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'd be writing in and complaining to the practice manager.

Very unprofessional behaviour.

To be honest your GP being so unprofessional deserves even more of a complaint than the system not working! If the GP was in anyway professional they would be concerned that the system isn't working and want to resolve the issue - but why bother with that when he can just give you a telling off like a naughty child in the middle of your medical appointment instead.

Honestly any professional should know how to deal with complaints and if a system isn't working properly then there is absolutely no reason for individuals to be upset when people point it out. I don't even understand whose feelings would be hurt by being told that a computer system doesn't work.

It all sounds very poor and unprofessional. Most likely he's a partner in the business and so his earning are dependent on how it performs and so he cares more about reputation than whether people can use it effectively. The average wage of a GP in the UK is £98,000 so they are earning huge amounts for the difficult job they do - and if he's a partner he's probably earning way more than that.

Yes, I’m baffled by some of the replies. A PP above saying OP “deserved it”? What for? For making a factual comment about a service?

I could have made a comment like the one OP made. Not because I wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings, but because our GP practice operates in a similar way and it can be frustrating.

I know people who exaggerate their symptoms to finally get through the GP. I’m not doing that, I don’t think it’s fair or reasonable. But FB comment stating facts shouldn’t be an issue.

Good point.

It never ceases to amaze me that people post stuff like that on facebook. If you have a grievance with anyone, take it up with them, or with an organisation, such as a GP surgery, there are official ways of doing it. Why make it all public? Facebook was surely not designed to be a hot bed of gossip. I also think people would be advised to use nicknames and not their own names. It's horrible the way some share so much personal stuff on there, and make idiots of themselves.

Trying to see both sides here. The GP shouldn't bollock someone for making a complaint. On the other hand, it must be frustrating to be in a job where you are being slagged off on social media with no possibility of reply. I think on balance OP should have made the complaint in private rather than feeding the mob on social media.

It was rather unprofessional of the GP but I can’t totally understand it.

You made a public statement criticising a system, saying it didn’t work (yet bizarrely it clearly did work as you used it successfully soon after). Why shouldn’t the GP, who is talking to you at 7.20am (!!!!) have a right to reply?

We had a patient who slagged us off on the NHSE review site, so we removed her from the list, as she clearly felt we couldn’t meet her needs. She went ballistic, complained to the ombudsman, we were forced to reinstate her. It was strange how keen she was to stay on our list, considering how shit she thought we were. She made it her mission to slate us everywhere she could, while fighting to the death to stay on our list. Nasty piece of work.

You can’t go public in criticism without expecting some response.

I'm not sure why, if you post on a public forum, you would expect this not to happen? Surely you would have to know its a possibility?
As an aside, it sounds like your GP is incredibly hard working. On the job at 7am? Sounds like they're in a lose - lose situation!

Remember when you are being a keyboard warrior that there is a person on the other end.

And now the person you publicly criticised has taken the opportunity to tell you how you made them feel.

But it’s not about being a keyboard warrior. By the sound of it, it was legitimate criticism.

Any business or organisation can be criticised online, especially when the service they provide is somewhat lacking. And of course there is always a person (or several) on the other end, that shouldn’t mean criticism is never allowed.

So, for GP to be aware: this post was on the Practice FB page in your own name, a page that is used for marketing and to communicate with the patient community. One where complaints that, perhaps, would have been addressed to the practice manager via the patient feedback system rather than published in a way that undermines the perception of the practice and the staff trying to deal with continual cuts and recover from the impact of the pandemic could see it?

I agree that the practice manager (PM) ought to have reached out, rather than the GP raise it, but can understand that if the working/tone was aggressive/insulting why he/she felt the need to defend the staff.

I am assuming that the PM noted it on your records for the GP to be aware of it, and if they did so, it may be that the actual tone/wording was considered to be unacceptable and to have triggered their antisocial behaviour protocols.

Next time, don’t use SM to public vent and possibly humiliate, but drop a polite email to the PM. The practice is run by human beings. Nastily phrased comments hurt.

For all the GP practice workers berating OP and reminding others you are hard working saints who are beyond reproach and we shouldn’t hurt your feelings with our nasty factual comments - I and many others are beyond caring about your hurt feelings because your hurt feelings do not trump the damage that has been done to mine and many others long term health by being unable to access healthcare when needed or being dismissed because the course of treatment needed didn’t fit the bottom line of the budget.

In many cases it’s not the Tories to blame but individual practices, run as Ltd companies, putting cost cutting measures to reap the maximum profit ahead of providing an accessible, adequate health care service.

My GP practice have gone downhill to such an extent since becoming a Ltd company that they received a record number of complaints to the CQC, many of which were upheld despite their attitude being they are hard working saints beyond reproach and any patient making a complaint being an abusive trouble maker.

Sometimes the GP practice IS the problem and saying we should have blind faith in all of them ‘just because’ is nonsense.

If you’re not happy, go somewhere else. Trust me, GP surgeries are all massively oversubscribed and are never ever sad to lose unhappy patients.

You apologised if you'd caused offence?! Well that's a pathetic style of apology. Either admit wrongdoing or stand by your public attack.

Excellent argument for changing the entire system. "If you get poor care, don't bother complaining because we don't have to care anyway".

The reason GP practices are private businesses are because the GP lobby demanded that when the NHS was set up. Ditto the consultants wanting to protect their private practices.

A system that doesn't have to care about its customers/clients/patients is a system which will not put those people first.

You are perfectly entitled to express your opinion. It's ridiculous the way some GP practices are operating - my mum left her practice for another one due to a similar issue. The GP was wrong to use NHS time to slate you for it, and very unprofessional. I would make a complaint.

You're not sure why she'd expect posting on a public forum about a malfunctioning app would lead to grossly unprofessional behaviour from a medical professional with a duty of care?

Very unprofessional. I would complain to the practice manager. He was using time you'd fought hard for that was meant to be about your health to whinge at you about you saying the truth online.

Trawling through social media posts and remembering which patients have commented doesn't sound right to me. I suspect his mental health isn't what it should be.

Fully grown adults moaning on social media about a public service is embarrassing. I don’t think he has necessarily covered himself in glory in the way he approached it but he’s probably sick to the back teeth of it. If you have an issue with the way it’s functioning or managed then raise it in a professional and adult way. Not via Facebook.

Wait,* *you booked the appointment "Weeks later" after your comment? And he held on to that gripe and remembered it? That is some serious borderline stalking there. I mean, how did he even know you were the same person? From a random FB name?
This sounds bonkers tbh. Obviously it's not ethical, but I think you know that.

@MumblesParty thanks for the advice - would never have occurred to me. Can’t possibly be a situation where every other GP in my catchment area has closed their books to new patients so I and hundreds of others are stuck with a practice that can treat us as shabbily as they want because we have no other option but to stay on the books to be told repeatedly we can either go to a&e where we are bollocked for not going to a GP or wait 6 weeks to be seen and if things get worse in the meantime, go to a&e. Rinse repeat and keep saying it’s the patients who are the problem.

I had a telephone appointment some time ago where we got on so well on the call, really helpful and patient.

She surprisingly called me back almost immediately and asked if I’d go online and give the surgery a good review as the staff were so upset at the bad reviews they’d read and morale was very low. I did it. She sounded quite uncomfortable asking me but said a good review would go down so well at that moment in time.

I still don’t think the OP should have been berated for her comments.

If this particular GP didn’t know you before then you must’ve written something fairly significant for him to a) know about the comment, b) link it to your name during that consult.

what exactly did you write and what exactly did his ‘bollocking’ consist of? Can’t comment without knowing those things.

I'd like to know what exactly you wrote. I know you outlined it but did you say it in an aggressive or offensive way?

Depends what the bollocking was. I'm retired but was a senior HR Manager. The number of times I've had a friendly chat with someone only to hear later that they'd been "hauled in for a bollocking" is beyond ridiculous.

So did the GP say people in the surgery were hurt or did he shout down the phoned that the OP had no bloody right to complain? It makes a difference.

So would I.

OP is strangely reticent on this point.

We also don't know exactly what the "bollocking" involved.