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 ?

Well obviously you were forced to reinstate her, you had zero right to remove her from the list because you don’t like what she is saying. I say this as a fellow public sector worker, we don’t get to pick and choose which parts of the public we deal with and she can say whatever she likes.

commenting that a system doesn't work well, is not abusive. Is the NHS so untouchable that we are not now allowed to comment on things that don't work or make a complaint if something is wrong?! That doesn't mean you are being abusive to individual staff members at all, but this clearly wasn't that

Our GP led FB GP page, people complain about the computer system which to be fair glitched often even the automatic doors were affected. They've put in a new system. The pharmacist said to me that it was so much better for them.

Technology glitches unfortunately, nobody wants this to happen

Extremely unprofessional

Our GP practice has gone from three full time GPs to one doing one morning a week, one doing one day, a paramedic on a Wednesday morning and a practice nurse on. Thursday afternoon. There’s an occasional locum on a Friday morning.
The next nearest surgery is 8 miles away with no public transport.
Phoned for an appointment two weeks ago, I have been given the next available- 22nd March. This is for an ‘urgent’ cardiology review asked for by my GP.
By all means blame the Tories etc but that’s not going to help the many people who can’t access a doctor. Where I live the Conservative MP has been here since 1996, fat chance on anyone unseating him.
It’s little wonder that people just go to A+E around here.

I'd make two formal complaints to the surgery/practice manager.
1st about the GP's inappropriate behaviour during your appointment
2nd about the app system not working properly.

I’ve said exactly the same thing about my practice but said it to their faces. The morning booking system doesn’t work. It’s great when you actually do get an appointment but it’s near impossible to do so.

Absolutely appointment capacity has everything to do with it. That's why I mentioned it. This is a GP who felt moved to use appointment time that the NHS is paying him for to berate a patient about comments on social media. The OP said there were 60 other comments in just that one thread, which raises the question of exactly how often the GP is using appointment time in this manner. If he thinks this is acceptable, aside from the professional conduct issues it also has the potential to influence appointment capacity.

If you write a negative review about a B&B, Hotel or restaurant, do you expect them to have a right to reply?

Why not a GP?

I disagree.

If the patient effectively said that the practice was rubbish, and she didn't feel that she was being helped by it, then I don't think it's unreasonable to expect her to find a doctor somewhere that she feels is doing a better job.

Personal complaints like that also completely sour the doctor/patient relationship.

GPs don't get paid per appointment btw.

GP should have made an appointment with the OP to discuss her complaint if they felt they needed to reply. Or written to her.
Not brought it up during a short medical appointment. That was unprofessional.

I often see these type of Facebook groups on our local pages and just roll my eyes as no good or even changes will ever come from them. If you've got a complaint or feedback about your GP practice, it's far more productive and appropriate to either file a complaint via their complaints procedure or contact their patient focus group if they have one.

Our local town GP practice also gets fed up of these sort of Facebook rants and have been known to reply.

Multiple reasons. GPs have different professional obligations to hotels. The B and B owner won't be paid through our taxes for the time that they've instead used to tell me off. And lastly, I'd be pretty fucked off if a chef exercised their 'right of reply' to me when I was receiving medical care.

Can't you see a difference between a private business and a public service? Not only that, but doctors are bound by professional guidelines and this definitely isn't professional behaviour. A surgery may have the right of reply - they should do so in a professional way - like adding a message on their website or sending it in the surgery newsletter.

The issue is that the GP decided to use valuable appointment time to berate a patient who by the sound of it had made a factual comment.
Someone also seems to have spent valuable time trawling through FB comments.

You spoke out in a public forum. He called you out on it. Either shut up or put up.

I think everyone needs to calm down here.

OP. Talk to the Practice Manager.

I've no opinion on what's happened in this specific circumstance. However I regularly see receptionists and pharmacy staff publicly named on community Facebook pages and shamed for trying to do their job. I spent six years on reception and it was an absolute privilege. I still work in primary care and occasionally jump on reception if needed.

I think if you're interested in improving communications within the practice you can go to PPG meetings.

Abuse of primary care staff is unacceptable. I have known of professional colleagues lose their life to suicide.

Everyone should spend a Monday in a GP surgery.

A GPs role is certainly not to "call people out" during a medical appointment, how ridiculous.

Or expect your GP to abide by their professional standards. The care of patients should be at the forefront of all patient interaction, and that certainly wasn't the case here. Not only that but the doctor's behaviour could have an impact on the public's trust in the doctor and in the integrity of the professional as a whole.

You get to say what you want and they don't get to reply? I'm a professional and I call bollocks to that. Our job isn't just to sit and take it as people pile on.

So many shit things in the country at the moment, and it feels like rather than trying to do something positive about it the solution is to moan on Facebook.

Just to point out that practice managers are employed by the GP's rather than the other way round.

Practices do have the right to have patients removed if the relationship has broken down

If the appointment was at 7.20 then that practice is clearly working exceptionally hard to provide services. My practice offers no appointments until 09.00

Morale in theNHS has never been lower and many qualified young GP's are leaving, either back into hospital medicine or going abroad. Do you really want your practice to be staffed only by locums or physician associates who have only 2 years of rushed training as opposed to the at least 10 years a qualified GP has?

Food for thought?

"A GPs role is certainly not to "call people out" during a medical appointment, how ridiculous"

I disagree. If it's directly hurt a member of their staff then yes, they should be called out on it. Publicly humiliating staff on social media is unacceptable. Have you ever worked in primary care?

I have to say that I hate what social media has become. People can write all kinds of crap and it doesn’t even have to be the truth. Someone from the gp practice responding to defend their position would then have got absolutely flamed by numerous keyboard warriors waiting to stick the boot in. It’s all very ugly and I don’t miss social media at all. Having said that, your appointment wasn’t the time or the place.

Inappropriate and unprofessional. The call was to discuss your health, not a chance for him to pull you up.

If he was that incensed by your comment then he should have discussed this in a separate call, not hijacked your medical appointment.