To think GPs should do their job

[Wotnokids]

Just heard the news that £250million is to be made available to GPs to 'increase the amount of face to face appointments'. AIBU to think this is just extra cash for doing their job?

Bit of a change in tone from Javid on 10 o clock news ...

@GotToGoBye

@GotToGoBye you sound like my old wonderful wonderful GP; will never forget her once phoning me day and night for a week as my mum was in hospital and I was home alone with dsis at age 19, dsis has LDs. I still remember that wonderfully calm and comforting voice each morning asking me what we were getting for breakfast, and then ringing me ten hours later to check I’d cooked tea etc . She was an absolute angel and credit to the profession, I owe her my life.

Reposted from another thread:

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/14/stop-demonising-englands-family-doctors-we-are-on-our-knees?fbclid=IwAR06KJ9_4XTgMAMSmRKH87LVbua9AWiqMDOCRsKjkVXz9zXPA7yz51BZVgY

I’d be happy if my gp was available for more than 3 days a week, 2 hours a day never mind face to face appointments

DD is a GP and works 3.5 days a week but it clocking an average of 46 hrs weekly, including clinics and home visits.

On her 1.5 days 'off' she runs teaching sessions for GP Reg's and med students. She's on a good salary but her training was 5 years+ so she's still paying back loans.

All her partners in the practice put in these hours exept for the senior partner who, in his early 60's, is slowly phasing into retirement.

Our media have certainly done a number on you lot. Blame the lack of GP's per population ratio, the poor funding for training, the shortage of funds in secondary care - don't witch hunt the people who are trying to hold the system up despite our government pushing it back down.

Always the same though. First you lot came for the teachers, now the GP's. You lot are so shortsighted and totally barking up the wrong tree.

To all the GPs who have come on to this thread and helped inform us about what's really happening, thank you for all you do.

@Eve

Is it a coincidence that the OP is a new poster today posting controversial subjects on the same day the GP issue is on the daily mail & BBC front page.

@Eve it does feel increasingly like mumsnet is being invaded by people pushing the government's agenda (couldn't imagine who), just in case we women start thinking for ourselves

Our media have certainly done a number on you lot. Blame the lack of GP's per population ratio, the poor funding for training, the shortage of funds in secondary care - don't witch hunt the people who are trying to hold the system up despite our government pushing it back down.

Couldn’t agree more

All you GPs need to get the BMA to work with the media so that the general population has some idea what we can and cannot expect from our GP surgery. It's not rocket science, and it doesn't even require a brain surgeon.

I have found the telephone option very convenient, I would hate to have to turn up again in person for the matters I needed help with. Have been lucky for that to have been appropriate though.

Does anyone else think the online Patient Access system will never again be used for making appointments? Or are some surgeries using it?

Does anyone else think the online Patient Access system will never again be used for making appointments? Or are some surgeries using it?

We have a couple of hours each morning mon-wed to message them. Even if you request face to face appointment they will ring. Even with things that need to be seen is either virus or a prescription for antibiotics. What’s annoying at the moment is it says ‘or will close earlier if needed’ and this week it’s been inaccessible minutes after it’s supposed to be on.

I m happy with phone consultation for more than half of stuff. I can see that plenty of issues don't require a face to face meeting, and even less so since I have a BP monitor, thermometer and oximeter at home. Also my GP asks for photos or a video of some visual stuff eg skin issue. We have to learn to accept modern tech in medicine, just like people do elsewhere.

@HorsesHoundsandHills thank you so much for your insightful comments. I work in a GP practice and I have never known anything like the relentless GP bashing that is happening at the moment.

We were mandated to move to remote consultations during the pandemic for safety reasons. We were NOT shut. We have now gone back to offering patients a choice of f2f or telephone appointments . We are lucky that we have waiting room space for this. Not surprisingly the majority of patients still opt for telephone consultations as much more convenient for them.

But the point must be made that more f2f appointments won't increase the number of appointments available. These usually take longer than telephone consults so may mean longer waits for an appointment.

The demand has increased so much for the reasons previously mentioned. Long waiting lists for secondary care and cancelled outpatient clinics means more pressure on GPs and patients are angry. The abuse our staff get now is awful and experienced admin and reception staff who don't get paid enough (on barely minimum wage) are leaving in droves. We can't recruit new GPs and locum costs are high and actually patients don't like seeing locums as no continuity of care.

However, this will be the future if we carry on like this as no medic would want to be a salaried GP ir partner in this climate.

Also please be aware that the large salary figures being bandied about don't explain that out of the funds coming into practices the GP partners need to pay all business costs including their staff wages. Practice staff are not employees of the NHS trusts.

Yes, but they should say so. "We no longer want to examine patients." It's not right to change the system and not tell us.

With phone convos, they don't have our records in front of them. They have no idea who they are talking to.

And yes, I do think that the government start threads here. I said so myself several times. It's dishonest.

However I still think there is a lot of nonsense spoken about tech in medicine.

@Eve

Let’s whip up the rhetoric against GPs so they are blamed & not years of cuts and running down services.

If it’s a daily mail headline blaming someone else then it’s definitely the Government’s fault.

This 👆 Isn’t it interesting to see the tabloid media running on the ‘GPS are lazy sods’ myth at the time a report is published which shows that the incompetence of Johnson’s Government led to 10s of thousands of unnecessary deaths from Covid. No response from the Government on that, but a dead cat about GPs thrown on the table and their mates in the media are assisting in their game.

@Theworldisfullofgs

chitchatchatter

Currently what's happening is not contracted for and GPs are being used as the end of the line to pick up other organisation's redponsibilities (like teachers) that's one of the reasons they are so stretched.

And the thought that you shouldn't have part time GPs - sexist, somewhat...

@ Theworldisfullofgs

I was merely stating my experience and I am grateful to have received that care especially as I am now aware that my GP wasn’t actually being paid for it.

I made no comment about part-time GPs so not sure why the 😕 . It’s clear from the thread that so-called part time hours worked by GPs are equivalent the average full time working week.

It is not ‘GP bashing’ to engage in reasonable debate about our publicly funded health system. To call it that is false and irresponsible.

I don’t think comments like “I suppose they’ll just use the money for extra biscuits” could exactly be described as reasonable debate.

@ARudeTerriblePerson of course they have your records when consulting on the telephone.

With phone convos, they don't have our records in front of them. They have no idea who they are talking to

Surely they have your records on a screen. What on earth makes you think otherwise? They have to record the nature of the consultation and any action.

Well, they don't at our surgery when they speak to me.

@ARudeTerriblePerson

Well, they don't at our surgery when they speak to me.

If you're on the phone, how would you know?

@HorsesHoundsandHills

Thing is, there is no upper limit on demand in primary care, so it might start off being 40 hours over 5 days, but we know from experience that it would gradually creep up, and then there’d be no mechanism for a Dr to control their workload to a manageable level. Back when medicine was purely the preserve of workaholic men, that did not improve the patient’s experience, just people didn’t used to dare complain!

Also, every room in our surgery is filled every session. Lack of space is a major issue in every practice I know, so we’d need to build a whole load more surgeries to accommodate the GPs.

Out of interest, how much do you think is a fair wage for a person with AAA at A-level, two undergraduate degrees, multiple postgraduate professional qualifications, a Master’s degree and 16 years experience doing complex work with high responsibility?

And a shed load of student loan debt, at the new rates, for all of those years, plus additional qualifications self funded by NHS policy.