From GP practice managers

[Bagamoyo1]

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@Cbtb So I've asked my GP for certain tests for almost 4 years. They've flat refused to help insisting that something I'll say "x" is causing the issue and we won't do tests.

I saw a consultant as I had to get a medical check up. He agreed with me and said he'd write to my Gp and booked a scan. Both this Dr and the radiographer asked my GP to do the tests I have been asking about for 4 years.

Again they flat refused. They said it had to be "x". They referred me to someone who in their opinion thought would back them up and tell this it was "x". Well I waited 3 months for that. And now I have a letter from this person saying it absolutely is not "x" and never has been. They have urged my Gp to do the tests.

And my gp is on holiday so I'll find out next week what they're prepared to do. But I'm furious with them.

No one should ever have to put up with abuse. Staff or patients.

From the comments on here (both GPS and patients) it’s obvious that the system is no longer fit for purpose.

Something obviously needs to change.

The GP system is totally wrecked, the receptionists at my surgery have the charm of a rabid pit bull, they snarl, talk to you like you are either simple or something they have trodden in. They do anything they can to avoid giving you an appointment, they guard the appointments like the crown jewels. I would happily pay £20 to have an appointment with a doctor of my choice at a time convenient to me. The gender breakdown of patients is 52:48 female to male yet 9/10 of the doctors are male, many of the patients are Asian where a lot of female patients would not be examined by a male doctor. Have any gynacological complaint & ask to see a female doctor & you can be waiting over 2 months for an appointment, ask for an urgent on the day appointment & you are supposed to be grateful you get to see any doctor at all.

Placements within 30min drive would be amazing. Some deanarys are smaller than others I guess ours is around 200miles from one end to the other

Do you honestly think having to follow the job during training (and well beyond it) is unique to medicine? Its pretty standard in many professions, including many without the kudos and salary potential of medicine.

Every 4 months with under 4 months notice and no relocation expenses....and also no input on where you are rotated to....you can’t apply for a post you want or talk to your boss about it clashing with something else it’s all arranged centrally for up to 16yrs in training, I have friends and family in non doctor professions - teachers often have to move during training but then they can apply to a school to work there when qualified, ditto nurses who apply to a particular hospital. Engineers often travel to projects far away but seems to often be weekly relocation and back home at weekends with travel paid, ditto for solicitors...academics often move for a particular project but they can choose which projects and universities research they apply to....firefighters apply to a particular station (not sure about the police). The army moves people like medicine ie centrally deploys them but the do pay transfer and living costs (although I know accommodation can be poor) - have a lovely colleague who is in paediatric training with four kids and is also an army spouse, she’s amazing - the army will pay to relocate them and try and accommodate the family, medicine deanery dosent care and move her places when he’s on deployment abroad and she has no one to help and would really benefit from being allowed to live on base with other army wives....

So what profession are we talking about...all the others I know off other than the military give some sort of relocation allowance or allow you to apply for a different posting. Medicine you get an email from an automated system one month into your current job telling you where you will be going to work in three months...que new house search and kids school search etc....every four- six months for 10-16yrs.....

I found out by email last week that I’m moving hospitals in august to one quite a bit further but I can make the commute just about work (however I won’t be eligible to buy a parking permit at new work as they have a waiting list) so goodness knows where I will park. Apparently due to covid (no idea why this changes this) I’m only there for August and September and I will get a new job in October. They can’t tell me where that job will be yet....and hope to tell me by July...so yay I don’t have to move home on August but might have to in October, October’s not a great time to move schools however so fingers crossed for July - hopefully we will find out by the end of term....

I agree that doesn't sound great. Can none of the hospital doctors you have seen refer you for the test or onto the right team though? Hospitals are on block contracts due to covid so they don’t make any more money sending you back to the GP for a further referral....I cannot think of any test that can only be provided in primary care (but I don’t know everything)

Cbtb, what specialty takes 16years to train post uni?! That's crazy and presumably pretty rare.

This thread, however, is about GPs - two years foundation plus three years specialty. 5 years is a long time to be moving around frequently, but it is ultimately a pretty well paid and secure career.

@ChloeCrocodile

Cbtb, what specialty takes 16years to train post uni?! That's crazy and presumably pretty rare.

This thread, however, is about GPs - two years foundation plus three years specialty. 5 years is a long time to be moving around frequently, but it is ultimately a pretty well paid and secure career.

I assume there was some LTFT/maternity leave in there. But it can still take a while:

I graduated 2004, appointed 2019. Back then it was 1 hour officer year, 3 SHO years, 5 years of training, 3 years PhD, 1 years as an overseas post-doc. Plus some maternity leave.

Maternity leave aside, that ^^ is the bare minimum for appointment to a London teaching hospital in a competitive specialty.

So what profession are we talking about...all the others I know off other than the military give some sort of relocation allowance or allow you to apply for a different posting. Medicine you get an email from an automated system one month into your current job telling you where you will be going to work in three months

Of the top of my head? Retail, hospitality, supply chain, logistics, several branches of engineering, many jobs in resources and a surprising number in pharma, the forces and of course areas such as academia which implicitly require mobility to progress.

There are many others, they simply spring to mind first as requiring significant upheaval or travel to progress in the career path. Sometimes simply at the low paid end with little prospects - certainly none of the status and kudos that goes with the title "doctor".

You are very quick to dismiss people who travel weekly or have monthly returns. That kind of travel has an exceptionally high correlation with divorce and family breakdown unless one spouse is both willing and affordable as trailing (and even then the divorce rate is high). One of my SiLs with young DC had 48hrs warning of her DH being sent to work in the far east for 6 months - only one return trip in all that time.

So tell me how many doctors do you know who spent 16 yrs moving house every 4 months? Because none of those in my extended family have had to move anything like that much, or for anything like as long. Their early years were tough as they are in any aspirational profession but they certainly haven't moved house /schools every 4 months

I graduated 2004, appointed 2019. Back then it was 1 hour officer year, 3 SHO years, 5 years of training, 3 years PhD, 1 years as an overseas post-doc. Plus some maternity leave

So about 13 years across a range of roles and additional qualifications from graduating to Consultant in a competitive area?

TBH that sounds comparable to the path to being a partner/director/upper end senior management equivalent in many areas. 10-15 yrs with a concerted focus on the end point taking the roles for promotion rather than convenience and a lot of side of desk work. Some stop off along the way settling for smaller or less prestigious roles, others take longer to get there with slower patches for family reasons.

Anyway, there was an article in the Telegraph yesterday (which is behind a paywall, but can be read for free through PressReader) which said referrals for cancer were down 304,000 in the last year, over the previous year and the reasons cited were staying away from the NHS and difficulties, accessing GPs!

That should have been urgent referrals for cancer.