Why are people avoiding the doctor?

[Howdidido]

Based on this article but also my GP keeps putting out messages saying call us if you need us
Are people avoiding the doctor because they're scared of catching CV or dont want to put strain on the system or are people really just not hurting themselves as much?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/23/accident-and-emergency-department-coronavirus-hospital-serious-conditions

@Whycan'tIthinkofagoodone

When people know that all 'routine' treatments in their area including investigations, surgeries and cancer treatments have been stopped due to preparation for COVID..

And received texts from their GP surgeries, told the doors are closed, not to attend and to call only ..but not with possible COVID symptoms (which can also be signs of serious non-COVID illness) call 111 if you have those..

Do you think everyones going to assume it doesn't mean you shouldn't call your GP if you have a mole or feel dizzy sometimes?

They were told not to call GP if have a fever or a cough and chest pain?

That's why senior Medics are so concerned now and predicting widespread deaths due to the cancellation of so many services and the fact it is apparent now that many very non-COVID but seriously ill people are not presenting for help.

Sorry if I have been upset anyone. I was just going by own local surgery which has said it can not offer face-to-face appointments to anyone at the moment. I'm glad to hear other people have had better experiences with their GPs.

@framebyframe- 'I find it a bit sad that while other keyworkers are out there driving buses/serving customers/looking after children of NHS staff etc, the GP's are hidden away at home doing phone appointments. Some have even refused to visit care homes because of the health risks. Isn't that what they are trained and paid for? Pretty shameful really.'

That's total rubbish. The GPs who are working from home are those that need to shield themselves (newsflash, some GPs also have chronic illnesses) or have symptoms of corona virus themselves or in a family member. The other GPs are in surgeries working. All surgeries switched to telephone consultations/ triage for the obvious reason of reducing the risk to patients and all staff. Most of the patients seen in General Practice are elderly and/ or have chronic health conditions making them at high risk. The approach is very much for their benefit and patients themselves understand this and are keen to keep away in the main. Home visits are still undertaken including to care homes where necessary. The patients in residential care are at particularly high risk. GPs were also further down the pecking order when it came to PPE being given out and there were significant delays. They clearly do not want to put themselves or their staff at high risk of contracting the virus due to inadequate PPE.

I hope patients themselves will start to feel that they can contact the GP now because serious illnessess are clearly being missed, mainly because patients are not presenting.

@Blobby10- can you call the GP surgery back and explain that you have a mole that has changed and that you are worried about cancer? I expect they will fit you in if you make that clear to them.

Our GP is definitely available if needed.

DSIL manages a care home and she has had a GP out for residents, didn't mention any problems with GP's not attending when needed to prescribe.

The daily coronavirus updates (Scotland) have been saying for weeks there has been a huge drop in demand and they are concerned people aren't going with mild heart attack/stroke/cancer etc symptoms. They have been emphasising for weeks GPs are available and noone with concerning symptoms should avoid contacting their GP. There is even a TV ad saying contact your GP if you need to.

Covid case are being dealt with via NHS 111 so your GP is free to deal with all other concerns. Just go

I phones my gp yesterday re my 5-month old developing what i thought was eczema.

They phoned me back and talked through symptoms, then sent me a text link to upload a photo. I did, they received it immediately and confirmed eczema, and sent my a prescription for hydrocortisone cream to the chemists opposite for me to pick up straight away.

They said that if it didn’t improve in 5-7 days, there was a portal on their website to upload more photos and say what the ongoing problem was, and they would call me back with an updated prescription for hydrocortisone + canestan and to have a quick chat about any concerns i had. I thought it was an excellent service, and for this sort of thing preferable to the traditional visit.

The receptionist at our GP surgery is usually on high alert for people wanting to speak to a doctor, but seems to be in over drive at the moment

Called a month ago and got the scolded for calling, then she suggested speaking to a pharmacist.

Persistent to a fault, I asked very politely, if I could be considered to be put on the list for a medical professional to call me, if not too much bother

The nurse practitioner called, and was that the receptionist didn't put the call through to the duty doctor.

Am wondering how many people in the community are dying because they don't wish to, 'bother the doctor,' or who can't get past the receptionist? I live in a very diverse area where a significant percentage don't speak English as a first language, which is concerning.

Sorry the thread hadn't loaded properly and I didn't realise there were more than 4 replies 🤭

We are calling everyone, doing a lot of video consultations and we have a system where patients can send in pictures - I had loads of dermatology yesterday - lots of people having eczema flares! Please call up about your mole - they might be able to assess via photo / video but if needed will bring you in with suitable PPE for a look. Please don’t risk it becoming more serious by leaving it - this state of affairs could carry on a long time and melanomas can spread quickly.
Quite a few of our GPs are pregnant or in shielding categories so they’re set up working from home, and one of the rest of us will see face to face if needed, luckily it’s a big practice.

I have no idea how but I hurt my back a few weeks before lockdown. 2.5 weeks ago it wasn't any better, I've had it before and I know it takes a while to recover. This time though it hasn't, I phoned the surgery and got a telephone appointment and.was prescribed stronger painkillers and text exercises. 2 weeks on and it's worse so another appointment and I'm on diazepam. The GP has been good and both days were a Monday. Just call, they are minimising contact and only seeing those they need to.

Because we get regular texts telling us not to even call the GP surgery.

I work in a care home and the GP isn't visiting due to the increased risk to our residents. They are however phoning every couple of days and our GP round is done by video call. We have needed to phone them regarding residents and she trusts our judgment of trained staff knowing them well. We were immediately able to get through to the GP and get urgent meds.

We're still holding hospital appointments but over the phone and sending pictures/video calling when necessary as they cannot wait for our residents. Again, they are trusting our knowledge and assessment, just like they would at a face to face appointment.

Personally, my GP has had a telephone system in place for ages so there is no change to how we access them except they have allocated time slots to collect prescriptions. It has always enabled us to get seen quicker so hopefully it'll help other surgeries and patients too

My next door neighbour is a GP and still drives to work every day. She does phone consultations from the surgery and only sees patients when necessary--the patients are told to come in. Sitting in a waiting room is just not a good idea at the moment.

I needed antibiotics for my 84 year old housebound mum.
Did everything you are supposed to. Went to chemist first and bought over the counter meds. Chemist said if what he sold me didn’t clear it then would need antibiotics from GP and to phone the practise.
Didn’t clear up and in fact got worse so rang surgery only to find surgery closed and everyone was working out of a different surgery in the group. Rang them after 30 minutes or so listening to their telephone music spoke to a human who put me on a list for a call back.
7 hours later got that call back, telephone consultation and told prescription would be emailed to my local chemist and I could pick it up the next day. Did so only to find that the antibiotics needed were in short supply. Given a half the prescribed amount and told to come back next day for rest. Went back next afternoon still no delivery of antibiotics, Told to come back next day. Did so and the chemists was shut. Have no idea why as no notice on door aNd still within their stated opening times. Went back this morning and finally got the rest of the dose which was just as well as I had run out of what was given on Tuesday.

4 trips out, 3 lots of waiting in line and finally I have the full course. Mum is lucky as I can do the running around And chasing for her but what of those who don’t.

Both DH and I have phoned our GP in recent weeks with requests for repeat prescriptions and have received call backs within hours. My DH takes anti-anxiety meds and normally the GP asks a couple of questions before prescribing another dose, but this time they had a very long chat with DH about his anxiety, triggers, other ways to manage it, etc. It actually seemed the GP had more time than usual to chat, and was using this opportunity to engage in more detail with patients than they normally can within a 10-min appointment.

There is no way I would go to the gp right now unless absolutely urgent. I do not want to expose myself to possibly catching the virus. If they are visiting care homes even more so

I've had a lump in my armpit for over 8 months, it has been growing slightly as time has gone by.

I did go to see my GP early March, because I was concerned. The nurse said she would refer for it to be examined further just so we can rule anything serious out. I was told that I'd get a letter in the post about this appointment but I haven't heard anything back since..

The GP’s for my f’n’law’s nursing home have said they are not entering the home and will only do video calls. My husband bumped his head and was bleeding a lot as he is on blood thinners. He’s also a diabetic so not keen to go to A&E...local GP would not even speak to us let alone see us. We just wanted to know if serious enough to go to A&E or not. Ended up paying local private GP £135 to look at him.

Chase that up Zaara. That really needs to be seen.

Near the start of lockdown my DH had a call to go and have a blood test. He was the only one in the surgery and they took very stringent precautions. He then received a call that he was going to have an urgent 1-week referral to hospital. A few days later he had a call from the GP saying that hospital's dept was closed and he was doing an urgent 2-week referral to a hospital further away. A week later he received a call from the hospital with an appointment for a telephone consultation. He has now had that and all that happened was they told him they would send him an appointment to physically see him in 3 months time. Pointless.

I’ve had a letter about taking DD for vaccinations in two weeks. I was surprised they were still doing them but I guess it’s important things like this carry on otherwise there’ll be a whole load of sick children to deal with too!

I haven’t bothered as the only thing I need is a smear test which they aren’t doing as they cancelled the one I had booked last month when they closed the surgery to face to face appointments. They are obviously still offering telephone triages though for those who need advice.

Our surgery has set up its website so you can order a prescription and/or provide details for triage.

Absolutely brilliant, response within 48 hours for non urgent stuff by phone with advice, same day video or in person consultations for urgent stuff, prescriptions sent to pharmacy within 48 hours.

On-line due to data protection used to require a visit to surgery with passport and two bills proving address. My logon details never worked and they wanted passport etc all over again to try and put it right. This was for data protection reasons.

I find it quite extraordinary that almost overnight my surgery has gone from a dinosaur dosed in inefficiency and almost impossible to access if one works full time to something that is user friendly and effective. If it couldn't be done six weeks ago why could it be done between 23.3 and 28.3? What exactly was stopping this level of efficiency?

It is so much better than spending 45 minutes on the phone to reach an unhelpful receptionist who tells you all the apts are gone and you can phone again tomorrow. Or having to physically deliver a prescription request because you weren't subscribed to the on-line route despite completing all the paperwork once already.

Genuinely interested to know why the impossible has become possible from any GPs on here.

Finally last Friday my friends dad had chest pains and felt faint and dizzy. Ambulance arrived in 20 mins. Hospital reviewed and he had a triple by-pass at 7pm at a major London teaching hospital. Bloody marvellous. The ICU sister phoned twice a day and the Dr every other day. He should be home this weekend with community nursing and GP support.

My mother, who is in her eighties and with some medical conditions, needed a doctor this week due to very severe pain in her hip, rendering her immobile. Various attempts were made by the GP via telephone consultation and prescription painkillers but nothing seemed to work. She was hardly eating either which was quite worrying.

The GP said that they couldn't come out to her (my Dad is shielding, so best to have as few people going into their house as possible), but now had no choice but to send an ambulance. That came and she was looked after very well and efficiently at a hospital that is usually very busy, but now finds itself surprisingly quiet.

Another close family member has probably had Covid 19. Told not to call their GP. The advice was not to call 111 either at that point, but to visit the website. The website said simply stay at home. They were quite distressed and struggling to breathe so did actually call 111, only to be told to stay away from hospital, stay at home, and no ambulance would be provided unless they went blue and floppy. Fortunately they are slowly recovering, although still struggling a fair bit. They were made to feel that they should not be contacting the NHS at all, not even via the GP.

I think the stay at home message has been rather too successful. It has been very forceful, and has also unfortunately given the impression that the health service is not open for business. They are just about beginning to address that now.

My doctor has the virus