to absolutely hate the anti GP/doctor bashing mentality on MN?

[macdoodle]

When most if not all the doctors/GP's I know personally and professionally have a lot of training, and are doing the best they can, despite ridiculous government rules and beuarocracy, and dont get paid a fortune, far from it!

In fact I know IANBU, so much so, that I am taking a break from MN because the lot of you dr bashing makes me feel slightly ill, and some of those calling their GP's twats make me feel so angry I may say something I will regret

My ex GP missed ds's VSD for six months and told me I was over anxious when I repeatedly went back to the surgery because he had trouble breathing, was blue around his mouth, falling off the bottom of the weight charts etc. She also dismissed my low platelet count as something negligible when I was pregnant; it turns out to be ITP which I will have for the rest of my life. She could not have done anything about it, but it was the dismissal of it that pissed me off as it had an effect on my life then and still does 15 years on.

YANBU

My GP is amazing- last time I took a sick 18mo DD to see him, he phoned me each hour until late evening checking on her progress. If he doesn't know what's wrong with you, he asks and refers. He is amazing.

I have never posted in AIBU about him- remember that nobody posts on here about good experiences because they're just not as interesting or argument thought provoking.

Agree with there being too much anti-NHS stuff at the moment though. It's free healthcare FFS. (Cue diatribe about how it's not free, we pay our tax etc etc blah blah)

I have had good doctors, some I owe my daughters life to. And I have had had bad doctors who I would happily never see again. I will mention both and have done on relevent threads

think i'll hide it too AF...

Our GP practice saw my dp 8 times over 3 weeks and failed to diagnose heart failure. Forgive me if I don't have 100% faith in GPs - dp is very lucky he did not have a stroke as a result of their failure to diagnose. FGS they never took his bp when he was complaining of shortness of breath...on any of the first 7 visits. He saw 3 different GPs.

I think the real problem is that you can't tell the good GPs from the ones whose negligence is likely to cause serious harm or death.

And as for the BMA, they do GPs no favours since even being "struck off" doesn't mean you won't be practising again in hte near future, whilst GPs with addiction problems are treated far more leniently than a nurse with the same problem would be.

And I really do have to add that seeing as my poor SIL was misdiagnosed for nearly two years (she is now dying with late stage Cancer, Gaviscon? Good call) I really have little faith.

Blimey have never seen this but would like to say my GP is amazing as are my consultants.The nhs has saved me more than once and I couldn't get better treatment if I did pay(which I wouldn't!).

YABU

I am a huge fan of the NHS. I know there are some great GPs out there, including in the practice I go to. But some GPs - including members of my own family - are less good (to put it politely).

And to say 'they don't get paid a fortune - far from it' is very unreasonable. Even a salaried GP on 60k is earning over twice the average wage.

GPs are extremely well paid, and unusually for any professional job, they don't have to take masses of work home with them, and deal with endless emails. (So far as I know.)

YANBU, but I think you have to recognise the patterns of internet posting in which people are more likely to post a negative/sad experience than a positive one. Besides, most people like to pile in for a good bitch-fest. A thread saying "I'm contented with my lot" would be met with "Good for you " and .

I think you should blame the Daily Mail,etc., for a lot of the recent GP bashing.

The salary business is a case in point. AFAIK, most GPs do not earn as much as £106,000, or rather, that is not their gross income. That is, I believe, their practice income, out of which they need to pay receptionists, etc, which is why most GPs club together with other GPs to afford a reasonable number of staff, etc. Am I right about that?

Yet the DM likes to bang on about this "average" salary figure.

It's another indication of how badly the tabloid press manipulate public opinion.

Anyway, take a look at the DM and the frothings at the mouth over the new NHS proposals. Lots of people feeling conned into voting Conservative and Lib Dem... Interesting times...

See I think they are worth every bit of that £60 to £100k due to the sheer length of training and the deciding to be a doctor - rather than a lawyer or work in the city (for more £).

I am not arguing that GPs are overpaid - £60k plus sounds about right to me. But you have to admit that for most people it is a 'fortune'.

Some are great, some are rubbish. The problem is, you can't always pick and choose (not for emergency appointments anyway) and sometimes the gamble is big.

A locum GP listened to my unborn twins' heartbeats and both were fine. Actually one was dead. I won't be going back to him in a hurry.
Not to mention the massive cock-up with the sonographer who noticed that there was a problem, told me, but didn't write it in his notes so nothing was done as the consultant didn't believe me.
Excuse me for being pissed of with these health professionals, but you are lucky to still have faith in them. My daughter died as a result of their slovenly attitude.

Obviously we need GPs and they are trained professionals so yes, should on the whole be respected, but the consequences are dire when they get it wrong.

Why shouldn't people use this forum to vent their dissatisfaction with another service? Fine to do it with teachers but not doctors?
I hope for your sake that your trust never gets tested.

It is quite a lot, but it sounds low to me compared to what is earned in the city! Not long ago a doctor was at the top of the earning pile, no way anymore with £60k.

looploops I am sorry to hear that. Of course you should get the support you deserve

but many of us have had horrendous and upsetting experiences at the hands of incompetent or unfeeling medical professionals

and this is absolutely the right place for us to share and talk about those

if you want to read positive experiences, start a thread asking for them

but don't castigate women for seeking support and taking the opportunity to talk about the things that have happened to them

"they're all on £100K"
"they don't take work/emails home with them"

someone forgot to tell me that then clearly

Sorry, macdoodle, I stand corrected about the work and emails at home. Many apologies if this is true for you.

Am partly going on the experience of the GP in my family who really and truly doesn't seem to work awfully hard, and is constantly telling us about how she hates working in a practice where there are poor people or ethnic minorities.

Macdoodle the 3 I personally know are all on £100k plus as partners in practices.

I'm not saying all GP's are bad but some aren't brilliant - the same as in any profession.

Yes, agree with traceybath, it is the same in any profession.

I am an academic and loathe it when people go on about how we do bugger all and have the holidays off - all lies! But I have to admit that I have some colleagues who give the profession a very bad name. (Fewer of them as time goes on though.)

I think this thread is a good place to reiterate an old MN mantra: anecdote is not data.

I have seen our GP - for myself - only once in the past 6 years: when I found out I was pregnant and didn't know what the next step was, etc.

I've seen the GP maybe 3 times in the past year for DD (typical toddler ailments).

All of these experiences were neither outstandingly good nor bad; they were routine.

I could've posted about them, but they'd make a boring thread!

But I cannot extrapolate from my encounters which make up such a miniscule fraction of GP appointments country-wide that - overall - GP services are "routine". They probably are, but I can't generalise.

Greensleeves is right that people need MN to vent, complain, seek alternative p.o.v. (I think that's the main gripe most people have - that, inevitably, GPs have a monopoly on their access to health services, advice & opinion - and this situation is being positively encouraged by the new government). But it would be very wrong to imply that therefore all GPs are bad. Poor logic.

anyfucker- no I wouldn't want any of my friends/family to be alone in a room with a doctor. This gp got away with years of abuse because none of his victims had witnesses.

My mother lost a leg and nearly died thanks to not being taken seriously by her GP, he was firmly of the belief that her worries were the product of a hysterical female mind that had spent too long working as a nurse and seeing illness everywhere. As it was she had severe and advanced cancer. Once she had survived (a year or so later) so was told that it was gross professional negligence, but she chose not to pursue it in court as she didn't have the strength to fight the NHS for what have been a long battle. Being a smallish community she still sees said GP around, but she has almost come to terms with it now.

My point however is that despite a ropey few years and a near emotional break down she has now got back to the point where she trusts the medical profession again. Yes, she felt let down, ridiculed and a little betrayed...but she hasn't let that taint her opinion of a whole profession. She has found a new GP, built a relationship with him and moved on. We are all slightly less trusting/naive but equally you get great people and rubbish people in every profession. It is just that GPs and doctors' screw ups have more devastating effects than most. She now has issues with the NHS' amputee/limb service but hey ho!

It is hard to distance yourself from criticism of your chosen profession when it is sold as a general view. I.E: 'All GPs are twats' as against 'My GP is a twat' if you get me. Especially of you work hard yourself, it can feel like a slight. I'm a teacher, so I feel your pain!!

I don't think we can argue that many GPs are poorly paid though.

See the problem is, I know there are good and bad GP's, just as in any job or profession! But the sentiment on here especially is a very negative/anti doctor one, and there is no denying it! Huge generalisations from a bad experience that ALL (and I am sorry but that is what has been said), GP's are rubbish.
Negative, nasty and jealous.
And most doctors I know (and I know a lot personally and professionally), are not useless, twatty, lazy, overpaid, they all work hard and concientously, worry about their patients and do the best they can in a terribly crappy system!

The human body is far far from being an exact science, and a lot of what people "perceive" as bad experiences/bad GP's are not, is the way the human body works unfortunately.

I would be personally gutted if my patients thought of me the way you lot speak of your GP's

Venting a bad experience is one thing, extrapolating that to slag off a whole profession is quite another

traceybath - but isn't that their practice income, out of which they need to pay receptionists, etc?

If not, do your friends serve a very large geographical area, or have an unusually large number of patients on their lists? That's the most likely way that GPs earn (for themselves) 6-figure salaries.

I'm not saying that GPs don't earn decent money; they do. And I have friends who earn more as GPs than those who work as surgeons in hospitals. But it is not quite the picture it is painted by the press, I think.

There are good and bad ones. My dad died because of a bad one who stated in her tribunal that she felt like she didn't need to explain in detail to patients in Liverpool 18 like she does in Liverpool 5 because she assumes they are more intelligent. This was her response to not noticing that my dad had had a heart attack and passing him off with an angina spray and no further tests. The bitch couldn't even be arsed to come out herself when he had a massive heart attack and died on the Saturday two days later but instead sent a locum and ordered a post mortem making it even more traumatic.

I have also had a dr trying to convert me to christianity when I went in with anxiety and depression so forgive me if I don't trust doctors one hundred percent.