to complain about this doctor?

[MaryAnnTheDasher]

I had a c-sec 3 weeks ago. Today i noticed it had opened slightly, called surgery, no appointments but they called me back and said come in, a doctor will see you. So far so good. Went in, the doctor had a look couldn't tell me if it was infected or not (said gynaecology was not his 'thing') but prescribed me antibiotics anyway. Fine by me as cannot afford to get ill with 3 small dcs. I had been in there about 3 mins max, and i said as i am here could i have a repeat prescription for my pill (was planning to make an appt this week to get it anyway but rarely would you ever get an appt for sooner than 2 weeks away) he told me that because of me he wasn't having a lunch hour and so no he wouldn't. I was gobsmacked by his rudeness and said ok well i would have preferred you hadn't seen me if it put you out that much and he repeated the same thing about his lunch hour. I do get that for 'emergency' appts they might have that policy and i would have been a bit disappointed if he'd told me that but i would have been fine, but i think this was whole extra level of bloody rude! I've had this doc once before when i went for advice about PND and he completely brushed over what i said and asked for my opinion on the new colour of the waiting room. Would i BU to complain or am i being over dramatic?

I wouldnt have done a rpt pill check in an urgent appt either. I probably would not have been so abrupt depending on quite how horrendous my day was.

What would you like the outcome of your complaint to be ? Because all these complaints about being rude/ not getting what you want is why you will often just get a standard sorry letter. It just completely devalues and loses the impact of a serious complaint.

Yes I would absolutely complain.

Whether or not it was an emergency appointment, you are within your rights to ask for a repeat prescription and he is within his rights to refuse (I imagine) but for him to be so rude is out of order.

He could have said "I'm sorry but you'll need to make another appointment for that as it requires me to do some tests etc".

No excuse AT ALL for rudeness.

Bloody doctors, always wanting to eat at least one morsel during their usually long working day...... so unreasonable, eh?

You should be the one looking at the bigger picture here - you're being unreasonable. The emergency appointment was for your emergency.

No excuse? Maybe someone was having a heart attack next door, and the psych was waiting for him to go and section a patient? And he kindly squeezed the op in between sorting them out, and she asked for a pill?

Hmm I don't see how an operation wound directly relates to gynae - he should be able to tell if a wound is infected :-/ He doesn't sound great. Though in my doctors, there is a sign to say only one health issue should be raised in each appt, and more so with short emergency appts - I would never ever do this tbh. However there is never a need for rudeness.

I thought one appointment one problem/person is pretty standard? And understandably so.

As someone who works in the medical profession if he doesn't eat that time he wouldn't have change to eat at all all day and it's very hard to work like that. I often don't have chance to go to the toilet. Yabu to ask for more than the SOS appt was for.

Wow, thanks all! Just to be clear, it was the rudeness of the doc's reply which bothered me, not the fact he said no. I do understand the appt was not scheduled but if you don't ask you don't get! However, i won't be complaining about this fella, think I'll just steer clear of him whenever i go for future appts if poss.

Ta!

Sirzy I think the one appointment, one problem thing gets unreasonable with some practices where it can be absurdly hard to book an appointment in the first place. However, I wouldn't necessarily say it's the fault of the doctors and of course it's not applicable in the OP's em emergency situation.

YABU to ask for prescriptions for another matter, it is not as simple as print and sign. Checks need to be done, weight, BP etc, it is a separate consultation in itself (with practice nurse). The number of people in my clinics who add "and while I'm here" for non urgent things is infuriating and has a knock on effect to other patients waiting, and inevitably my only 30 min break in a 9 hour day.
YADNBU re his rudeness however. Absolutely no excuse for that. And either a wound is infected or not. No need to be a gynae specialist to assess that.

Wtf? I'm amazed some posters think that what he said was acceptable! It's not directly your fault he isn't getting a lunch break - his surgery should manage appointments better - and what a shit bedside manner to tell you too! So rude. If the pill stuff would take too much time he should have just said that and asked you to make another appointment. He was rude and unprofessional and I would complain in this situation.

GPs can't run out of emergency appointments. We have to see people if they need it. We don't have emergency appointments for the staff to hand out. Once our appointments are full we triage all the requests and see them. Usually anything from 1-3 extras a day for the duty doctor.
Oh and what's a lunch hour?
If he is a salaried doctor or a locum then he may have been getting fed up at having to see extras. Some surgeries really abuse their locum doctors and get them doing too much. As a partner you just have to get on with it.

He should not have been rude though, there's never any excuse for that.

I wish all patients would listen to the one appointment one rule thing. I have had patients bring up to 10 issues to an appointment. I don't mind if there are 2 or 3 things but I prefer if a patient says at the beginning as then I can prioritise the time if they give me a quick description of what is wrong. The annoy ing thing is spending 10 minutes dealing with one problem really well and then getting "while I am here doctor" and it's usually the worrying symptoms that come out then.

Why complain?
So that the doctor gets "told off" by his boss? So it goes on the file? So a lot of official paperwork has to be completed to show that the complaint has been investigated and dealt with? So paper and printing ink and postage can be paid for to send you a letter of apology? So that a busy surgery has even less time for seeing patients and even less money to spend on patients and even less willingness to squeeze someone in?

You got seen, he was a bit short but hardly verbally abusive, he was probably stressed - let it go?

My gps' surgery does emerg appts twice daily and I've been told they have no spaces before. Either way, I think complaints are best left for serious things and not just someone snapping a bit, but yes, I've avoided drs I don't like when possible before, there's no harm to that.

I've met a couple of gps who are 'squeamish' about gynae/ 'women's problems' and their attitude has wasted appointments, their time and mine, and left me feeling worried and unsure what to do.

This is what his comment feels like to me.

I get the no second issue thing, but I may well have asked on the grounds that he didn't deal with the first issue so I may as well get something useful out of the appointment ! However, if he's been more polite, helpful and generally professional, I would have returned the favour.

Btw I'd gps we're easier to see or get an appointment with, I think the general public might be a bit more understanding of the rules of appointments. I heartily dislike this attitude of setting patients and gps against each other when there is a policy issue.

Great way of ensuring that the government can continue to dismantle public healthcare without being held accountable.

Emergencies are seen as "extras" and most days my DH gets no lunch break, if they are a Dr short due to illness, no breaks at all. There are only so many hours in the day, and only so many GPs there to see you. The pressures on primary care are huge in many parts of the country - actually at breaking point.

How rude was this Dr exactly? Or was he just a bit short with you for bringing up a routine matter (which would have required spending more time with you) at an emergency appointment? Maybe his previous "extras" that lunch hour had not been particularly urgent and he was not in the best of moods (GPs are humans too you know).

I think from his POV he's gone the extra mile and seen you as an extra, probably giving up the last available 10min of lunch break before afternoon surgery... And you took a lend of the situation by doing a "while I'm here doctor" and bringing up a routine contraceptive matter!

My GP has a policy that you are only allowed to discuss the 1 problem during emergency appointments - the appointment slots are usually only 5 mins vs the usual 10 as well.

I think that might be why your doctor refused the repeat prescription but I do think it was a bit rude and unprofessional to mention missing his lunch break!

In retrospect, i can understand better why he was so 'rude'. I think i was probably more upset because i caught an infection after my first c-sec which triggered a number of events which contributed to my first episode of PND. I am 'highlighted' at the gps as high risk for pnd again and in my head i was actually really worrying about this, especially when he said he didn't know if it was infected or not. So it didn't occur to me to not ask about the pill, i was in auto drive (also sleep deprivation killing me!) and i guess i just wanted him to give me a break and give me the pill so i didn't have to drag dc to doc another day. All completely illogical and therefore unreasonable! i am a huge fan of the NHS and totally respect the hard work gps do and will continue to do so. Feel quite bad for snapping back at him now!!

OP I think that's s good decision :)

Finding a GP you get on with is really important. My GP is quite blunt but I like her honesty whereas I surreptitiously stopped making appts with my named GP because he is quite chatty and vague and I felt like I never got a straight answer.

Chalk it up to a personality clash and concentrate on your lovely new baby!

Oh, and I'm sure he's seen a bazillion postpartum women and will realise it is hormones, stress, lack of sleep,etc so I'm sure you didn't hurt his feelings.

Some pills wont work when on antibiotics anyway, so he may have needed to look up the rules for tbe specific one etc.
I think gps do have to realise the patients may be busy too and that to a patient it makes more sense to bring several issues.
Maybe you work in town but gp is by home - taking time off work etc.
Also the times we are offered for appointments is when dd would be napping so not much fun for other patients in waiting room (im surprised drs can hear in the room)

I'm sorry Loletta do you pay 1/6 of your take home pay in medical protection fees and registration just to be able to do your job and protect yourself from being sued and complaints?
If you feel ill because you didnt eat, tired and rushed and trying to deal with 3-4 complaints in 10minutes (because well its so much more convenient than waking a baby up), if you make a mistake because you're trying to do everything at the patient's convenience and demand, could it possibly have horrible side effects, and possibly cost someone their health and life. Not to mention being sued if you do make a genuine mistake which will haunt you forever.
Does every single decision you make mean the difference between health and illness, does every wrong decision mean you could miss a cancer, a meningitis, a heart attack. Does every single thing you do take every ounce of concentration and clarity of knowledge and thinking you have. All the time every single minute of every working day?
No? Until then, until you do my job every day for 10 years, DONT you DARE judge me. I am sick and bloody tired of it. I dont judge you for doing your job or any other well paid professional, I assume they have trained for ans earned their "salary.