GP Bashing

[Arealmanithink]

To think this was really unnecessary and politically driven? Why? Just why?

Daily fail link. Sorry

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2840252/Why-fear-GPs-NHS-s-problem-not-solution-surgeon-J-MEIRION-THOMAS.html

I'm afraid our gps practice is dreadful. Extremely rude receptionists, impossible to get an appointment, if you call one minute outside the allocated time, they refuse to speak, but you can never get through during the allocated time as the phone is permanently engaged. Never the same doctor twice, often rude and patronising. Usually a locum, have thrice been prescribed drugs no longer in production. It was the same in my last two practices.

Maybe it's a London thing. My dad, a former GP, very well regarded by his patients in his practice up north, is just appalled by the practice he now visits down here. And GPs do get paid a lot more than he used to. I am envious of those of you who visit good practices.

Sorry, I think hospital doctors get the worse deal for far lower pay. I am only speaking from my experience, but the gps I see don't get my respect. We never go now, and only take DDs if they are really ill. I feel sick if I ever have to make an appt, I know it will be incredibly stressful.

With respect to your dad, the job he remembers as general practice has changed out of all recognition.

And I (hospital doctor) earn more than all my mates doing GP. There are a small number of partners doing v well but with surgeries going bust all over the place, no-one wants to be a partner anymore.

Btw apologies if you are a good GP. I guess i can only judge by my own experience, which has been negative, but I'm sure you are not all like that. We are just always so polite to both receptionists and the doctors, and it is upsetting to be treated badly. I usually leave feeling depressed. My job can be very stressful, but I am never rude to anyone; I would expect the sane from gps as well.

There are many things going wrong with GP services - including a lot of patients who feel the need to let the GP know they have sneezed! But at the same time some Gps certainly contribute to the problem.

The treatment from our local GP of my son has been so bad that his consultant has now told me not to take him to the GP but to go straight to A and E - this is a waste of a and e time and resources for something the GP should be able to deal with easily. Unfortunatly this is the only GP in the town which isn't in a 'chain' of about 6 others and by all accounts the service at the others is even worse so moving GP isn't an option.

Rabbit, you really can't blame the GPs for prescribing unavailable drugs. Pharmaceutical companies often have "manufacturing issues" with really commonly prescribed drugs with no notice. Sometimes I suspect for dubious reasons (e.g. to force GPs to prescribe more expensive alternatives) yet another example of things GPs have unfairly dumped on them.

Thanks kundry. But my dad was on call every few nights, visiting patients in the snow at 2am, when people didn't have phones. Is it really that much worse now? Maybe it is, I'm interested. My cousin, who is a GP, seems to have a lot of free time and is extremely wealthy, so maybe I have a skewed view of the situation. Am happy to be persuaded otherwise though. If it is proving hard to recruit, then there must be something wrong with the job I suppose.

Thanks brotherhood, that's useful to know. I take my comment back then. I guess it's the rudeness and lack of compassion that bothers me, which is perhaps making me less understanding of the other issues. But I take your point on board, thanks.

Rabbit I think when your dad was doing the on-call stuff, the job was more satisfying because he really knew his patients. The job was geared in such a way that you could get to know the whole family and take the time to be a part of their lives. This is what patients still want, but GPs now can't offer that, because they are trying to deal with people like Sirzy's son, who 10-20 years ago would have been managed exclusively by hospital consultants who were specialists in his condition. It's not satisfactory for anyone, but healthcare has changed beyond all recognition.

brotherhoodofspam

I was curious too. He works in private practice in loads of different places. Rather makes one suspect that NHS work might not be his priority.... www.finder.bupa.co.uk/Consultant/view/10575/professor_meirion_thomas?ql=&fhospitalNetworkId=

I'm a hospital Dr and I greatly appreciate my GP colleagues.

Does this idiot not realise that his life as a hospital consultant would be a great deal worse if there were no gps

GPs are gatekeeping hospital resources. They are keeping hospital services from being over run by those pesky 'worried well' people. Who can in fact be quite hard to tell from actually ill people!

Does he think those people with 'social problems' not worthy of his attention will just go away. No- he will have to see them himself and see how he likes it.

Or perhaps he can go back to the fabulous US system where some people can pay to see a specialist and have unnecessary investigations for their 'CT negative headache' whilst others too poor to pay can get nothing at all.

FFS

Broccoli - 20 years ago when my sister (severe asthma under hospital care for management) had a bad attack the GP would prescribe rescue meds which meant avoiding trips to hopsital except for the most severe attacks.

Now if I take my son to the GP with a severe attack they either proclaim he is fine or prescribe 2 puffs of ventolin three times a day and simple linctus - this for a child who their records clearly show has 5 puffs of ventolin morning and night as standard. Every time this has happened he has ended up getting worse within a few hours and ending up in a and e/admitted. If the drugs had been prescribed by the GP that could have been avoided.

Unfortunatly for whatever reason too many Gps seemingly can't/won't read notes, or even listen to the parents and look at the whole picture before deciding on a course of treatment.

Ironically the only GP who has ever taken us seriously with his asthma was the OOH GP who is was my former GP before he retired. The difference? - he listened.

That's really interesting Million, and not at all surprising. Most of the NHS consultants I know are supportive and appreciate the efforts of their GP colleagues. It would be good if people knew his "credentials"

I saw a doctor on the news the other day saying GP is the least popular speciality now above only pathology and something else related to pathology. Seems strange when they are meant to be well paid and no night call outs.

Thanks broccoli, again, useful to hear. Maybe there was more job satisfaction then, though he did find it very tiring even then.

The people who are contributing most to the problems in the health service are the neurotic fools who keep pestering their GP or A&E when there is nothing wrong with them

I see a lot of it.

It's also true that GPs are doing things now that would have been for hospital Drs in the past.

10yrs ago when I was training we were seeing people for routine diabetes check ups like lampy in the outpatient clinic and that would never happen now.

I'm in older people's mental health and we used to keep on all our dementia patients for a 6monthly check lifelong but no way can we do that now. With the ageing population we just don't have the resources. It was nice and I'd like to still do it. I hate to discharge them and they all say 'but who can I ring in a crisis?' Of course I tell them they must go to their GP (who can never discharge them!) or A&E so is it any wonder that the people we passed the buck to can't cope either.

My GP surgery is fucking awful. The GPs are lazy and ignorant, and rude (likewise the receptionists). There's no practice manager to complain to, and you cant email a complaint because they don't accept emails, it has to be in writing.

I'm in my early 40s. I had the same GP all through childhood, til I moved just before he retired 13 years ago. The service he provided (open 8am til whenever the last patient needed seeing, daily home visits, would always see you same day or at worst the next) bears no resemblance to the pathetic semblance of service given by my GP, no appts before 9 or after 6 (I once had a 6pm appt, at 5.50, I was 10-12 mins away in traffic. I phoned the surgery to say I might be a couple of minutes late. Was told GP wouldn't see me. I arrived at 6.03, surgery in darkness and locked up. Would it have hurt to wait 5 mins...certainly my old GP would have.

I'm sure someone will tell me how overworked and underpaid my surgery are, that's why they give completely contradictory advice, and palm mist work onto one nurse rather than doing it themselves. Oh, and probably why they never read my notes, or even know who I am.

It's not just me. I've a good friend who lives in a different part of the country. She's been to her GP repeatedly for gynae problems. On the first visit she was told it was because of having had her DC late in life. She has no DC, has never been pregnant. The next visit she was told it was her long term use of the pill (she's never taken it). There are many such mistakes.

The only decent treatment I've received in the last 10 years was in A&E. If we had a family planning clinic in our area, i wouldn't bother with my GP at all.

mirena coil apparently cures everything

Why IS that?

My sister gets the mirena coil suggested to her everytime, so do I?
Why?

Is it the cure all for all women? -or are they told to push it--

That's interesting hidden. I must say most of my friends/colleagues have similar experiences to me, ie they are too scared/stressed to go to the GP. It sounds ridiculous typing it, but it's honestly the truth. I suppose us not going releases space for others to go, and we're not dead yet, so maybe we didn't need to go in the first place. Who knows?

I don't want to gp bash, and only feel negatively because of the way we've been treated. I have had good experiences at my dentist so feel no need to criticise, but bad experience with eg a courier company recently, so feel negatively about them. As I say, when I think about having to make a GP appt, my blood pressure rises and stomach starts to churn. That feels wrong.

I got the hard sell on the mirena too.

And then in the depo injection when I said no to mirena.

I asked about the patch and was told it's very unreliable and falls off if you have a shower (and then doesn't work). Bullshit apparently. But it's expensive so that's why you don't really get a choice...!

Only one GP at my surgery that's a bit of a twat, the others are brilliant.

The receptionists have been ok with me but with DH have bee awful - but a chat to the senior receptionist and she's insisted that we go through her and will be addressing some of the problem we've experienced.

The female GPs in particular have been utterly brilliant.

Bizarrely he seems to want specialist nurses, but complaints about GP surgeries where you won't see the same GP. Yet our surgery does this to enable you to see someone who has a greater specialism in your area of illness.

And who exactly is going to fund the diagnostic equipment he complains that surgeries don't have?!

I got the hard sell on the mirena too.
And then in the depo injection when I said no to mirena.
I asked about the patch and was told it's very unreliable and falls off if you have a shower (and then doesn't work). Bullshit apparently. But it's expensive so that's why you don't really get a choice

Lots of GP's and OH's of GP's on here.
Maybe they can tell us.

I can't say any more for reasons of anonymity but I'd firmly ignore this moron's opinions. Trust me on this. I know general practice intimately without being a GP myself and not all the riches of the world would me do this thankless job.

And oh some GPs are twats. Funnily enough, just like in every other profession, there are some twats.