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 sincerely hope you are not my patient, if you sit there judging and resenting me, while I do my best to do my very best for every single patient that sits in front of me, and purposefully not making any judgements on their life and behaviour. Why am I not allowed to be human, to judge, to get angry and pissed off, but every fucker thats reads the Daily Mail is happy to judge me.
Yep I'm angry and so are a lot of GP's now.

MaryAnn, he sounds exactly like my new Doctor, who's also very abrupt and rude. - Sure you're not at the same surgery?

At first I thought you meant that it would be a quick matter of quickly printing out a quick prescription, but reading through the posts, it appears that all the checks that needed to be done first could/would have taken up a lot of time.
So he is right in not doing it - but wrong in the way he went about telling you.
I wouldn't formally complain, but if he's abrupt again, then I would.
(Give him another chance.)

And as somebody pointed out - they get paid a really good wage compared to most of us, so it wouldn't hurt them to go above and beyond now and again.

As a matter of interest, how much does the average GP earn?

Just because they get paid for their skills, which is more than most, then they should go above and beyond?

I'm sure many do that but not because of their wages but because most are conscientious and good at their job.

Am I the only one whose biggest issue is that he gave out antibiotics despite not bring sure if they were needed?! No wonder we have such a problem with antibiotic resistance.

I showed this thread to GP DH earlier and he said that far from it being "unprofessional" to mention to a patient in OP situation that he has given up his lunch break to assess her urgent condition, he would have mentioned quite deliberately it as a "learning point" to the patient (if non Ungent matters were added in to the consultation).
A patient may not have looked beyond their own needs and thought about the impact on others...

GP's should be like the ones on Doctors, where they have EVERY patient on speed-dial and when there's a problem, you hear them say ''I think I'll pop in and see how Mrs so and so is doing, on my way home''.
Or, you see patients banging on the surgery door because they're late for their appointment and the receptionist unlocks the door and just 'lets them in'. As if!

Those writers definitely don't live in the real world :)

Patients at my surgery are told if they ask for an emergency appointment that it's just to deal with the emergency problem. They are usually extra appointments tagged on to the end of a full surgery and not the place for lists or "whilst I'd here" requests. If he examined you and then wrote a prescription and documented it all on the computer that will have taken longer than 3 minutes.

The GP sounds rude, but YWBVU to ask for a pill prescription on an emergency slot.

I think what people don't realise is that something that seems simple, the work of a moment, no trouble at all - is actually not always straightforward at all.

The pill for example. During pregnancy Blood pressure can go up, and this can persist for weeks afterwards. So BP would need to be checked. the combined pill can't be used when breast feeding, so feeding would need to be asked about. The combined pill is best avoided for 6 weeks postnatally due to blood clot risk. Doctors need to be sure that someone isn't pregnant when they prescribe the pill, so questions would need to be asked about sexual activity since the birth if the baby. I think this alone would take at least 5 minutes. You didn't have an appointment, you'd been squeezed in as an emergency, so adding 5 minutes on for a non emergency was not acceptable.

Also - and I'll admit this would probably just be me being a bit grumpy - I would find it slightly galling that someone who was ill enough to need to add to my already horrendous Monday workload, was thinking about having sex!

What happens if you have 3 problems, and its only by mentioning all 3 problems that the Doctor then realizes they are all linked and - is then able to make a correct diagnosis?

By telling the doctor all the things that are worrying you, (even though you are only supposed to mention 'one' problem), he/she may be able to build up a picture.

This whole 'compartmentalizing' each problem can't be a good thing, can it?
Time wise it is - but surely it isn't conducive to good 'Doctoring' - if there is such a word.

I did think she was keen wanting to get back into a sex life with a dodgy csection wound and a newborn! Lol

If you have three problems then surely you mention this when you are making an appointment and they will give you a longer one?!

Him missing his lunch is nothing to do with the op - in this instance he is a professional nod she his patient - if he has concerns over the work life balance and working conditions that is between him and his employer . If he is unhappy over the political arguments regarding the running and funding of the NHL then it is between him and the government which he might exert via his mp, his professional bodies, his regulators and lobbying groups etc this should not however spill over into his appointments with patients.

Whilst I am very grateful for all our doctors and nurses and the NHs that does not dispel the professional responsibilities that they have. - it's hard for a new mother with a possibly infected c-sec wound to get out - it may have been quite quick to sort the repeat - I always ask for them for my inhalers and have never had an issue.

Yes well that's what makes it such a hard job. We have ten minutes to hear all the problems, work out if they're connected or can be dealt with separately, work out if separate problems are urgent or can be left till next time, make a mental list of diagnoses, decide which oes are most likely, decide what tests to do to differentiate between them, come up with a treatment plan, explain it to the patient, and type it all up afterwards. Each consultation is like a little exam.

Maybe you don't want to tell the Receptionist your whole medical history. Maybe you want to keep all the 'private and confidential' stuff for the Doctor's ears only.
Some people are embarassed of their problems and don't want to discuss them with the Receptionist first.

Well funnily enough, we have ways of assessing and dealing with it. Maybe my 10 years of training and 20 years of experience are of some small use. I always ask them to quickly name the things on the list, or give it to me (if written) to scan. Because I am trained and skilled at my job, I can then assess whether they are unrelated or linked and go from there accordingly. So a painful knee, a skin lesion, a breast lump and depression, are unlikely to be related. But abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea, weight loss all may be.
See maybe our job isnt as bloody simple as everyone seems to think it is. Oh and I may do that kind of risk assessment 20 or 30 times a day. Every day. And if I get it wrong, well I have to live with that, as does the patient, I could get sued or struck off, oh and the *unt would quite like to tar and feather me I suspect.

And I have worked over lunch and after work for no extra pay without making anyone else feel uncomfortable let alone a customer.

maddening asking for inhalers which are on your repeat list and only require an annual asthma check, is totally different from asking for a tablet that you haven't had for at least 9 months and requires pre treatment testing and assessment.

You don't need to tell the everything.

"Could I please have a longer appointment, I have a few issues I need to discuss with the doctor and I think it will take a while".

Job done.

I think the lunch remark is a bit bizarre as no GP I know has a lunch break. I imagine it was an alternative way of saying a toilet break, because they are the only breaks I get, and I only take them when I'm so desperate I'm about to pee myself. There just isn't time to get everything done otherwise.

And my "salary" is very far off £100K. Once we've paid our staff and running costs, fixed the floor, paid all the bills etc etc etc, we divvy up whatever profit is left. And its not what the Daily Mail says!
Just out of curiosity I wonder what people think a fully qualified, experienced GP (say me, qualified as a doctor 20 years ago, been a GP for 12), I am supposedly part time but easily work 40hours a week?
What is it ok for me to earn?? When would it be considered acceptable?? 30K, 40K, 50K?? Please take into account, in order to practice I MUST be registered, MUST pay medical protection fees, my practice insist we have locum insurance in case I get ill or injured, costing me about 10K a year, before I start.

It really saddens me that I became a doctor to help people, I work bloody hard, have sacrificed my health for my job, give my patients my absolute best every day - and yet at least once a week there is a doctor-bashing thread on MN and I have to fight my corner.