To want to see a Dr at an appt

[Purplerayhan]

I can see a nurse, a care practitioner but a Dr? No. It's so frustrating. Without going into details, it's something that needs examining but because I called up with 2 non connected issues, I got told to lets see how the first one goes, they do a referral for a specialist, SALT oversubscribed team, to get in touch at some point in the future (no time frame given, understandable but frustrating) and they'll have a look at the hernia after that. Sorry, just frustrated. Why is ok for lower paid nurses and care practitioners to have to see patients face to face but not my Drs?*
*rhetorical

YABVU. The other medical professionals are well trained, qualified and care. My mum is a nurse practitioner and a damn sight better than many of the GPs, including some of the partners. Go, get checked, it will be escalated if needed by whoever sees you.

YANBU. The difference in length and depth of training, is huge, so if course if the issue is more complex, you would be best seeing a GP. I say that as someone who would happily see a nurse practitioner in some situations.

Yes, onetinyboat. I've no doubt that other HCP are great at what they do but apart from the fact that they are put more at risk by doing f2f whilst earning less, with less training how do I know they'll make the right judgement call. Just manly annoyed at the Dr trying to fob me off. If schools are back and pubs will be open soon, WHY NOT Drs. ni, still not any less annoyed now

A nurse practitioner is not necessarily paid less than a GP. Perhaps the GPs are busier than usual supporting pandemic related services (even though they haven’t seen you, they will definitely be seeing patients unless they’re not able to for medical reasons). Two problems needs two appointments - that is standard. If the hernia was the main issue it probably would have been best to start with that (fwiw, it doesn’t necessarily take a doctor to spot a straightforward hernia).

That's a problem with your specific surgery as mine are not like that. I've seen my GP 3 times face to face in the past 2 weeks.

Doctors are working. I've seen my GP twice this lockdown. They'll book you in if necessary. If your problem can be assessed and treated by a nurse then you don't need to and if it can't they will give you an appointment. I've had HCPs and nurses examine me and often they've successfully treated whatever it is.

They only have so many hours in the day and people whose problems actually require a doctor have to take priority. Snobbery does not require a prescription.

I hear you i rang the doctors the other day only for them to get a pharmacist to ring me back who asked for pictures ended up consulting a doctor and shuttling back and forth in the end it was a wasted hour because the treatment he reccomended was the exact same one that I was giving him and the same treatment that the pharmacist I went to see reccomended several days prior I ended up ringing again the following day insisted on a doctor and finally got some form of treatment all this faffing about wouldn't happen if I could actually see a doctor in person then they could see the rash is bumpy and dry they kept telling me it doesnt look dry well it does in person are you sure its raised? It looks a bit raised in the picture 🤦‍♀️

It's not snobbery to think that a person who has GP training is better placed to diagnose than a person who has had nurse training surely? If that's not the case, why have so many Drs?

YANBU. Nurses, no matter how well qualified, are not doctors. If this is the kind of problem you feel needs to be seen by a doctor then ring back and tell them that's what you want. You may need to start with a phone call, of course, which seems fair enough to me.

I know exactly how you feel and after being fobbed off since November I really got annoyed on the phone to my GP 2 weeks ago who then magically was able to see me.
I dont think anyone is saying that the issue is that nurses are less qualified but I genuinely wondered why they are able to see patients but gp's are hiding behind phone triage.
It's disgusting imo and I think things will be missed because of it, not everyone is a hypochondriac. Some of us know when we should see a Dr

Nurse practitioners are very highly qualified. In some cases more so and more experienced than GPs.

Yabvu as the problem is with YOUR dr ( and others) but making sweeping generalisations is crass and unfair and fuels the current hatred of GPs. I worked 14 hours yesterday, spoke to over 40 people and saw 18 face to face (everyone who needed it) not hiding behind phone triage..then did all the paper work on my day off today.. many people expressed surprise we were seeing people... not sure why.. ive been doing it since last march... and were very aggressive from the off fuelled by what they had 'read' not personal experience at all and came in looking for a fight.. to the OP .. have you tried booking a separate appointment for your separate problem ? It sounds like the first problem was managed appropriately in the time available for one problem.

As a GP, I've never worked harder than I have in these last few months. It is incredibly frustrating when patients seem to think that we are sitting with our feet up doing nothing when the reality is we are working flat out. We are trying to limit face to face contact with patients to reduce the risk of spreading around Covid-19. I have always been very aware that every time I bring a patient into the surgery there is a potential risk of that patient or others in the waiting room being exposed to the virus, and that is easy to justify if they are unwell and need to be seen face-to-face, but if it is someone wanting their eczema reviewed, or wanting me to look at their fungal toenail that risk is much harder for me to justify.
My advanced nurse practitioner colleagues do an excellent job, and make their own individual risk assessments for each patient. Some clinicians have a lower threshold for seeing patients face to face than others, but we all are trying to do what we think is right by our patients.

Everything @Didiplanthis said. Also, a good proportion of GP work can be done remotely, seeing face to face when an examination is needed. Whereas a nurse or healthcare assistant role by its nature tends to mean that their patients have to be face to face. It's nothing to do with lower paid staff being made to do all the face to face work. Bloods, ECGs and dressings can't be done remotely.

@Purplerayhan

It's not snobbery to think that a person who has GP training is better placed to diagnose than a person who has had nurse training surely? If that's not the case, why have so many Drs?

Have you seen the state of the NHS recently? It doesn't have "so many doctors" - there is a serious shortage of GP's and MD's in almost all fields. You obviously think your GP's have nothing better to do, and that nurses and other health care professionals who are fully qualified and capable are beneath you. So go somewhere else.

Genuine question to the Drs here - why is it only Drs that are .We are trying to limit face to face contact with patients to reduce the risk of spreading around Covid-19 when other HCP have to do f2f? Hospital consultants are seeing f2f. Teachers will be in f2f classrooms. Specialist teams doing in house assessments. It clearly isn't ALL GPs, but I just want to see mine.

To the person who said go elsewhere, I am...I'll be booking a private GP appt as, funnily enough, they are doing f2f.

Lots of hospital outpatients are now done by telephone or video by consultants, for exactly the same reason that GPs are doing them when possible. We don’t have big enough waiting rooms to have the volume of patients we used to have, due to the need for social distancing. My practice will see patients where it is necessary, in the same way that hospital doctors will. I’ve done home visits and seen patients face to face since last March. I don’t think it is fair to say that all GPs are not seeing people and all hospital doctors are seeing patients like normal- that just isn’t true. I’m sorry you aren’t having a good experience with your practice at the moment though.

I dont think anyone is saying that the issue is that nurses are less qualified...

But nurses are less qualified - or at least differently qualified, if some people find that easier to stomach - certainly less qualified in the practise of medicine than doctors.

I've no idea why anybody would find this offensive.

The nurse will refer you/ask a doctor's opinion if needed, I would be more than happy to see one.

@Purplerayhan

Genuine question to the Drs here - why is it only Drs that are .We are trying to limit face to face contact with patients to reduce the risk of spreading around Covid-19 when other HCP have to do f2f? Hospital consultants are seeing f2f. Teachers will be in f2f classrooms. Specialist teams doing in house assessments. It clearly isn't ALL GPs, but I just want to see mine.

The average GP has seen thousands more patients F2F over the last year than the average hospital consultant (except A&E/ITU/acute medicine). Many surgeons, for example, haven't been able to run outpatient clinics since Covid began.

GPs are trying to juggle being 30-50% busier than this time last year (NHS England figures) AND running the vaccination programme. 75% of vaccines given so far have been given by GP staff and it is GPs who have had to organise the whole thing. Face to face patient care is only 1 component of what we do. There is a huge public health and health management element, which most of the public are completely unaware of.

The average full-time GP has 2000 patients, plus all the demands of running the practice/referrals/paperwork/prescribing. That's a massive workload, even without Covid. A GP will typically have about 50 patient contacts per day. Yes, we're doing more by phone at the moment, but we are doing a massive amount of work - we provide 80-90% of all healthcare, for 10% of the budget.

The UK vaccine roll out is a huge success thanks to GPs and their teams, who worked over Christmas and every weekend (after 50+ hour week for anyone full-time). We have adapted everything we do to try to keep patients safe, and kept going throughout all. But all we get is complaints.

I would always rather see a nurse. I’ve had countless doctors give wrong diagnosis and nurses get it right and give so much better care

Nurse practitioners are qualified enough to assess many things people go to the GP for. It's hard to comment without knowing what the OP is being seen for. The nurse will almost certainly be a none medical prescriber.

I have seen the GP face to face a number of times for me and my children during the pandemic. I have also seen a nurse (who prescribed medication for me).

yanbu. I've had a serious and excruciating spinal injury since last june. I've had multiple phone calls and prescriptions but it is nothing like seeing, being seen by a GP and feeling actually cared for.

I have trained many, many nurse practitioners and can say without a shadow of a doubt they do not have the breadth of training of a doctor they tend to stick within protocols and need much more tome per consultation and even then often need support.
They certainly aren't good for diagnosing a hernia and deciding if it should be referred.
I can't comment on why GPs are declining to see patients face to face. It's annoying me too. I am getting many straight to hospital/secondary care referrals without patients being seen and examined in real life.
Many of these referrals could be totally avoided.