GP bollocked me for a Facebook comment

[Lliria]

So, I don't know if I ll be the only one but basically my GP used my telephone consult to bollock me for a comment I made on FB.
Like all local FB groups there's always a whinge topic and even though our GP practice is very good sometimes the 7am App for making appointments just doesn't work so by the time I can call though all the appointments have gone sometimes by 9am. So I commented on a post that was already running about this- nothing mean just agreeing..
Weeks later I managed to book a phone consult off the 7am App. The GP called at 7.20 then 2 minutes into the chat had a proper go at me about my comment and said I'd hurt people's feelings etc.
I was shocked that a medical professional sabotaged my appointment to do this.
What I wrote in my private life has nothing to do with my medical consult - surely
Why is he reading through everyone s comments then using his position to say something ?
I feel it's inappropriate.
I've never even seen him as a patient.
I'm actually quite upset and feel I've taken the can for the other 62 people that made comments that day.
Maybe he was stressed but it's not ethical is it ?

I Agree but I doubt she/he got a blocking. The OP is just upset she was caught and confronted. She was quick to apologise to the GP so she knows what she did was wrong.
She doesn't say what the GP said exactly which is equivalent to a bollocking. I say good on the GP for standing up for his work and his practice if the OP was wrong. People are so used to putting down the NHS and workers when they know the system is broken. They also don't expect to be told off for it because "it's not professional" . . . and now ethics . . . there's nothing unethical about responding to the OP. She still got a review.

Christ how hard is it for people to grasp the reason it’s hard to get apppintments isn’t a bad ‘booking system’. It’s that you can’t square the circle of 1000 people trying to get 500 appointments….. some people will always be disappointed! Blame the tories and those that voted for them.

So would I. I mean, a GP making telephone consultation calls at 7.20 in the morning then having the audacity to mention the patient’s negative Facebook comments? I’m certain they’ll be sad to see you go elsewhere!

I think it’s both.

there are always people moaning on my local fb (high population city area) that everytime they call they can’t get an appointment.

the issue is that many people are not (or unable to) use the e-consult. Every time I’ve used it I’ve had a callback that day and an appointment in a few days. So there’s obviously a gap there.

You didn’t make the comment in your private life you made it publicly.

were you still able to discuss what you needed?

if so I would let it go, you stoked a fire with someone who is in a job where it must seem like they can never get anything right.

if you didn’t get to talk about your appointment that is different

It’s not the GPs job to make appointments though is it?

I doubt that was all you said OP

well, yes it is. And patients who pay for the service are perfectly entitled to moan.

Unless the OP actually said "GP-name and practice are useless and couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery" or something similar, there is no need to go on at her. They could, for eg, make an answering post/comment outlining why it is like it is and that it isn't down to individuals.

I can quite imagine a GP doing this.

We don't know what was said on Facebook or by the GP. OP is quite guarded about that. GPs are private entities contracted to the NHS - I love it on Tripadvisor when the proprietor hits back - this is. I different. I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing my local surgery 'sometimes' couldn't give appointments by 9 😂. Ours has the automated phone message regularly telling us there's no appointments by 8.01am.

Not at all. Why would you come to that conclusion? Are you the GP? I'd be mad because my hard to get NHS appointment was being wasted on the GP moaning about something I was entitled to do

Oh they can comment. But not on a hard to get NHS appointment. That's wholly inappropriate and unprofessional

How is what you did any different to a Google review?
Many practices are rated by Google reviews and I doubt GPs are scrolling through those and berating patients for a negative comment.

I live in a small town and new people often ask about GP practices when they want to register. There are always mixed comments including those like yours, where it's hard to get an appt.

Your GP was wrong. If there are issues, the practice and him out to be trying to FIX IT!

It's time patients were treated as customers, not nuisances, which seems to be the way now in parts of the NHS.

I'd complain to the practice manager.

The whole automated appointments system is completely crap so I think it’s fair enough that you and others complained about it on FB.

Instead of apologising for your comment, you should have asked him what did he take onboard from the online feedback about their service? He was very unprofessional to use your appointment time to complain to you about your post on Facebook.

Pretending the system isn’t broken helps no-one.

I live in Ireland and can still get same day appts. when I ring my GP practice. I rang last Friday morning about 9:15 for my husband and got him an appointment with his GP for 11:30 that morning.

I agree with a pp, it’s hardly a private comment if it’s on a public Facebook page/group. I don’t think there’s a problem with challenging your comment… BUT not in your appointment time. They should have maybe asked for your feedback outside the appointment by email etc. I do find it unprofessional to do that on your slot.

surely trying to get a GP sacked would exacerbate the issue? Lack of appointments because lack of doctors?

What do you mean by "bollocked"?

Did he shout and rage at you - or did he say something like "We'd really appreciate it if you could bring any complaints you have about the practise to us, rather than post about them on a public forum. All of us here - receptionists, nurses, doctors - ALL of us - are working hard, and since the start of lockdown have been under incredible pressure which hasn't eased with the end of lockdown. We know that the system isn't perfect, but we are very short-staffed and are doing what we can. It's very upsetting for us all to be publicly complained about like this."

It's very important that people have faith in their GP practice, and your casual comments could be undermining this.

Also - you say that it was 2 minutes into your telephone appointment. Had your concern been dealt with first? Or even after? As long as you get the treatment you need you have no cause for complaint.

What would have been unprofessional is if he'd "bollocked" you online.

Edited to alter an autocarrot interference.

Re-edited because I'd managed to chop a bit out and I don't know how I did it

This is Mumsnet, right? You are literally enabling abuse with your comment.

Make a complaint to PALS/ GMC. Wierd, is he stalking you or something?

It's genuinely worrying people think this is ok.

The GP has a public social media page with open comments. If they do not wish to have public feedback they can turn comments off, but they have not done this. OP commented that the booking system doesn't work. A perfectly neutral and rational feedback to make on an appropriate platform. The appropriate way to address this feedback is by responding on social media with an invite to addresses it privately, or with an explanation as to why it was broken they day, not bringing that into a private medical examination. Even the GPs response was ridiculously emotional and didn't even address the issue OP had just "how dare you criticise anything to do with my practice".

Where does bringing social media into medical examination end?

Edit: reread your OP and I can see this wasn't even on the GP page but a lovely group page. Even more worrying they this singular GP is traveling through comments and making notes to raise them during appointments. This is not acceptable behaviour on any level.

Contacting the practice directly to make suggestions is constructive feedback

Naming and shaming them on Facebook is different

He shouldn't use a consultation to speak about non-medical matters. If he or the staff cared, they could have contacted you at the time.

I'm not sure what the alternative is for the surgery though. They're all over subscribed. Mine has a race for the telephone line and lots of time on hold before eventually being told to call again tomorrow. One of the GPs had to return from retirement because they couldn't replace him and another GP who moved away (there were only 4 of them in the first place). A GP surgery near my work has people queueing outside the practice well over an hour before it opens to make appointments. I feel so sorry for the people stood queuing in bad weather.

It's really unprofessional.

How much better had he said 'We're sorry for your experience and we know there are issues and we are trying to fix them.'

Compare this with my private dental practice.

After every appt I'm sent an email to rate the service, add comments to google reviews, or take it up with the practice if there is something I'm not happy about.

But because NHS patients pay through taxes, not with their hard cash on the day, they seem to be treated as a nuisance.

I don’t think they did anything wrong. You wrote a disparaging comment about them on a public forum. At least they had the grace to raise their concerns about your comment and its impact on their overworked staff with you in private, which is what you should have done in the first place rather than getting involved in a pile on.

I could not disagree with this more.

People are entitled to complain. We don't need to have some weird misplaced deference just because they're GPs.