to think that people don't realise how tough it is being a GP?

[naima99]

My dad is a GP. He used to love his job, got home at a reasonable time and had more time to spend with his patients.

Now, he regularly gets to work at 7am and leaves at 9:30pm. He has no time for lunch a lot of the time. He hates that he doesn't have the time he used to have for his patients. He gets tonnes of abuse when he's running late but isn't allowed to say that he's late because his last patient was having a suspected heart attack in front of him, or that he had a child in front of him with undiagnosed diabetes whose life was in danger etc. He's lost so many staff members because they're all fed up. He has no life outside of work because he is working on the weekends as they're so short staffed.

He knows so many doctors in the same position.

Now I'm not claiming that GPs are heroes or deserve any more than the rest of us, but I hear them being slated so so much.

People get angry that they can't get an appointment, that the GP only let them talk about two medical conditions in a 10 minute appointment, that google told them something different so the GP must be wrong which results in complaints or anger directed towards them. I was on a conference call the other day when my colleagues randomly started slaying GPs and them not seeing people face to face during covid saying they need to 'man up'

I don't know if IABU to think that a lot of people don't quite understand that appointments in the surgery are such a small part of being a GP, and that it is a pretty gruelling job at times. Maybe I am just being protective over my dad as I can see him falling apart in front of me.

Does anyone agree or AIBU?

I completely agree. My husband is a GP and he does incredibly long hours. Even when he is at home he can’t switch off as there are emails going around about all of the latest updates and changes and CPD to do for appraisals and revalidation etc.

There is so much more to being a GP than the appointments with patients. Referrals to different areas in hospitals or community settings can take forever and even then can get bounced back again. There are endless admin tasks to carry out and boxes to tick for cqc.
I had been contemplating being a GP myself but having now seen the reality of it i think it’s an incredibly tough and emotionally draining job and nowhere near as well paid as the daily mail would have you believe!!

I hope your dad is ok. X

Completely agree. Two fantastic GP friends.

@HappyStar56 thank you. I hope your husband is too. It's hard watching from the sidelines isn't it?

I don't dare say the A Word to my dad!

YANBU I imagine it is an incredibly difficult job and have a lot of respect for GPs.

Incredibly important job in a terribly difficult time. Thank you to all GP's for their, mainly thankless, hard work.

Agree, husband is a gp. It takes over everyone in the houses life. Yet, he loves the status so would never give it up

It is a very tough with job quick decisions in a small space of time.
The newly qualified will leave to practice abroad if circumstances don't change.

Gosh YANBU, got to be one of the toughest jobs out there. We're very lucky in my village that the local practice seems to be fully staffed, I know that in some areas its incredibly difficult to recruit. I've a friend who now works for private sector as the stress of it was too much, constantly having to cover because her last practice couldn't recruit enough doctors.

Muddled my words above.
Yanbu OP.

They get paid a fortune though, so there’s no need to work long hours. Presumably they could work part time and still earn as much as a normal full time job.

@wizzywig my dad hates the status. When people ask him what he does he tells them he's a drug dealer for a laugh then obviously corrects them. He would rather people didn't know he was a GP though as he just ends up being questioned about their medical problems

I think it's hard for any of us to understand the pressures of a job we're not in. Many (all) GPs I know work part time and live comfortably. So while I'm not arguing with you about how hard it is, there's that.

I don't know any GPs personally but have always thought it seems a pretty thankless task. It's a bit like teaching in some ways - lots of behind the scenes work that people don't see, and the public "blaming" you as an individual for what are systemic problems that you have no say in.

Can I ask if GPs feel that their jobs are worse because of decisions made by the government, eg funding? Would extra money help or is it a different problem?

@naima99 It is very hard to watch from the sidelines. It really does upset me when I hear people belittling the job as I see just how difficult it is. So many things get bounced back to the GP - many of which shouldn’t.

People also don’t seem to realise that when they are running late it’s not because they have been relaxing in the staff room! They may have been phoning the crisis team for a suicidal patient for example. All of these things don’t fit nicely into a 10 minute appointment. I do hope it will make others think before they rant at a gp for running late.

Salary is good considering that GPs now have lower life expectancies than people in other jobs due to the stress, rising rates of suicide and mental health problems amongst GPs etc, my dad would argue that no amount of money can compensate for that. He often wishes he never went in to general practice or medicine at all.

*Salary is good BUT

It's not individual GPs people are "slating" , it's a healthcare system that they experience as disrespectful and dehumanising that their anger and frustration is directed at. Don't take it personally.

There is published research on the elements of the system and structures that make people feel disrespected and how that influences their behaviour.

@MinnieMousse I couldn't answer that as we don't really get in to that kind of conversation. Someone else may be able to answer that though.

I see more of the stress, anxiety, etc that comes with it. It's not nice to see at all,

so in a day you could deal with coughs, colds.....then junkies, violent patients, terminal patients, abused patients. It's not an easy job

@user1752463586 honestly, it really is individual GPs that get slated. They are abused regularly.

I completely agree OP, they are undervalued and unappreciated by so many people. I always thank the GP for their time at every appointment and I genuinely mean it. I can see by the number of people in the waiting room that it must be a constant stream of patients all day long. I don’t know how they manage to process it all, along with all the follow up work.
One minute they are looking at someone’s ingrowing toenail and the next someone who is terminally ill. It must be so incredibly stressful and all consuming. The amount of knowledge they need to cover so many different symptoms and illnesses is astounding.
I can’t understand people complaining about the way the GP service has had to change due to CV, it makes total sense to protect the surgery staff and in turn the patients.
I think the GP pay simply reflects the pressurised job they do and the amount of training they have undertaken. They shouldn’t be taken for granted, we are so lucky to have them.

It takes 10 or 11 years to train as a GP - longer if not going directly into it. Even part time GPs don’t do part time hours as every one I know is in on their days off every week.
There are much easier ways to make money!

I have close friends who are gps and they work part time and pretty reasonable hours considering the pay. Of course it’s hard work but it doesn’t have to be excessive and isn’t for many.

Gp's earn a very high salary. If the workload is too much then they need to go down to three or four days.

When I was applying to university studying medicine was seen as the ultimate achievement. I find it interesting that nobody in any of my older children's circle of friends has applied to do medicine (older 3 have all done maths/science A levels). The top choices are straight science/maths, engineering and law. It is such a grueling route to qualify as a doctor and I don't think the salary in the initial years compensates for the stress and antisocial hours.

YANBU OP, I recently met two wonderful, committed GP's who want out. One is returning to NZ and the other taking early retirement as his wife is a big earner. In both cases, they feel they need time to recover from burnout created by unrealistic expectations, stress and a tsunami of paperwork. I know another GP who is a senior partner and he uses some of his earnings to employ a locum to reduce his hours to a manageable level. It's madness that he has to do so to survive.

I think that many public-facing roles are becoming unbearable; medicine, teaching, the police force and emergency services. It's horrible and I wonder what it will take to change this.