GP is forcing me to go for an appointment

[alwaysprepare]

Don't like going to dr's or hospitals, never have. Moved to a new town and was told I need to have a dr appointment if me and the kids are to be accepted.
What would they find to refuse us a place? If I have cancer or an infectious disease, does that mean they won't accept us? Why is this linked to my children who do not have an appointment?

I ask because I have had 4 GPs in London over 15+ Years and have been advised to do a check up with the nurse, but never once obliged to take this appointment or else...........

Also, we are just not sick people. We had the usual coughs, noro, etc, nothing you cannot treat with over the counter medicine. Been to the hospital for a broken arm, but do not go to dr unless it's an absolute emergency- I am talking post baby years here. Still all this was no problem with previous GPs, they only saw us when we made an appointment. It seems like a waste, when that time could have been given to someone who actually feels they need it.

Seems ott to me. We are always told how run ragged gps are, so why on earth see anyone who isn't ill. Yes maybe a quick check with a nurse to tick a few boxes, but it's hardly like the old days when it's a family Dr who will see you every visit anyway.

That said I do think you need to sort out this aversion op. I've had extensive treatment and spend half my time in hospital or gp waiting rooms, it's no fun I know but nothing to flap about.

Btw, many practices are now considering stopping NMP/have stopped them due to lack or resource and struggling with demand.
Personally, I think it is a shame because it can be a nice first contact to get to know a new surgery and what processes it has in place for, say, appointments, prescriptions and emergencies.

This is obviously the policy at the surgery, and it seems more than perfectly reasonable to me. And the surgery should not and will not-have to justify that policy to anybody. It affects your children as you are their legal guardian and sending a couple of 10 year olds in on their own to have a welcome chat with the doctor would be ridiculous. It makes no difference whether you visit the doctors frequently. I once went 20 years without seeing mine. And unfortunately illness can strike the healthiest of people unexpectedly so the fact you do not see your gp does not matter. My advice would be to visit another surgery and ask on the admission policy, but I think it will be similar across the board. As others have kindly pointed out, if visiting a surgery is such a big deal for you then that is not normal, and you can get help, but you are just seeing it as an attack on you.

I think it's unusual, in that I've registered with 5 GPs in the last 10 years due to moving and never encountered this.

I also struggle with medical appointments and wouldn't be thrilled at an unecessary one, ideally such an appointment would be optional. They'll already have all your history, I'm not sure why meeting them would be mandatory.

alwaysprepare I am assuming that you want to register your DCs with a GP in case they do need access to a doctor at some point in the future, even though they are healthy now and have not needed one for 3 years. Although the NHS is not perfect it is still an amazing service that we have access to. It is your choice whether to register them or not. If the 'price' for registering with that GP is to attend this initial appointment then you may need to just get on and do this. However, if you have a genuine phobia about going, rather than just being challenging, why don't you call the surgery and explain your fear and why you are finding it difficult to come in to register. There may be a way around this. It might be worth a try.If it is genuine fear of attending on your part then you might also want to discuss with them how you would manage should one of your children become ill and you HAVE to take them to the doctor or hospital. For non urgent matters It might be that your children can have more contact with the school nurse, during term time at least. I wonder what they would do for someone that was physically unable to get in for a registration appointment?

'Personally, I think it is a shame because it can be a nice first contact to get to know a new surgery and what processes it has in place for, say, appointments, prescriptions and emergencies.'

All readily available online or via leaflets. No wonder some people can't get to see a gp for 3 weeks if their time is taken up seeing perfectly well people.

CheeseandOnion - so you think the GP just wanted to weigh your SIL and have a go at him? If he wanted to take the piss out of someone fat, then it's a long winded way of doing it. If your SIL is overweight then maybe his GP actually gave a shit and thought he could advise him to lose a few pounds now rather than a few stones down the line...

it seemed like an excuse for the doctor to weigh him and start having a go at him about his weight......

Aka 'giving healthy lifestyle advice' and a heavily promoted governmental requirement on GPs.

OP - what about routine appointments such as smears?

Is there a walk-in centre near you? If there is, you don't need to register yourself or your kids with a GP - you can just go there if you need to see one. Also, most pharmacists can give adequate health advice for minor things.

I get that you don't want to be treated like a naughty kid and resent being told that you just have to shut up and obey, when something actually isn't necessary and is a matter of box ticking - so here's how to get round it.

No wonder some people can't get to see a gp for 3 weeks if their time is taken up seeing perfectly well people.

NPM are usually done by nurses or health care assistants as I said above.

Surgeries are struggling to provide enough appointments for many and complex reasons amongst others an increase in demand, more complex medical conditions being managed in primary care without increase in resource and a nationwide lack of GPs.
The crisis in the NHS you hear about on the news is here, now. And it is affecting all of us. AND it will get worse IMO.

Pretty sure the information the GP gathers from you goes towards calculating the GP funding. Certain conditions that require long term care can qualify for extra funding, GPs get paid extra for completing standard data as well like BMI and blood pressure etc.

It is also a source of puzzlement to me how many people do NOT look at the surgery website or read the leaflet or deny being given the leaflets (we now require a signature to confirm receipt...).

'Pretty sure the information the GP gathers from you goes towards calculating the GP funding'

Yes I'm sure that more likely the reason.

So now I am left with this pressure that nothing must go wrong again or else my kids have no GP.

The only person causing that pressure is you.

If you have a phobia then explain that to the receptionist. Perhaps a phone call could be arranged first if it would help ease your fears. There's nothing to be ashamed of, it's a mental health condition and they can support you in getting help for it.

If it's not a phobia then give yourself a shake and get on with it. It's the health of your children we're talking about here, it's not just you that you're potentially causing problems for.

It would be great if all new patients could have an appointment with GP to discuss their health and get to know each other.
In our surgery a health care assistant does all the "New Patient Medicals" i.e.asking tick box questions and filling in form.
A waste of time IMO.

I had to have a check up. They only check weight height bloodpressure and ask questions about lifestyle.

OP, you could contact the Patients Association helpline to see if you really have to comply:

www.patients-association.org.uk/helpline/advice-and-guidance/

I wonder if there are advocates who accompany patients who are afraid of doctors? Surely there needs to be such a service? There's a charity that needs to be set up, I would think.

All children are super healthy until they're not. That sounds silly but children can get ill so quickly (and better so quickly too).

I was feeling smug recently about how healthy my children are and voila DS breaks bones in a stupid accident. Ok, so we needed the hospital rather than a GP but you see my point.

Best to register when you don't need it than have difficulty when you actually do.

And my surgery doesn't do new patient health checks. Probably lack of capacity in a major city.

I have to say u do get where the op is coming from. So two questions to those who deal with this please:

1. Are GPs allowed to essentially make this appointment a condition to entry on the list?

1. If a person attends the appointment but refuses to fully cooperate can that legtiminately be used as a bar for entry? So for example refusing a urine test, declining to be weighed or declining to say whether they drink/smoke.

At my Medical centre you register with one GP, as a family. You are seen by your new GP ad a courtesy appointment for want of a better word. Nothing sinister. Go and then that's it and you won't have to go back again.

You only have to go to the appointment to register
You do not have to agree to being measured/weighed/blood pressure or any tests. You can decline those, if you wish. They'll want a questionnaire though.

alwaysprepare - I can see your point, but if the GP surgery has a rule to see new patients (and that that triggers a request for your old records) then they have to abide by it.

BUT you could phone the surgery, ask to speak to the practice manager and explain your phobia - you say you don't have a problem with nurses?. Ask if you can fill the form in online for you and your kids or collect a form to fill in. Clearly that won't meet any requirement they have to take BP/urine but they might waive it if you speak to them. Most GP surgeries would be only too delighted to register a healthy family young family.

If they are oversubscribed, they'd probably rather only accept patients who turn up to appointments when they are booked and who aren't bolshie with them, if they can get away with it. They might also rather like an idea of what to expect from their patients generally - genuinely healthy, or blindly heading towards an early grave - and what their patients expect of them, so that they can better manage expectations. If you haven't visited a GP in years, your patient notes are hardly going to be hugely helpful to them, are they, in working out what your actual state of health is? How are they to know if you are genuinely healthy or just phobic about doctors and harbouring all sorts of nasty medical issues?