Utterly frustrated at not being able to see a GP?

[ismiseeire]

My health is detiorating! Sorry, in pain, so not a long explanatory post.

I think that most people, well me anyway, are very ashamed of requiring an ambulance. I'LL DO THAT MYSELF THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Until you actually do need them and they're always there. I think 111 are destroying them with their algorithms. GP services not existing. Fear of A&E. And the emergency services then have to deal with the fall-out. They are always chirpy and can handle you no matter how awful you are.

I haven't researched switching. I think most practices in my area are oversubscribed. I have considered the online/virtual GP. They seem to do zoom consultations. Mine won't even do phonecalls! I might look into the virtual place again. It will probably show up on my facebook now that I have mentioned it.

Our GP you can see a nurse... which is all well and good. I phoned last Wednesday as been having pain for a week prior and a nurse phoned me back and prescribed 3 days worth of ab's 🙄 for suspected UTI. I told them there and then I think it's my kidneys. Felt the same as when I had a kidney infection before! No water sample taken. Got to Friday and said I'm still in pain and have one tablet left for Saturday. The nurse phoned back and said I need to phone back Monday if I'm still in pain...... so I thought stuff this. I phoned 111 when my GP closed and saw a doctor within 2 hours. Yep, kidney infection and prescribed different ab's for a week. 🙄.

This was on a Friday for 111. All calls for appointments etc for calls back from them took 30 minutes. They really went above and beyond.

I can't switch practice as they wouldn't accept me without appointment which they aren't doing anymore, and it turned out the practice wasn't accessible.

I do want to add though a huge thank you to those who have helped me. Like the people in the pharmacy getting daily abuse from patients who have been sent there by receptionists only to be told they need to see someone at the practice. My practice have repeatedly tried to change my prescriptions from daily to weekly, even monthly with no idea how my mental state is and that's been prevented by pharmacist who knows I'll overdose as I'm struggling with so much. Honestly I can't praise them enough. At Christmas I turned up with tubs of chocolates and Christmas card for the staff a week before. February last year I'd defend my GP to anyone, but no more.

This is absolutely disgusting my family are in the UK and tell me similar that you just cannot see a doctor like wtf it's a human right!!
I miss home so much but for now I'm thanking god I'm in a country where if I was to ring my GP surgery in the morning as I have lots recently that I would definitely be seen tomorrow and usually within 2-3 hours of me ringing!
Absolute disgrace tat you can't get seen!

@ismiseeire

I haven't researched switching. I think most practices in my area are oversubscribed. I have considered the online/virtual GP. They seem to do zoom consultations. Mine won't even do phonecalls! I might look into the virtual place again. It will probably show up on my facebook now that I have mentioned it.

wow I assumed you must live somewhere rural with one GP practice...9 pages of complaining about your surgery later and it turns out you could have switched but ‘haven’t researched it’. Why on earth not?! You could have done that months ago!

wow I assumed you must live somewhere rural with one GP practice...9 pages of complaining about your surgery later and it turns out you could have switched but ‘haven’t researched it’. Why on earth not?! You could have done that months ago!

Wow, I can't believe that that is what you've taken from my posts.

I didn't really look into switching practices as I didn't realise that it was practice specific until this thread. I genuinely thought it was NHS policy.

I vaguely looked into switching practices before as they are so hard to get through to - prior to COVID.

Now, I'm so ill, that I genuinely wouldn't be able to switch (if even possible) as I'm too ill to leave the house.

I'm on medication which I need daily. Any lapse in that would land me in hospital.

When I did look into switching, no surgery near me is accepting new patients.

My GP surgery triage everything through the Advanced Nurse Practitioners, even when the ANP has said you need to speak to a GP! Then when you do get to speak to or see the GP they just want to prescribe you pills with terrifying side effects and shove you out the door! I’d like to actually find out what it causing my problem before you drug me, thank you very much! My GP doesn’t listen either and when I tell her about my symptoms for the umpteenth time she says she wasn’t aware of them! Feels like I’m never going to get the help I need to feel ‘normal’ again...

And it wasn't 9 pages of me complaining at all. I wrote one opening post at night when utterly frustrated and in pain. I was taken to hospital and sent home as per usual. I then quite simply replied to other posts.

@igotdemons

My GP surgery triage everything through the Advanced Nurse Practitioners, even when the ANP has said you need to speak to a GP! Then when you do get to speak to or see the GP they just want to prescribe you pills with terrifying side effects and shove you out the door! I’d like to actually find out what it causing my problem before you drug me, thank you very much! My GP doesn’t listen either and when I tell her about my symptoms for the umpteenth time she says she wasn’t aware of them! Feels like I’m never going to get the help I need to feel ‘normal’ again...

I'm with you there. A&E and hospital really only treat urgent symptoms. Your GP is supposed to coordinate care and referrals. When they fail to do that, you end up hospitalised to treat the immediate symptoms. The GP is supposed to FUCKING PREVENT YOU NEEDING TO BE HOSPITALISED.

The practices in our PCN have taken a united position in their covid approach. I was quite flabbergasted when ill on a uk holiday I found that it wasn't the same everywhere.

I've had to physically see a GP or nurse at my surgery every 2 weeks for a little over a year now due to a physical illness. They've been fabulous. However, it's an extremely rare disease and the GP are stepping in and covering what the hospital usually do as I really don't fancy the hospital during covid where at all possible.

My GP is putting people through phone triage and then giving face to face appointments where needed

I should actually also defend my gp surgery in part though.
I was referred to see a hospital consultant well over a year ago. I've still not had my initial appointment. My gp has had to deal with the fallout of that and had to manage a complex situation that needn't have been so complex. I know I'm not unique in that and that will have increased the pressure on the surgery.

If the nurses and receptionists are actually seeing people why can’t the doctors?

OP if you're genuinely ringing the GP daily AND requesting econsults AND inappropriately using ED I suspect one of the issues here is your level of expectations. This sounds like a chronic illness which does not require emergency care, which raises the question of why you are calling 111? 111 is not a substitute for your GP. Either make the effort to hang on the line for a phone appointment or change practice. No one has the right to demand a face to face appointment. Face to face increases the risk to patients & staff from Covid, and should only be used where it would make a clinical difference- in other words when examining the person would add something. Chasing up hospital referrals is something for a phone appointment (or try asking the receptionist if it's been done). If you hate your practice that much then complain to them & change practice.

@PankhurstTastic

OP if you're genuinely ringing the GP daily AND requesting econsults AND inappropriately using ED I suspect one of the issues here is your level of expectations. This sounds like a chronic illness which does not require emergency care, which raises the question of why you are calling 111? 111 is not a substitute for your GP. Either make the effort to hang on the line for a phone appointment or change practice. No one has the right to demand a face to face appointment. Face to face increases the risk to patients & staff from Covid, and should only be used where it would make a clinical difference- in other words when examining the person would add something. Chasing up hospital referrals is something for a phone appointment (or try asking the receptionist if it's been done). If you hate your practice that much then complain to them & change practice.

Rubbish.

111 here is only way to access anything after 6pm- 8:30am weekdays and weekends. 111 employ GPs as well as pharmacists so of course it's appropriate to contact them.

If it's that dangerous then why are other places open? Pharmacies have been working flat out throughout the pandemic taking on work well beyind what they should be doing. On an average day I can be queueing for an hour to get my medications. That means there are days when it is well over that - all because of the surgery "specialist trained receptionist" sending people there unnecessarily. Last week I saw the police called twice to sort out abusive patients who were wrongly sent there kicking off with staff. Twice just when I was there. How much police time is being wasted the rest of the week?

Practice manager and GPs here have all been heard to be saying how much better things are for them now they only do phone/e-consult and emergencies. Monday practice manager was in a small shop showing off blocking access to everyone else - no mask and no social distancing AND she refuses to allow anyone under any circumstances in to surgery without a mask. Not so bothered when she wants a good gossip though? Nor did they give a shit last summer when the entire surgery sat in the pub at the end of my road have a social? Or my GP when she fucked off abroad and refused to isolate because and I quote "it's not fair". I live somewhere too small for GPs/PMs to be doing this shit and then whining it's too dangerous to see people. People have died because they're being refused treatment. My family member is dying of terminal womb cancer which the GP said was just a UTI for six months (bleeding heavily in a lot of pain), just repeatedly giving out antibiotics and never did a single sample because "it's too dangerous".

It's pathetic to say "it's too dangerous". When people are needlessly suffering so they can safely sit in their locked surgery, unless they want a gossip, a social or a fucking holiday of course.

Chronic illnesses need to be seen and monitored regularly not just dumped like their worthless. Despite being in a situation where I could drop dead any day I'm not allowed benefits because of my surgery refusing to see me and treat me in over a year. It's selfish to expect me and others like me to suffer whilst they're taking the piss.

And no I can't change surgery, looked into it in more detail this morning, I'm out of catchment for the others.

And yes I know it's not all surgeries. But it is MINE.

Family member just having a UTI was never allowed to be seen due to how dangerous it was so no tests done at all. Despite them being a sheilder and seeing no one or going anywhere at all. By the time she was good enough for the risk she was told she was to go to a&e where she was scanned and told she had cancer that had spread.

Seriously. This isn't good enough.

Someone I know was worried about a possibly cancerous lesion in his face. He photographed it and sent it to the doctor as she wouldn’t see him. Doctor said he needed a referral to dermatologist. Told he wouldn’t be seen for six months to a year due to waiting lists!! He had to go private .

111 is not there for matters which can be dealt by your GP during working hours. Visiting a pharmacy is not the same as going to a GP practice, sitting in a crowded waiting room, then in a small consultation room where social distancing is impossible. The level of risk is far, far higher- to patients & staff. Plus if a member of staff then has to self isolate due to seeing someone with possible Covid symptoms their staffing is stuffed. Staff absence due to Covid or self-isolation has been a massive problem for the NHS. Abusing your GP or pharmacist is totally unacceptable. I have spoken to my GP about various issues over the last year, and yes you have to phone several times at 8 AM to get through- but frankly that is not that difficult to do!
The OP clearly has chronic issues and is very keen to complain loudly about their GP, whilst using a very high level of NHS resources by inappropriate use of ED. There's no point complaining endlessly online then taking no action to solve the problem (here either by complaining to the practice or changing GP).

@Kokeshi123

I read a good analogy the other day--that "protecting the NHS" by closing down most of the services it offers, is a bit like trying to protect your new sofa by leaving the plastic covers on it. What's the point of protecting a health service that isn't actually doing half the things it's supposed to do?

That is a good analogy, but a more accurate one is to protect your new sofa but locking it in a room away from your family.

I do think it’s shocking that there doesn’t seem to be a uniform approach among GP surgeries. Of course you should be able to get a face to face consultation if that’s appropriate (subject to the necessary Covid safety measures) - but clearly some are not offering that at all.
My parents’ GP practice is not doing in-surgery appointments at all and has told them to call 111 if they need something. (They’re both elderly - this is a large practice in a small market town. At least they are both vaccinated now, but that was arranged by the local NHS trust rather than the surgery, I believe).
Whereas my practice is a large central London one - they have set up an app and do online and phone consultations, but also face-to-face appointments where appropriate. I was recently called in for just a routine annual blood test, for example. I have had to call a couple of times for small issues and each time got a call back from one of the GPs on the same day. So I’ve actually been pretty impressed at how they’ve managed to carry on, but it does beg the question why other surgeries are able to refuse to do face to face appointments at all.

Excellent article on why GPs should get back to normal...

Helen Salisbury: Triage is for disasters, not everyday general practice
www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n845

Can you switch at the miniute - I know my DParents were told it wasn't being allowed where they were at the moment.

They weren't seen in first lockdown for months and ended up in hospital.

I would try putting a written complaint into the practise manager stating all the times you've been failed with this practise - how you are unable to get an appointent but to get the proper treatment you need to be refeered by a GP. Polite but factual.

It may do nothing - but a written account/complaint may generate some action.

I know our GP is back but for very limited numbers - I think more and more are.

Our surgery has the ring at 8am. IF you get through the receptionist says that everyone is being called back by the GP and they will advice whether you need to be seen in person. You say, OK put me down for a call back. They say, sorry all call backs are full for today, try again tomorrow, repeat on a daily basis etc etc. They have closed down the on line system so everything has to go through the reception phone service. My DH ended up being blue lighted to A and E and admitted to hospital. He hardly ever goes to the GP so, looking on his records they should have picked up he was so very ill. During this time I have been working my own job as an Optical assistant, and my son working as a physio. SOME GPS should be ashamed of themselves.