To think GPs are on the whole useless

[yellowflowers]

Everytime I go to the GP they either confirm I have what I think I have or say that I haven't and then when I go back a week later still with symptoms tell me I was right all along. I really cannot see the point of them beyond being a barrier between us and prescription drugs and so they can refer us to specialists if you are clever enough to look up your own symptoms and treatments and know a good source from a bad source. I feel with the help of google I could do as good a job as most GOs - "oh hello Mr Smith, you have an itchy arm do you, you have 'itchyarmitis. Here's some itch cream and if that doesn;t work I will give you an itch pill" or "hello Ms Jones, you have found a lump have you. That's probably okay but I will send you to a specialist just in case it isn't."

Can you tell I have had an unproductive trip to gp today?

But really, I am yet to meet one who knows more than a relatively intelligent person with access to a computer and half a brain.

It's just triage in some cases, isn't it.

I've had helpful ones, and useless ones. Ones that remind me of the character in Jam or the League of Gentlemen, when he says "Go out now"

I've had to diagnose my own Asherman's syndrome and that went down like a lead balloon. Plus they've been ready to give me anti-depressants because of my history, when actually I am sleep deprived (that's too complicated to solve....)

I don't think it's them so much as the job and the time and resources they have to do it. Plus the fact that many conditions are self-limiting anyway. So they are effectively deliverers of a placebo.

Plus if you've got a chronic condition I guess the support they provide is invaluable.

I will now only see 2 doctors from my surgery because the others are useless. Have to say though the 2 that are good are really good, listen to you and are very thorough.

Ive yet to go to a productive GP. Ours are the laugh of the area - you just have to go to the pub on a night and hear the most hilarious (and odd very sad) story about them. They are well know for being pointless.

Not worth the money at all - but our nurse practioner is excellent. She is well worth her money and much better than the GPs.

yellowflowers - I think you're talking nonsense but you write well and your post made me laugh. So, then, what is your diagnosis that your GP missed today?

Agree, Nurses are more on the ball. I was shocked when I watched a programme the other night, a GP on it earned 105k a year

I think nurses should be paid better.

I used to have a GP that used to get textbooks out and look stuff up infront of me which always made me snigger a bit.

My vet actually gets on google infront of me and I have to direct her to which site to look at.

I guess they can't know everything. Saying that my dad's GP did save his life. He didn't know what was wrong with him but knew that something was seriously not good and rang an ambulance. I think he'd have died if he hadn't got to hospital that day.

haha thanks CristinaTheAstonishing - that is kind except my posts are full of typos because I am too lazy to proofread!!

It's an ongoing eczema and I was just following up from a thread I started yesterday on pregnancy board about antihistimines in pregnancy but before taking advice on mumsnet sages I wanted to see what GP would say - in fact GP rubbished the eczema diagnosis of two previous GPs, said intense itching (at night - to the point of wanting to cut my feet off if I can't stop it!) was just caused by dry skin. Which would be fine if it was but I know it isn't - not least because past bouts were helped by the eczema medication I was given.

Anyway am pleased not just me - I dread going to GP because really they never seem to know anything.

My GPs are v good. V helpful around ttc & had to do a lot of research & liaison over my bp issues. They both refer/test/ research well before when other GPs have bothered in the past. They are always fitting patients in & do home visits even though I live round the corner ( couldn't get out of bed though)

YELLOWFLOWERS, my DH is a GP, so I felt I should reply and say YAB at least slightly UR!

It's true GP's function as "gatekeepers", firstly, to treat minor ailments, To refer to the appropriate specialist as needed. To spot rare, but dangerous symptoms (which have a habit of masquerading as minor self-limiting illness), and these can be very difficult to spot (because RARE THINGS ARE RARE).

Secondly, they are indeed there to stop you getting prescription drugs you may think you need, but which could actually cause more harm than good.

You may have a computer and half a brain (I think you mean a brain and a half ), but believe me, many people have a computer and no brain at all , and arrive in the surgery with all sorts of total bollocks printed out on 30 sheets of A4 - and they really do need someone to come between them and the medication they they they need for the illness that they think they have!

And that's just the genuine people, who in good faith believe they have some nasty illness - there are a lot of "users" out there who go to great lenghts to get drugs they can take or sell (much more common than you'd want to believe).

GP's don't get it right all the time (nobody does), and it's not a perfect service, sometimes things go wrong, but we are damn lucky to live here in the uk and have a GP service available to us, and indeed and NHS - I have relatives in both the USA (awful unless you are rich) and Australia (more like our system but you pay to see the GP)and they more you know about other systems, the more you appreciate ours!

I know this is the AYBU thread, and it's a great place to let off steam, but you know, they are not all bad!

tell me about it, ive got fobbed off today by a gp telling me i had never had shingles ( diagnosed by 3 different doctors previous ) and that what i have now and had before was just a cold sore.

Ive given up on my GP now, and often ask for another, but he was the only one available today
He also told my FIL he wasn't having a heart attack 10 yrs ago, low and behold he ended up in hospital later that day diagnosed by the doctor there as having had a heart attack.
seriously you couldn't make some of it up.

I have been reallty lucky with my GP over recent years, infact since I moved here about 5 years ago.

They have identified and referred me for Asherman's Syndrome which was causing my infertility, despite previous GPs (in another part of town) brushing me off.

And mre recently in January my GP spoke to me on the phone, realised how poorly I was, saw me at 7pm at night in thick snow, began me on abs, and then later in the week realised I was getting worse despite abs and diagnosed me and admitted me to hospital with a really nasty case of pneumonia, a type which has a 40% fatility rate if not treated in time.

So overall I am pleased with my GPs here.

Oldmum - they get paid a hell of a lot to be a gatekeeper though. Realistically they come across the 'difficult rare' cases occasionally (otherwise they wouldnt be rare!) and the day to day stuff is pretty basic.

Personally I think the NHS should have lots of good nurse practitioners at local surgeries and then one GP per surgery who gets the referrals or more difficult cases. It would save a fortune and imo be better for patients. In our practice there is a very long queue when the nurse practioner is doing her surgery. If you want to see a GP you can get in immediately as no queues!!!!

I think there's no middle ground, GPs are either very good or very bad. I've got an excellent one at the moment, he's very thorough and a huge improvement on the one who misdiagnosed me for 3 years, told me I had IBS when what I actually had was a (luckily benign)large tumour.

I think with all jobs, there will be some bad apples, but the overwhelming majority of GPs will be good!

Let's be glad that we have a health service where we can see a doctor at very short notice who can reassure us, treat us, or refer us to the most appropriate specialist, all at no cost!

I know oldmum42 - you are right. Some are very good. I just get annoyed because I seem to know more about what is wrong with me than them - but then again I am very clever (!!! - joking, ish) and I know many patients don't necessarily have the same research skills. PLus in the cases where something is seriously wrong GPs save lives.

x

Why should there be an assumption that the overwhelming majority of GPs will be good?

And it costs the public a fortune to pay for NHS, so certainly is not at no cost! GPs wages are averaging over £100k apparently, and funded as far as I am aware from the taxpayer. Therefore they have a duty to be good at their jobs and many are not!

Your post is funny! I can't complain, I've had great service from my GPs and practice nurse over the years, and have a great local practice that offers all sorts of clinics and choice - guess I'm in the lucky minority!

My GP is awful and in need of some serious diversity training.

He's nearing retirement and not very good with "women's issues". The conversation was hilarious. On my notes it is written in big letters that I "DON'T NEED CONTRACEPTION" I think this is a cunning secret doctor code for lesbian....

He looked very confused and said "so are you trying for a baby then?"

I said "yes"

He said "but do you have a regular partner?"

I said "yes I'm married, but she doesn't produce any sperm" ;-)

He said "Oh! So what are you doing about that?" (I was tempted to say "nothing and I'm not pregnant yet after five years together, is there a problem with me doctor?")

I said "we've got a nice man who is donating his sperm to us"

"oh, so how is he doing that?"

"He is putting it into a cup for us"

He looked very puzzed and replied "but what on earth are you doing with it then?!" :-))

He also gave my dp severe chemical burns over her back by prescribing the wrong cream for a skin complaint and telling her to leave it on overnight.

My GP has hopefully saved my life, despite my insistence that I was absolutely fine.

There's good and bad in all professions I guess.

GPs are there to get in the way thats all they are for, they are to stall you.

I have to wait 3 weeks for my smear test appointment thats the best they can do, if you get sick and try to book an appointment you get one 1+ weeks later when you are no longer sick so they will not give you a note for work because they didn't see you so how do they know you where really sick (very useful).

What they did with my sister or didn't do more precisely was disgusting, I'll just skip to the end, after many visits it wasn't until she was blind with cataracts that they actually acknowledged that she was not bulimic (which they kept accusing her of being) and finally gave her the diabetes test she'd been demanding for 2 years.

Now she produces no insulin at all and can not process iron so has to inject that too, has blind spots in her vision of the bleeding on the back of the eyes. if they gave her the test when she asked for it she wouldn't be in such a bad state.

I have to say that whilst my experience with GPs has been variable (but generally good) my experience with nurse practitioners has been uniformly awful, and I wouldn't go near one again.

Student: Tired, flu-like symptoms - oh, that's a throat infection, have some anti-biotics (far too often they seem to have a pre-signed prescription pad!)... a week later with a doctor - well obviously that's glandular fever, goodness, those anti-biotics won't have done you any good at all.

Ear infections (yes, happened more than once) where despite scarring from the last time they wouldn't let me see a doctor until I'd gone through the Nurses's inability to realise the seriousness and therefore waiting a week to go from drops that do nothing to anti-biotics.

Dosing out contraception without so much as taking my blood pressure (OK, so I'm sure I'm fine, but that's a bad idea).

Nurses see a lot, have a lot of experience, but they haven't had a doctor's training, and shouldn't be doing their job (rather like teaching assistants and teachers)

2nd the lack of skills re: nurse practitioners- tick box proformas and poor training to save money on gps. wouldnt go near one either.

My GP is a waste of space. Every time I go in he asks what's wrong, checks me out, asks me what I think it is, then nods sagely and dishes out the treatment.

When I stretched the ligaments in my knee and it was swollen and painful, I didn't know what it was and he was at a total loss. Gave me ibuprofen gel, ibuprofen tablets, told me to rest, told me to exercise... finally he said well we can just wait and see if it improves or (insert sort of disapproving glare here) we could refer you. I nodded, and he said Well what do you want to do then? I said bloody refer me!

Cue lots of tests and then found I'd had undiagnosed Hypermobility Syndrome for years.

Oh that would be the cause of the backaches, hip pain, knee pain and ankle pain that I've had for years then and he said were nothing?

As a contrast, the lovely locum that fills in when he's on holiday is brilliant. And he talks and listens and makes me feel like I'm not actually wasting his time.

(I should point out I've been to the (non-locum) doctor a grand total of 6 times in 3 years so I'm not constantly there annoying him!)