AIBU to expect to be able to email my GP

[billysboy]

I am having a bit of a time with my 80yo Dad atm and I am amazed that the NHS does not seem to communicate patient to doctor via email choosing instead snail mail which I would have thought is no more secure and certainly not as quick for booking of appointments and results

I want to email my Dads GP outlining the situation so that I can be sure that nothing is lost in translation from the receptionist to the doctor and or back again

I have been told I can write in but no email available WTF ! its 2018

Imagine the size of a gp's inbox

Fax them. If you can find a fax or emulation software, that is.

There's huge data protection issues around email (see all the data losses/hacks over the last few years) not to mention the actual time it takes to wade through emails that people send a lot more freely than a physical letter.

Some clinicians don't mind and will communicate via email with a disclaimer that you understand that it really isn't secure but not all.

Why not write a letter this time and include your email as a way to contact you?

When I was working we had to use a fax to contact GPs as they would not accept emails.

It does seem a bit odd as other NHS staff in hospitals etc use email.

Email isn't a secure form of communication. Hugely frustrating, but that's the rationale for it. Most GP surgeries will accept faxes though. If wish to contact the surgery frequently, then you can subscribe to a service like this one and send faxes from your computer

www.j2global.com

There is no problem emailing our lovely GP.

He has a very busy surgery and actually encourages people to contact him in this way for test results etc

I've been asked to email my go from time to time

GP

The NHS has a secure email system.
I use it to communicate with my GP and various consultants about my condition/test results. I have given them permission to send my medical documents to my "unsecure" (non NHS) email and it has never been a problem.

NHS staff are only allowed to email patient/confidential information via NHS.net to another safe haven address (Just .net and .gov I think). Some doctors will still refuse to email for different reasons, ie not having medical records to hand, lack of admin time or because they prefer to communicate face to face.

My GP allows emails to be received, but never responded to. E.g. repeat prescription request, they will print the prescription but never reply to say it is ready. You just have to guess.

All letters are scanned into their systems. Emails are not. Suggest you just write in (keep a copy)

For every email that genuinely needed to be sent to the GP there would be 20 “just a quick question” type emails that would be better dealt with by a bit of common sense or 111.

And it would be a receptionist going through the mailbox filtering out the ones the doctor actually needs to read, so still risk being missed by human error/misunderstanding.

I work in a GP surgery and would imagine some patients will be constantly emailing the GP if they had their hands on an email address. GP's don't get enough time in a working day, appointments, referrals, correspondence from outside agencies, blood tests, house visits, telephone consultations, medicals, medication reviews, reading and actioning mail, answering queries from staff and signing prescriptions, maybe a bite to eat at lunchtime without responding to emails from patients.

Not a reasonable request.
They'd end up with such a ridiculous amount of incoming communication that they would struggle to actually be a GP.

And they'd probably get the same issue we have in schools ring ring. Hi i emailed Dr Blogs last night about... but they haven't got back to me. When did i send it? Oh about 9pm. But it's 10am now so they've had over 12 hours. Could i just talk to them? Yes, i see they have clinic. Well could you ask them to give me a call on their lunch break?... ... ... Hi, I was expecting a call back from dr blogs at lunch but I've not heard anything and it's not 5pm. I'm not terribly happy that patients aren't coming first.

And then fhe MN thread: I contacted GP about... Obviously it's important but clearly they don't see it that way. Firstly they didn't reply so I had to call up where the receptionist was absolutely no use at all. I asked the Dr to call me at lunch and they didn't. It's not like I'm asking for their whole break. So having still heard nothing I called back at 5pm to hear that clinic has finished and they've gone home.
AIBU to think it doesn't take much to actually contact the patients you are supposed to care for?

i get the need for not swamping a GP with smaller items but what about the NHS offering appointments via email rather than post as an option

God no!! Can you imagine the 3am emails sent or as pp above the multitude and deluge they would receive!

No!!! Poor gps!

So you would get emails like this:

Dear doctor

I’m having a few chest pains .....

Ring and ask to speak to a medical secretary and see if you can email them instead. We are more than happy for patients to email us and we will pass it on to the GP. This ensures the email gets scanned onto the patient record and is dealt with with the other incoming mail. The GP can then decide whether to email you back - ours often do, but then it’s their choice.

I was told at our surgery that the GPs don't use emails as they'd get a lot of spam and advertising as well and wouldn't have time to sort them all out.

Yes YABU. Think about the amount of back and forths, potential for data breach, wrong information, incorrect diagnosis, filtering what MAY or may not be able to be discussed via e-mail... the list goes on.

My GP's surgery does a lot of things by email, it is very useful and can be done.

We have a practice email that patients are welcome to send information to but we are only able to reply to .nhs emails.
I'd happily let patients have email access to me if we were allowed to see an hour less of face to face appointments daily to deal with them and a secure system for doing so. Can't see it happening to be honest.