To be frustrated with GP in the UK

[Dontknowheretostart]

I wasn’t really sure how to title this thread but I’m 24 and I have a few issues with my health that I want to speak about but with the like 8-10 minute appointment aim we have I honestly don’t see how I can address them unless I literally do back to back appointments until I’ve told them all my concerns and it’s so frustrating.

• I have back pain everyday that is excruciating and it makes me actually nauseous when I have to do cleaning duties at work

• I get stomach pains every time I eat no matter what it is, even just a piece of bread.

• I have irregular periods, literally not for 6 months sometimes. Excessive weight gain when I have a balanced diet. A few other symptoms that could point to PCOS but I don’t get taken seriously at 24.

• my mental health is a whole thing in its self. 3 suicide attempts and no one takes me seriously. I’ve asked for an assessment because sometimes I’m actually manic but they just put it down to depression.

I’m so frustrated that I can’t just go and tell them all my concerns. Any advise or just support? I feel like I have legitimate health issues and I’ve got to bare it.

Sounds like you really need to speak to someone soon. Have you thought about changing your GP surgery. Try and find one through reccomendation. I’m sorry you’re not well. You do need care and soon. Lots of hugs xx

I’m not sure why you can’t discuss this with your GP in one appointment. Just say you’re feeling unwell and list the symptoms, don’t go in as if they’re separate issues.

Make several appointments or a few double appointments?

You can book a longer appointment with your GP, tell the receptionist it is for mental health health needs.

When you book explain that you have a number of issues so could they please book you a double appointment.

Once when I had a list of symptoms related to a possible neurological illness I had an appointment with a neurologist. Because time was of an essence I wrote all my concerns and symptoms down in a letter which the consultant read and said she really appreciated it and wished other people did the same. Might this be an option, then at the end you can discuss the points made?

A double appointment should be enough if you are concise. They may not necessarily be all separate issues. Make bullet point notes to try and avoid waffling.

Book an appointment with your GP, write a list of the different problems so you don’t forget them, and explain to the GP that you have multiple issues, and ask them how best to address them all, appointment-wise.

My GP does one appointment for one issue - so I’d either book four appointments or two double appointments. Or, get a telephone appointment and tell them on the phone, and they’ll decide if they’re interlinked and how many appointments you need.

It’s a bit frustrating but they explain it at mine as a way to stop appointments for running for 40 minutes and making everyone else’s appointment half an hour late, and obviously that compounds when it’s more than one person, so it makes sense. Usually the GP can sort it, but if you don’t want to have a telephone appointment and you have access to online appointment booking, you can just book two/four there.

10 minutes is an aim but they have to accept some patients will need longer. Conversely some patients need far less time and can be in and out in 2/3 minutes so it balances things out. Also don’t think GP’s are seeing many people in person anymore, they try to stick to telephone calls where possible so even more reason you could have a longer appointment.

You clearly need urgent help and you need to push for this. Tell them if you need a double appointment you’ll just do that but you need to be seen. Also don’t let them fob you off because you’re young.

Just echoing what others have said. Write down each issue separately, and insist on a longer appointment. You may find that the GP wants you to book further appointments, or he/she might want to book you in with other specialists.

When you call to book an appointment just state you need a double because you have several issues. If that’s not doable then book several separate appointments.

Have you considered asking if you could email the practice with your list off symptoms before the appointment. Or drop a letter in to your GP so they can read it before hand. That way they will be well prepared for your face to face appointment and will be able to get through/analyse your symptoms a little quicker? Or as other people say maybe a telephone consultation first the give them an idea on the number of symptoms you are trying to manage. I used email in the height of COVID and my issues where addressed very quickly.

@ExcitingTimes2021

Have you considered asking if you could email the practice with your list off symptoms before the appointment. Or drop a letter in to your GP so they can read it before hand. That way they will be well prepared for your face to face appointment and will be able to get through/analyse your symptoms a little quicker? Or as other people say maybe a telephone consultation first the give them an idea on the number of symptoms you are trying to manage. I used email in the height of COVID and my issues where addressed very quickly.

when does the GP read the letter? Is that in their free time? Do you work in your free time?

OP what have you tried yourself for your problems? Gaviscon? Paracetamol? You can also refer yourself to the mental health services and for physio for your back.

If you start with an on-line consultation, that will give you a chance to write down everything, they will probably ask you to come in for a face-to-face, and hopefully (knowing all the issues in advance) realise how much time to allow for the appointment.

Do you have ‘Ask My GP’ online at your surgery. You can write all that down and then they will phone you and talk to you about it. If not time to change your surgery to another one. Most GP’s if they will see you at the moment will let you book a double appointment, and take a note of everything with you so you don’t forget anything.

@Bagamoyo1 well I can only assume my doctor read the email during the time dedicated to telephone consultations and administration, and then agreed a face to face appointment was necessary. I have never suggested that a GP, or anyone else should for that matter should spend their free time working, so no idea where that aggressive and accusing tone has come from. Just sharing my experiences to try and help the OP. It was actually the receptionist who suggested this approach but every GP operates differently and so may not be a viable option for OP x

Yanbu. My GP is ok for kids ear/throar infections but anything more complicated (especially women’s health) and they just say “It’s probably fine come back if it doesn’t get better.” The one occasion I tried to ask more firmly for help, they just suggested counselling 😡 I have been let down by NHS so many times and ended up needing several private hospital surgeries for something GP drugs could have fixed if it was diagnoses earlier when I first started asking for help.

People always say “Don’t google, ask a GP” but for me it was google that correctly diagnosed me after years of GP failing to, and private healthcare that sorted it when the NHS couldn’t even see there was a problem.

Book a double appointment or tell the receptionist that you’ve got a few issues that you need to discuss and ask for their advice on what’s the best thing to do.

Do you have e-consult available? Or similar? You can go on anytime list your symptoms and write what your looking to get out of it you can be really thorough take your time to get every issue you want to raise into the form, send it off and our GPs are normally back to you within 24- 48 hours. I normally get a telephone call from them where they discuss what I've put, ask me what I want ie meds, a chat, referral etc and they organise further help from there, whether that's a F2f appointment another telephone call or something else. Super helpful because you can completely avoid the guard dogs on reception and go straight to a Dr. It also means they would have a better idea of the issues your facing ahead of time so you can spend more time finding or working towards a solution and less time explaining the problem

Gosh you need to get this sorted.

You should be able to book a double appointment, but if the receptionists won’t do this, book a single, go with a bullet list of all your issues in rough priory order, address the first two, and get the GP to ok booking a double the next time.

It sounds like you need some thorough tests.

So, book an appointment tomorrow morning, double if poss - don’t worry if it isn’t, but write a list that you can run through quickly at the start of the appointment.