To wonder how many times GPs get it wrong, and risk someones life? for the sake of funds??

[lisad123]

Had a call from friend earlier today to say another friend of ours has a tumor on her spine. GP has fobbed her off for ages :(
Same happened with dh, and my gp misdiagonised gallstones and sadly i ended up very unwell.
DD2 we were told had a virus but instead she had pnemonia, and so spent a week in hospital.

Cancer seems to be the thing they miss most often, especially if you dont fit target age ect.
I always feel GPs dont refer or do tests because of funding and people are dying, getting very unwell because of it.

Why is it everytime I go to GP, the first thing the do is look at the pc, read what previous GP wrote and say the same thing? Sometimes the first one is wrong

I have no complaints at any of the treatment from my gp. For example,i was on medication for high blood pressure but started feeling dizzy and ill. The gp sent me for 24 blood pressure monitor, heart scan thingy and ecg all within a couple of weeks of me going which showed actually it was my longer term anxiety causing my blood pressure to shoot up at the surgery and my blood pressure was going way too low at home on medication. He stopped medication and they take it into account now.
He is actually a little rude tbh but as a doctor he is fine, i dont want to be his best friend but i am happy to go there when ill.

We have had little niggles with things, my husbands treatment when he had a minor operation was not exactly great but tbh nothing major and my mother who had multiple serious illnesses in her life had fantastic treatment all round until she died.

hiddenhome, you've clearly had awful experiences .
I'd like to think you would still be able not to tar us all with the same brush.

Hidden I think that's quite unfair, the referring for tests is costly for GPs and doesn't happen easily ime.
I have respect for what they do but sadly from experience I lack the trust in their ability (not every GP, just mine)

Like midsomer m, I just got in from my working day at 10pm, to read that we're all crap! No that's not exactly what's said, but that's how it feels when you're shattered.
All the stories here about how a marvellous specialist saved you, miss the point that we spend a lot of our workingday sorting out all the crap that the hospital andthe marvellous specialists were too busy and imprtant to do,so we have to restrict your appointments to 10 mins to deal with all our paperwork.

Lisa, referring for tests is not costly for GPs, it's costly for the NHS.
Unless the system is more different between England and Scotland than I am aware of?
I thought fundholding had died a death, rightly so IMO.

Oooh, I hate things like this! I'll be paranoid forever now. Saying that, when I had a funny mole my GP checked ALL my moles (not even moles apparently. Naevus, anyone?) and when DS had a UTI he was immediately referred for a scan just in case.
But I've been convinced for a long time I have an truly ace GP. The receptionist suggested I change when we moved but I pretended my phone had lost signal and avoided conversation since. I'm staying, you try and stop me, lady!

Our GPs are very good, we've all had excellent care. When DS was ill, he was referred immediately for an urgent appointment. He had textbook symptoms for a paediatric brain tumour.

It was the bloody useless registrar that we saw at hospital that was dismissive, arrogant and insisted it was migraine. We were sent away with a prescription for migraine medication and a follow up appointment three months later. DS got worse and worse. Five times I rang him during that time asking to come in earlier and five times I was fobbed off. I even said I thought he had a brain tumour and he laughed. I was on the verge of taking him to A&E when I managed to get a cancellation and thankfully we saw a different registrar who realised immediately how ill he was and the wonderful NHS swung into action. We were lucky and he made a full recovery but I still see news articles about children dying from misdiagnosed brain tumours 16 years on.

So if your DC ever have these symptoms please go to the GP and do not be fobbed off:

Sudden clumsiness - DS could have tripped over a pin on the floor and had bruises all over his legs from bumping into things
Headaches, particularly on waking or in the morning
Vomiting for no apparent reason - and then asking for a packet of salt and vinegar crisps five minutes later
Double vision - this was one of the later symptoms, he didn't say anything but he started covering one eye with this hand so he could see properly.

Sorry for the long post but I take any opportunity to raise awareness.

Dogwood in which case my GP is a lier as well as crap!!

I have both personal and professional experience of GPs

I also know what goes in to conducting a full bodily examination and what they should be looking out for and this just doesn't happen anymore. The old diagnostic skills are dying out in favour of just making an 'educated' guess or referring for tests. I've seen it done time and time again.

My dh's GP keeps fobbing him off regarding prostate cancer checks after both his father and grandfather died from the aggressive type of prostate cancer. All the GP told him was to go away and keep an eye out for symptoms By then it will be too late!

I have also seen a Registrar operate whilst still under the influence of alcohol and an anaethestist give carbon dioxide instead of oxygen then leave the room to answer a telephone call to his wife to discuss the new sofa they were buying.

I've also been seriously sexually assaulted by a paediatrician when I was 12 and a gynae registrar whilst 40 weeks pregnant.

Don't talk to me about doctors

I'm horrified at some of the vitriol aimed at GP's here.

Unfortunately, they are human and make mistakes. They see so many patients while working long hours. Common things are common So unfortunately a gentile child won't immediately be diagnosed with leukaemia. When you hear hooves, you don't think zebras!

I am a hospital doctor and I think that most GPs do a Stirling job in difficult circumstances.

I am rubbish with the whole political side of health care, lisa, and pay v little attention to it. I may well be wrong . Let me rephrase what I said: in Scotland, referring for tests does not cost the individual practice direct money. Ulitmately, everything comes out of one healthcare pot, so if we all went mad on MRI scans at the drop of a hat, then nobody could get any hip replacements. Or summat.

I think I need to go to bed - my seems to have evaporated .

Buster, good post re warning signs.

febrile not gentile, stupid phone

We are no longer allowed to make an appointment to see our G.P. We have to leave our details with a receptionist who then passes the info onto the G.P who then phones you at some point during the day to assess your need to see him/her over the phone
Theres nothing like receiving that call when you are at work or in the middle of Tescos. You might aswell phone NHS direct and get the same crap answers.
As for home visits, do they still exist?? I dont think so in our area, having spent 7 weeks fighting the surgery to get the G.P to visit my 96 year old Grandmother who is in the latter stages of dementia and is doubly incontinent. It was made very clear that we were being a bloody nuisance and was only when i threatened to contact the local health authority that they suddenly arranged the home visit. She has since been diagnosed with cancer which we already new she had thanks to Dr Google.
I could list the disasters from our G.Ps within the family but would need to spend far too long on this topic
Is our practice the only one that does this with appointments. I presumed it was nationwide

Pacific you're right - in England too, we don't directly pay for tests, but they are starting to audit what we do so that we can be told to do fewer tests, referrals etc

Hidden what checks would you like him to have? Sadly there isn't a reliable check for future prostate cancer.

Pacific, we pretty much have fundholding still, except within groups of practices rather than individual ones. So we're under more pressure than ever before to save money and avoid referring to secondary care. It's a nightmare. But hey, my 6-figure salary cheers me up......ha ha as if!

Whilst GPs should always listen to patients and consider that in their decision if they sent everyone for tests the NHS would be bankrupt in days, they have to use their clinical judgement and whilst they may not always be right they will be in the majority of cases.

The GPs I work with are in a very deprived area with high rates of illness and substance abuse. Often patients can be unreasonably demanding and offensive yet they continue to not only do their job, constantly train so they remain up-to-date, train young doctors in general practice, battle mountains of paperwork but to still remain compassionate.

Oh, gawd, yes, audits and fecking QOF/DESs here too, but surely targets are for Robin Hood, non??

Sleep tight Pacific, ready for another great day tomorrow!

A pharmacist here wanting to back up the GPs. I have the absolute privilege to be a colleague and friend to many. They have the best interests of their patients at heart and are trying their best under very difficult circumstances.

Of course there are always bad apples, but this does not reflect the profession as a whole.

I know there is no reliable test for prostate cancer, but he could still have an examination and PSA test to obtain a baseline. I am aware about false high readings, but if a baseline was obtained at least it would be a start. They need to keep an eye on him.

Btw, agree with the statement upthread that private consultations should be notified to the GP. It is considered standard practice and I would be concerned if it wasn't happening as the GP needs to be aware of it to be able to provide a proper service. In our practice we receive letters every day from private doctors detailing their consultations and it is always scanned onto the computer

My GP had a massive go at me because I asked to be re referred to cardio team as my symptoms had changed in two years since I saw them. Gave me massive talk about how they discharge you, then get GP to re refer you and it costs them money so he would not refer me. Sadly I ended up in A&E a few weeks later so got to see cardio anyways and now under harefield team instead of local.

Do you think my practice just doesn't scan in the letters? I have a copy of my records, and none of them are there.