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?

At what point are people going to wake up and realise that we have the worst government in history? Hellbent on destroying our public services whilst making their mates rich off the back of it and blaming hard- working public servants.

And not even trying to hide it. Safe in the knowledge there can be no elections for years yet.

What the hell are the opposition parties doing letting them get away with it? Surely there's enough crap from this government to enable them to force an election? Although sadly, not sure there's a credible party to vote for amongst the lot of them. They all seem morally (but only morally!) bankrupt as far as I can tell.

@ARudeTerriblePerson

Slagging off patients is one of the most annoying habits of GPs. Slagging off hospital doctors to patients is another. All very cathartic for the GP, but not remotely helpful, and a waste of time.

A somewhat ironic comment given that most of your previous posts consist of “slagging someone off”.

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

@MrsFezziwig there is a huge difference. I am not at work, slagging off colleagues to a client. On these threads, GPs show quite clearly what they think of patients - not much. In any case, I am not slagging off GPs, just recounting my own experience. Which as a member of MN, I am allowed to do. Slagging off is a different kettle of fish.

Similarly the dramatic sighing GPs do when asked to do something for a patient by a medical colleague. Not the patient's fault!

“I can see why the government has asked us to identify the 20% of practices with the lowest face-to-face appointment levels. I, too, would want my family to be able to see a GP when necessary.

But we cannot use this as another stick to beat practices already on their knees. We need to understand why this may be the case, support them in their attempts to provide the best care they can, and have an honest conversation with patients about what primary care can realistically and safely provide.

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Because it isn’t out of laziness, as the damaging rhetoric would have you believe. In a way, I wish it were – because for someone early on in this career, I would prefer that to stepping foot in a system that is breaking, with morale at an all-time low and so many GPs ahead of me hanging up their stethoscopes for good.

We have a workforce running on empty, going to work each day with their warning lights flashing and no prospect of a fuel delivery on the horizon. Any further demonisation of general practice will perpetuate the problem we are trying to address.”

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

It is possible to both believe that this government are a bunch of irresponsible shysters systematically underfunding our public services and that there are legitimate concerns about the variability in GP responses across the UK that go beyond just underfunding and should be sorted out. The fact that we have some people getting good service from their practices agile others are not can't just be down to lack of money. GP surgeries are independent businesses and they have made quite different individual choices on how to deal with the pandemic.

I just wish that doctors wouldn't just circle the wagons at the sight of any and all criticisms. They actually damage their reputations by refusing to acknowledge patient's lived experiences.

I agree totally that there needs to be "an honest conversation with patients about what primary care can realistically and safely provide." Just spell it out. But don't be mean to us if we don't know what we are supposed to expect. And don't be mean to us if we see private GPs either.

What can primary care provide on the NHS?

Ah, another GP bashing thread. How novel.

Thing is though if collectively people are having a bad experience we need to look at that and try and fix it. I have always been very supportive of my GP practice but I’m sure they’ve used the pandemic to adopt practices that are just dangerous. It is literally impossible to phone them. It doesn’t even connect as just says user busy. The e consults will block you if you have something that could be serious so in the past when I’ve had a sick child, they’ve got me in immediately- now I’d have no choice but to go to A&E which is in no-ones best interest. At ours at least, they don’t need another doctor- they need someone to answer the bloody phone.

@LibrariesGiveUsPower45321

250millon divided by 28,319 FTE GPs in the U.K. = £882 each. But it doesn’t go to the GP, it goes to the practice. £882 isn’t even going to pay for a part time receptionist for a month. It might pay for a training day for GP who knows. Said GP would probably rather be seeing patients than sat in yet another meeting being told how to do their job better with fewer resources.

It’s roughly £8000 not £800 !!

@ARudeTerriblePerson

Similarly the dramatic sighing GPs do when asked to do something for a patient by a medical colleague. Not the patient's fault!

All of them? If you mean your GP, say so and stop generalising.

It does sound as if the practice you attend isn't meeting your needs, so sign up to another one if at all possible.

The anti rhetoric of GP s is designed to do one thing. It's the beginning of the end of GP services in their current format. The government are doing this on purpose. They want to see an end to a service that's free for people to access at no direct cost to them. Obviously it's tax payer funded. But it's a good way to start disenfranchising the NHS in its current format.

I do work in a GP surgery. I started on the phones and doing admin five years ago. I'd never done the job before. I thought booking appointments. Filing letters to patient records. How hard could it be? I have a degree. I worked in management accounts pre children. It's the most challenging job I have ever done. I'm very proud to do it. But I can see acutely the volume of work entering the realm of the GP every single day just from the patients themselves. The contact with patients has increased by 15% in our surgery. Organising covid boosters. Flu vaccines for all over 50s. Letters from hospitals describing outcomes from clinics. Often over the telephone ironically. I don't recognise anything in the media. I work in quite a small surgery in a busy market town. I try to remember details about patients so I can help them in the best way I can. All of my receptionist colleagues do this. The volume of things we have to remember is astonishing. And we get demonised for asking the most basic of questions such as do you need to speak to a doctor today? I remember around a year ago I was trying to help a gentleman who refused to disclose why he wanted to speak to a doctor. I pieced together from what he said and tried to encourage him to tell me. I had some concerns. Grabbed a GP out of a meeting with the practice manager. He spoke to him straight away. Got him into the surgery. He was having an MI. Please tell us your acute symptoms. We need to get you help quickly. The doctors triage calls from everything you tell us.

Just to add balance, there are lots of us with great GPs, lots of people who go to the GP unnecessarily and even now people book appointments and don't turn up.
The vaccination programme was most successfully delivered when GPs organised it and did it.
This is the worst government in history and on the day the report comes out stating how badly they managed tye pandemic, and javid didn't turn up at the GP conference and somehow Cressida Dick is in post, the revelations that they clearly lied about Brexit to win the election, they've got the country talking about GPs. We're sleepwalking into letting this bunch of incompetents ruin this country.

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

Every time I’ve spoken to a GP or other HCP at my surgery they’ve had my records available. Why wouldn’t they? They’re on the computer.

They want to see an end to a service that's free for people to access at no direct cost to them. Obviously it's tax payer funded. But it's a good way to start disenfranchising the NHS in its current format.

This. Everyone will pay for their appointments in a model that will actually be more expensive to deliver, therefore taxpayers will pay twice. Women will pay even more, as they will use the service more.

@Nat6999

What annoys me most is my surgery can't give you an appointment for 6 weeks but they are still taking on new patients. Also 52% of patients are female but there is only 1 female GP compared to 9 male. It's time for patients to stand up to GP practices & say it just isn't good enough, we deserve better.

GP surgeries are not allowed a cap on numbers and cannot refuse to register people moving into their catchment area. And with all the new build housing going up there is no thought for how this will increase demand on healthcare.

@Theworldisfullofgs before covid we would book people in to see the GP no questions asked. Some patients would go in purely to get their repeat medication script because the GP would do it there as the patient forgot to order it in time. It used to frustrate me that these people and regulars would always get appointments and then after the list was full the people with chest, ear, eye, urine infections would have to wait all day for the emergency surgery session to start at 4pm and then wait to be seen.

There is a lot of good about telephone consultations and asking a brief idea what is wrong as they can triage. If the GP then feels a f2f is needed they arrange their own appointments.

TroysMammy
I loved my telephone conversation for acute back pain. It was fantastic not having to get there, or hang about in the surgery.

Nat6999 only 67% of adults in the UK pay tax. Maybe we should be talking about how we afford better services first and some of the more fundamental issues about how our economy and country work.
I dunno we could have an economy which is less about subsidising companies to maximise profits for shareholders via universal credit and one that actually work and funds vital services.

Our clinics are rammed. Absolutely rammed. Have been for months with hundreds of face to face. Three trained staff including one Senior GP staff with over 100 years experience between them have all just quit last month. I'm just about to start a clinic seeing about thirty patients. Plus phone calls. Plus walk ins etc.
The remaining two GP's are the same. And then coming in on my day off tomorrow to run a flu clinic, of which 1/5 patients didn't show last time.
Hate my job at the minute, and I've been nursing 30 years.

@cptartapp

Our clinics are rammed. Absolutely rammed. Have been for months with hundreds of face to face. Three trained staff including one Senior GP staff with over 100 years experience between them have all just quit last month. I'm just about to start a clinic seeing about thirty patients. Plus phone calls. Plus walk ins etc. The remaining two GP's are the same. And then coming in on my day off tomorrow to run a flu clinic, of which 1/5 patients didn't show last time. Hate my job at the minute, and I've been nursing 30 years.

cptartapp best wishes for today

Tradition - that’s awful. If gp’s are prevented from closing their lists when oversubscribed, there is NO incentive for the govt to ensure there are adequate numbers of GPs in an area. Maybe they should do a map of GPs per capita (adjusted for Socioeconomic status perhaps). That might explain some of the wide variation in service people experience.

[quote Moraxella]@Mummydoctor I’m with you! I’m ltft in hospital, but stupidly didn’t wait till after training for kids. The daily mail raging at part time doctors annoys me. Increasing % of graduate medics are female, this is going to be a workforce issue into the future. Why isn’t medicine as attractive to men anymore I wonder?[/quote]
@Moraxella - because the remuneration for the training, skills and responsibility is relatively poor.

@Namenic

Tradition - that’s awful. If gp’s are prevented from closing their lists when oversubscribed, there is NO incentive for the govt to ensure there are adequate numbers of GPs in an area. Maybe they should do a map of GPs per capita (adjusted for Socioeconomic status perhaps). That might explain some of the wide variation in service people experience.

Good job it isn't true then. GPs can refuse to take on new patients, always have been able to do that. They can either close their lists completely or refuse to accept patients outside their boundaries.