on the whole they are non-urgent. A&E is for emergencies.

The receptionists at our very rural practice are polite and helpful, but have little to offer. The whole service is a shambles.

I would advise her to speak to her social worker. As she is misunderstanding safeguarding and needs some more training.

I think it’s a case of little bit of knowledge is dangerous.

Sorry wrong post!!!! Ignore above 😆

You can't win OP. You are either wasting the GPs time with something you should have treated yourself at home, or getting shouted at for not seeking treatment and letting the problem get worse.
I once had a horrendous sore throat as a student, but I left it a few days as I assumed it was a virus that would just get better. 5 days later when it obviously wasn't going to shift I ended up in OOH clinic, and got a right blocking for not coming in on day 1. I was like - you don't bother a doctor with a sore throat.....

Gp surgeries need to be open Saturdays and Sundays as well the fact they aren’t is ridiculous

This sounds rubbish OP.

In my area the only way to access out of hours GP services is to phone NHS 111.
Once I got the appointment I then had to drive 40 minutes to another city for an OOH Saturday daytime appointment last month.

You did nothing wrong OP, it's the shit system.
We tried to get an OOH appointment for my DD with an ear infection the other week and they wouldn't let us access a doctor as it wasn't an emergency, they told us to wait and see our GP. So you would probably have been sent round in circles anyway.
I hope you feel better soon.

It is ridiculous. I was in a bit of pain towards end of last week. By Saturday it felt worse so I called 111. Had a Dr appointment that evening at hospital. The Dr basically told me off for not going to my GP first and it was clear he didn't think it was serious enough to be there. Was basically told to see my Dr if I wanted investigation into the pain. So took today off work and tried the morning scramble to call Dr. Didn't get through for 45 mins to be told all appointments booked. So now going to have to take tomorrow off work too and hope for an appointment. I've still got the pain that I had last week and no where near getting investigated. At the moment the pain is manageable but if it was worse I don't know what I would do!

@Electricalstress I don't want to work Saturdays and Sundays. That means I will be working 45 hours a week and I don't want to. The pressure in work is too much and I started crying on the phone when a patient rang for help the other day. It was nothing to do with what she rang about, I felt so overwhelmed, exhausted and I couldn't cope so I apologised, said I would ring her back and hung up.

@PurplePinecone - I really feel for you, it’s a ridiculous system.

I had an intense pain that would come and go, I had a feeling it was gallstones but because it was infrequent I never got passed the receptionist to get an appointment. In the end every time I had a particularly bad episode I would present at A&E. I am now finally

oops pressed too soon. I have now been finally diagnosed and my gallbladder is badly scarred and needs removing. The waitlist is very long and the attacks more frequent due to the damage. A&E was the only way I could get adequate pain relief and someone to help. It should have been GP - referral to outpatients - on waitlist - removed about 6 years ago.

The NHS is almost completely broken. It’s ridiculous for the call handler to be nasty to you when you phone up with a medical issue. It’s also ridiculous that we are essentially afraid to access necessary healthcare for fear of wasting the time of the doctor. We need more doctors. We are rejecting kids with 4 A stars at A level from medical school. Total ridiculousness from start to finish.