To think that we should cut doctors a little slack sometimes...?

[Latitia]

Now I'm not talking about doctors who are outright rude and obstructive. I know they're out there and there will always be people in every profession who don't act in an appropriate manner.

I'm talking more about not shouting and making a fuss when the doc is 30 mins late (could have been dealing with a child who can't tell them what's wrong or an emergency), or because they don't agree with your 'google diagnosis' and refuse to prescribe the medication you think you need etc etc.

I was in the kitchen at work the other afternoon and some colleagues were making comments such as 'what do docs even do in between patients anyway, faff around?' Etc. I just find it all a bit mad. My father is a gp, and whilst he is clearly a very good one, the abuse he receives is heartbreaking. Bricks through his windows for not prescribing tramadol, screamed at because he's running 20 mins late due to an emergency, hate mail because he cancelled his surgery because his car was entirely snowed in and tailbacks of 30 miles. He gets this almost every day.

Do our doctors maybe deserve a little more than this? Or am I being too soft simply because he's my father and I hate to hear of people abusing him...

People are becoming less patient and more "entitled" in general - I work in a pharmacy and there is not one single 4 hour shift where I have not been shouted at.

Usually because someone has put in their prescription request to the doctor - "it said it should have been ready yesterday" nope- it simply added 2 days to your request date to allow the doctor time to sign it -

sorry - we don't have it - it's a to-order item or a controlled drug, or... or... nobody's fault, but obviously I am the front line... anyone in the front line gets shouted at repeatedly by people who either do not understand the system, or do not care about fellow human beings.

Dreading the first - prescription charges go up by 20p- per item. "No not per prescription", "No it is not an April fool", "yes you have to pay it today" - and the hard one - "I ordered it before the increase"...hmmm, but it was dispensed after...

NOBODY should have to take any abuse, no matter how much they earn. Can't believe it was even suggested.

I've seen a lot of drs in my time and I'll never forget the ones who have gone above and beyond. The registrar who did my c-section and saved ds's life came back to see us a few days later to check we were both OK and to say he was sorry that I didn't get the vbac I wanted. Then there was the gp and practice nurse who dropped everything to sort out my other ds when I brought him in with an asthma attack. And the HV who helped me when I had pnd and health anxiety. She had the patience of a saint when I phoned her multiple times with daft pfb worries. Not forgetting the medical secretaries who probably get more abuse than the consultants just because their phone number is easily available.

I think it’s very difficult for doctors to keep to 10 minutes per patient and update notes; if they run late it must cut into their lunch breaks or home time however when they’re late and you’ve got one of the first appointments it does surprise me a bit.

@user1493413286 you should try not to be surprised by it. Doctors are often at work an hour and a half before the surgery opens. Anything can happen in that time.

@TenancyTroublesAgain yep I was a little taken aback by that comment I must admit...

But people who left school with 2 GCSEs and an STD could do the job

Absolutely love this!

I'm moving house soon and I am quite sad to be leaving my brilliant GP surgery. They have seen me through three pregnancies and numerous miscarriages and have been utterly fantastic with my DC. It's a training practice too so I've also seen my fair share of fresh faced GPs who are just starting on their careers. I think I'm going to write and thank them

You are not being unreasonable, but it does drive me up the wall when healthcare professionals refuse to listen to what I'm saying.

For instance, I wound up yelling at the last nurse I saw because she wouldn't listen to my repeated explanation that a side effect of my autism is that I'm hyposensitive to pain, and have trouble identifying it when I AM experiencing it, and kept prodding me for information on whether it hurt or not, despite me repeatedly trying to explain that I didn't actually know.

That made me very distressed, because I couldn't work out how else to communicate it, and didn't take into account the fact she might not be listening (because she's a nurse, it's her job), at which point it's hard to control my tone of voice.

And then she told me to calm down, which really did make me annoyed, because I knew I was edging towards a meltdown, and calming down would be lovely, but it was her behaviour that was making it difficult to do so.

If you saw me coming out of an appointment you'd think I was a dreadful person, but the truth is about half my medical appointments seem to go that way. I'd love it if it were easier to find out which professionals are willing to believe people with extra needs, and if people were a little less judgey when they see an adult struggling with their emotions.

@Chouetted a very close family member of mine has aspergers. She has had similar issues and I entirely agree that this area of health is poorly understood by many medical professionals. Sorry you went through this. By the sounds of things you didn't receive the level of care you should have.

Ds has seen some amazing Doctors and has on more than one occasion been the cause of the delay.

However I do wish our GP would quickly read his notes or at least listen to me when we go in - he is a brittle asthmatic so no simple linctus isn’t going to cut it and as he has 5 puffs of inhaler at a time anyway prescribing two won’t touch it either. On more than one occasion we have ended up in a and e as a result of the GP not listening and prescribing the medication he actually needs!

@Sirzy what a shame. As I've said a few times before, if the care is genuinely poor you have my full sympathy.

@AgathaMystery
👏👏👏 great post.
I work with GPs and complaints almost kill them and make them want to quit. Not because they deny the complaint, it's the guilt they feel if they make a mistake. To err is human.

I find it distressing when the stupid and entitled demand attention for imagined conditions, and then ignore the advice that doesn't involve large scale Rx of prescription painkillers for them to sell. My NDN is a GP.

I work in the NHS so am biased....but I genuinely don’t get some people’s antagonism to GPs. Fair enough if something really has been fucked up or missed. But a lot of the griping about having to wait 20 minutes or kicking off because they won’t write you a housing letter or prescribe antibiotics for a cold.

Also getting shitty when a receptionist asks for a very basic one-word description of what the problem is - they can then work out if it’s a same day issue or something that can wait. Genuinely don’t get why there’s so much hate for that. Would you be happy to wait a week for your sick child or your conjunctivitis because all the urgent same day appointments have been taken by people wanting repeat prescriptions, housing letters or to discuss a chronic condition?

@OCSockOrphanage absolutely. I've heard of people going to the doctors for knee pain 2 days after running a marathon, or because they have a minor symptom but know that in 1 in 10000000 cases it could mean they have a rare form of cancer. I think google is mainly to blame however.

@Latitia

I've worked as GP receptionist, I totally understand where you're coming from.

In between surgeries GPs do phone consultations, during which they make notes and then they add whatever action needs taken to their long, long to do list for the end of the day. Sometimes they're delayed because they're waiting on an ambulance for a patient - can't really call the next patient into the room when the person already in there is having a heart attack.

I love my gp practice. I had one doctor who saved my ds1 life when he had meningitis at I weeks old. He even phoned the hospital to ask how he was later in the evening. He then would fit ds in for appointments to help me deal with all the issues that came after.
The nurse that has just dealt with my ds1 with his boosters he refused to have them at school he has autism and making him would be bad so we took him to the nurse and she managed to persuade him to get them done.

Public service is misunderstood and it is both pilloried and glamorised in equal measures
Folk watch Holby ,24 hours A&E,OBEM and think that gens them up to definitively comment
I also think also many people don’t get the pace and complexity of NHS and Social care and are too critical. Often behind the scenes what’s unknown is another urgent piece of work has caused a unavoidable and necessary delay
The demands upon public services is huge,and complex

@LipstickHandbagCoffee absolutely. And it's not just the NHS. Areas such as law enforcement are just as complex and stressful!

Your right in what your saying because even though you've said there are rude drs there are also really good, nice drs that are probably running behind because they care about the patients needs

Completely agree most folk don’t know what police,paramedics,OT,SLT do
Police spend a huge amount of time supporting social care and NHS staff eg welfare checks, Safeguarding,liaison with health & social care. Assisting in MHA. Cops don’t get the credit they’re due,police work minimised and often maligned
Social workers are hugely skilled and frequently maligned.Not all SW work in children services or remove children on a whim.But there’s a fair few sofa sw out there

I always think a GP who is running late is the sign of a GP who has taken time with their patients to throughly explore the issue and explain it to them.

That’s a good way to look at it

I hadn’t a discussion with DP about people’s attitudes towards GP surgeries and their waiting times recently.

A few years back I had a horrible time with my mental health after a few months of physical health problems. I had a complete breakdown at work and had to phone my GP practice with my manager there. GP phoned me back and signed me off work effective immediately, moved appointments around to fit me in and give me a double appointment. When I arrived there I totally fell apart, I was howling and on the floor completely and utterly inconsolable. That GP dealt with me fantastically in both a short and long term situation. He never suggested my time was up, he never tried to move me on or out before I was calmed. He got my other half in and gave him my prescriptions, explained what was for what and when and why. Explained the referrals he was making. I was probably in there for an hour in total. All of his appointments would have been running behind, there must have been other patients getting irate. He probably saved my life that day.

I will never, ever complain about GPs running late again. Ever. Because I will always remember the things that GP did for me in more than a 10 minute appointment. I will always think of every other person who could be going through the same or worse that also needs that time.

I’d rather a GP ran late and cared for their patients than have a GP who stuck in their 10 minute slots and let people through the cracks.