To complain about this GP? Long, don't want to drip feed.

[OriginalGreenGiant]

Ds1 (6) has had a minor sore throat for a few days but yesterday had woken up crying in pain, couldn't swallow, yawn or talk. I had a look and his tonsils were huge, felt his glands in his neck and they were like hard round marbles and he went 'ow' when I touched them. Felt a bit warm but no actual temperature at that point. So I managed to get a morning appointment in open surgery time and took him to see GP.

We waited over an hour for an appointment, in which time I could feel and see ds's temperature going up. He was tired and a bit lethargic and you could feel the heat radiating off him. So I stripped his top off and put him next to the window.

Anyway...in we went. The GP didn't look at ds at all when we entered, just maintained eye contact with me and asked his symptoms, then picked up the thing (light...magnifier?) and looked in ds's ears and throat. It's hard to explain how 'off' this seemed in words, but IMO you can tell quite a bit from how a child looks, so it seemed very odd that she didn't even look at him, let alone ask him anything.

So, she pronounced his throat red and ears fine. She then ran her hands lightly over his neck and said 'glands are normal' and took his temperature (in the ear) and declared it 36.8 and fine. Then asked me what treatment i was hoping for from then on .

At this point I could feel the warmth still radiating from ds so asked if she could test his temperature again. She gave me an indulgent smile and did...looked surprised and a bit shamefaced and went 'Oh it's actually 39! Sorry!'

I asked her about his glands and said to me they seemed very pronounced and painful. She felt them again a bit more firmly, ds1 visibly winced but she again said they were completely normal.

She then said that she understood I was probably hoping for antibiotics, but...and gave me a two minute lecture about the differences between viral and bacterial. I tried to politely interrupt (I'm not an idiot, I know the difference and had given no indication I was 'looking for' anti b's) but she was on a roll with her speech so on she went.

She then turned to her computer and brought up google, saying she would check if antibiotics were needed. She googled 'fever pain score', clicked on the first result and filled in a form. She said to me 'You can actually do this from home, to see if anti b's are necessary but obviously I don't mind completing it for you'. Well gee, thanks

She turned to ds (and just to point out, this was the first time in over 5 minutes in the room that she had looked ds in the face or spoken to him) and asked him 'So, would you say your throat pain is moderate or severe?'. Ds is a bright 6 year old but fgs, he's 6. He stared at her, obviously not understanding so she repeated it to him word for word. So I answered that it had seemed severe.

Anyway, this form came up with the result that antib's were recommended. So she completed a prescription after poring through some text book for a full two minutes to check dosage. And out we went.

It all just seemed so wrong. Other than the moderate/severe question, she didn't actually look at ds or speak to him/question him at ALL. I'm not a Doctor, but considering the painful marbles that are protruding from ds1's neck, I'm pretty certain they wouldn't be described as 'normal'. Plus add in the temperature mistake, and google telling her whether to prescribe or not.

I said to dh I feel like complaining. I know that Doctors are probably sick of people traipsing in kids with a sniffle at the moment, but ds clearly had more than that and I don't feel that she really examined or diagnosed him at all.

Dh thinks I'm overreacting. He is of the 'Aw come on, she's probably newly qualified or having a bad day' opinion...tbh I couldn't give a fuck and neither of those warrant not doing your job properly IMO.

AIBU?

Dalzell there was a public health education campaign a few years ago telling people not to ask doctors for antibiotics if they have a cold.

Patients ignored it.

So we have to tell them in each consult. Repeatedly. And it's very difficult to do without being accused of patronising, fobbing off etc.

Whoever was going on about the Daily Mail - you can be sure they are well in with the NHS PR people. So sort that out - ie, make sure the PRs are giving out the right messages - and let us, the public, know what we are supposed to expect. And what we actually pay for, in our taxes.

You are kidding, right? Have you read the Mail recently?

At any rate money for public health campaigns has been cut to the bone - and what does get spent is criticised.

I think with all the managers who are employed in the NHS now, some of them could (stop waffling ) and start putting up public notices

Please be aware that after five pm and all weekend, hospital doctors are a skeleton staff on call for medical emergencies and admissions only which are prioritised according to greatest need. This means they are not available to interview relatives or address minor concerns. Please speak with the nurse in charge if needed out of hours.

Please keep to the left and give way to health care professionals who may be running to emergencies.

Visiting is open but please remember emergencies may occur and HCPs may need to review/ assess your relative.

Yes, I agree with that, Idiotdh. Public notices. There are loads of different means of communication - relying on patients to be telepathic and then berating them when they're not is a particularly poor one.

JassyRadlett, if the armies of PR people are not talking to the Daily Mail on a daily basis, what on earth are they doing?

Roomsdoom Spot on.

Roomsdoom, can you say what action you're taking? There are a lot of GPs on MN, and if they all took effective action, they could make a difference nationally.

Always try to improve things...that includes patient communication and information.
For e.g
Booklet from GP Surgery re how to make appt, when they cover until( 6.30pm) and what happens afterwards( out of hours ) and who to call.
A reminder that the Dr can only assess things at that particular consultation, and to return or seek medical advice if things worsen.
Outline who to make a complaint to.

Yes I'm curious too roomsdoom, what are you doing to improve GP and save the NHS?

I think we should ALL demand better - better resourced primary care. For all of us.

There's no point in 'blaming' individuals on either 'side' of the consultation.

And those who have the power to change things have no interest in doing so .

I'm out.

Hotbuttered The government have it in for all public sector workers, not jus GPs. Teachers have been under the cosh for years. Gove in particular has consistently undermined and belittled the profession until it has reached the point where almost anyone can start a teacher training course of some kind, whatever their academic standards. The fact that 40% of teachers leave teaching within 3 years says it all.

GPs are not the only victims of government.

The examples I gave were of a user of a GP service finding its practices unhelpful. I can't see what is unreasonable in that. I don't expect to wait at least 45 minutes after an appointment time. I lose pay to go to a GP appointment. I can never get them out of work time so have to ask for LOA. If it is 45 minutes plus later than the appointment given, I lose another hour's pay. Why is it unreasonable that I find that unacceptable?

Why is it unreasonable that I think in the 10 minute appointment I get, which I only use 3 of, the GP could look at my ear infection, rather than me having to make another appointment which is what I have to do? I then lose another lot of pay. NHS free at the point of delivery? My prescription costs me the prescription charge (no problem with that) and two hours lost salary because I can't get appointments out of work time. I can't go to a walk in centre for the presciption because they won't do regular prescriptions. I have no choice but. to take leave of absence. Why am I unreasonable to find being kept waiting between 45 minutes and 1 hr and 20 minutes than my appointment time unacceptable. A two month prescription costs me over £100 with my lost salary added in.

You are all about you and full of self- pity. Go and do something else if you can't look down from your pedestal and think what it feels like to be the user of GP practices - which often seem to be run for the convenience of practice staff. The NHS exists for patients, not to provide you with a job that suits you.

Other professions work as hard as you for much less money and in poorer conditions.

My GP is lovely, I just rarely get to see her. I would never criticise her as a GP- she is fantastic. However, the ways of the practice drive many patients mad.

Wow are we now having a who has it worse competition. I have massive sympathy for teachers, police, nurses, I DO NOT come here to tell them to get a grip and stop moaning because they earn more than the minimum wage.
Shall I moan here about the 2 days off work I took, to and fro my DD1 secondary school trying to sort out frankly ridiculous uniform issues (amongst others). Shall I moan about the deputy head with the worse case of bullying little man syndrome I have ever seen (and if thats how he talks to parents, he is far worse with students, and has no business being in teaching). Shall I moan about the head of year, who is about 12, and clearly has no idea what to do with a bored, high achiever.
Fucks sake, we start off with a GP bashing which progresses to the usual overpaid, greedy, useless fat cats, and now onto the you should be bloody grateful to serve the public with your humungous salaries, because everyone else has it much worse, so just shut up and serve.
I am so sick of it. The British public will sadly get the health service it seems to want, am just very sad that myself and my children will have to use whatever comes next.

Macdoodle...it's really incredibly irritating especially the pensions change and retirement age of 68.. Most drs are burnt out way before that, so effectively most drs won't get their full pension.

Individual patients do value GP service immensely. Sometimes they don't understand how it works and when to go back and what happens behind the scenes.
It's absolutely disgusting how the govt introduced the new contract taking OOH away from GP control , then decided it was a mistake and tried to call GPs lazy for not working weekends.

But macdoodle, it really doesn't help the ordinary person to witness public servants being at each other's throats, blaming one another. Someone has to stand up and take responsibility, at least for their own little area of work within public service.

macdoodle Nothing of that was said in the post you were referring to. Have you just deliberately decided to get the completely wrong end of the stick?

If your working conditions are bad, it isnot the fault of the patients, especially not of people like the OP who bring in heir young children to be assessed.

please tell me if I'm mistaken, but you are protected very well against violence, threatening behaviour, unreasonable complaints and also lawsuits in case you mess up and wrongly diagnose. Much better protected than teachers!!

Now you're having a vicious go at that profession, to retaliate. classy.

Typos galore.

I have consistently had aggro from GPs about writing sick notes for my dc which are required by their schools. They are at state schools!

We are treated with disdain and rudeness on a regular basis, threats and aggression not unusual. Complaints, mostly frivolous, many (eg I couldnt see Dr X on Tues at 12:10pm, they only offered me an appt at 11:20). Demanding behaviour the norm.
When you say well protected, what exactly do you mean?
We have panic buttons in our consulting rooms, at our cost.
We have medical defence unions for which we pay personally, for a full time partner, about £10K/year.
The health authorities and the GMC are notoriously anti GP.
What protection do you mean? It must be something I am unaware of.

GP's do NOT write sick notes for schools, it is NOT a NHS service.

If the school require a GP letter for sickness they should write to us and pay for it. It is a waste of our time.

Being asked to write sick notes for schools is another reason that the service is so stretched. Just because a child is ill enough to be off school doesn't mean they need a doctor!

bma.org.uk/practical-support-at-work/pay-fees-allowances/fees/fee-finder/fee-finder-what-to-charge-your-patients
www.calderdalelmc.com/3/post/2010/01/requests-from-schools-for-sickness-certification.html

But nobody tells the patient this! Even while I'm in with the GP, they don't say: this isn't the correct way to do this. They are just rude and unpleasant. Why not give me the info? Why not tell the schools?