What is happening? Out of hours doctor.

[SunShinesBrightly]

Please could someone explain how it works because I feel IABU and quite prepared to be told so.
Been waiting at the out of hours drop in clinic with very poorly DD who has tonsillitis.
It started on Friday night and I’ve booked a telephone appointment at our GP for Monday via the on-line request form.

Anyway, we have been here for 2 hours and only one of the 5 people waiting has been seen. That was an hour ago. 4 people are still waiting and nobody has joined the queue for over an hour.

What are the doctors doing? Are they responding to 111 telephone calls in between seeing the patients waiting?

One of the nurses has just gone on a break. Nobody is coming or going or being seen.

I asked and the receptionist just said they were very busy 😕

Hoping someone who knows will come and tell me what goes on behind the scenes.

It’s definitely not just OOH or A&E. I worry that there’s no fixing it tbh. My Ds had anaphylaxis a few weeks ago with a nut allergy diagnosed, we were told we would get an urgent referral to dietician etc to go through what needs to be avoided etc. I was stunned when they sent me a leaflet through the post saying they weren’t offering us an appointment and the leaflet was all we were getting. I mean anaphylaxis can literally be life or death 😳

We were both a bit stunned by her manner, approach and complete inability to listen tbh.

I can think of a hundred possible reasons why someone might behave so unpleasantly but I don’t think either me or my DD deserved to be in the receiving end of her frustration, unhappiness - Whatever it was.

I thought something was up when I started this thread in the waiting room. The system just didn’t seem to be working. Nobody was being seen, there was no movement at all, we were all just sitting there.
Her behaviour just confirmed my initial thoughts. Something was going very wrong today. Either that or she is just an unpleasant person. Who knows.

She gave my DD antibiotics. So yes, DD got a prescription. She’s been asleep all afternoon & is not at all well.
Thank you for all your responses!

Just to add, It has been drummed into me that the NHS is under strain which is why we didn’t complain or make a fuss AT ALL whilst we were waiting to be seen.
I think it works both ways.
The patient should treat staff with respect.
Equally, The staff should treat patients with respect.

Thank you Standstheclockattentothree.

If they are manning the 111 phones alongside seeing face to face appointments they are doing two jobs at once.

Well yeah, welcome to the NHS. We all do more than one job at the same time because apparently people still need us and there’s not enough of us to go around.

To be honest this just sounds like yet another bashing thread. The service too slow, the nurse was rude. Your daughter has been seen and has been set on the road to recovery. I’m honestly not sure what else you want. You’re told every day how hard it is for people working for the NHS, you’ve just seen exactly what is happening before your very eyes.

@Bonkerz

I think there is a fundamental issue at the moment. You ring 111 to get advice etc and they say you need to be seen at OOH but there are no appointments so they say go to A&E which is over run already. You turn up at a&e and tell them 111 sent you and you get told off. Clearly something is going wrong!

Yep; our experience exactly. DH then waited five hours to be seen. Every time he thought it might be his turn the police brought in people high on drugs, covered in blood. When he got seen he needed intravenous antibiotics.

I waited in the car park for the five hours hut eventually had to sneak in to use the loo. There were three unisex cubicles, one had no door lock at ail and ine was too filthy to use. In a hospital. It’s disgraceful.

To be honest this just sounds like yet another bashing thread. The service too slow, the nurse was rude. Your daughter has been seen and has been set on the road to recovery. I’m honestly not sure what else you want. You’re told every day how hard it is for people working for the NHS, you’ve just seen exactly what is happening before your very eyes.
The thread has moved on.
I started it asking what people thought was going on, how the system worked (or didn’t work) I got answers: understaffed, people doing two jobs at once, one doctor, one nurse etc. All perfectly valid reasons for a long wait.

When we got in we were confronted with an unpleasant person who didn’t listen, spoke rudely, was offhand and disinterested.
Imagine if I’d gone in and didn’t listen, used an inappropriate, rude tone with her, was offhand and unpleasant? I’d have been escorted out of there quicker than you can say...

I’m talking about one nurse, one day, one situation. Yes, I am complaining about the attitude of the person we saw and service we received today.
Respect works both ways as I said upthread.
I am not ‘bashing’ the entire profession and it’s ridiculous to imply that I am.

You turn up at a&e and tell them 111 sent you and you get told off.

The ‘system’ is not working. Maybe people don’t know who should be doing what?

OP I’m sorry you had a crap experience. You are right it doesn’t work does it? The system is fucked.

And no there was no excuse for the rudeness and bad attitude from the nurse. I was a nurse for 26 years and I know a thing or two about being run off your feet, I never dreamed of being rude or dismissive. My dh is a hospital consultant and is working himself into an early grave, he is never rude, he is a professional.

I was seen at an extremely busy eye casualty recently, I was the last to be seen after several hours, a poor junior doctor was on his own and looked pale and exhausted. He was extremely polite and friendly, he offered me a chocolate as a consolation prize for waiting so long bless him! That’s a professional attitude.

MissyB1
This is why I am so conflicted.
I KNOW how hard the medical profession work. I know how difficult patients can be and how rude some of them are. I know people are knackered.
We were neither aggressive or demanding. We just wanted help and came out more upset than we went in.
Thank you for seeing both sides.
I’m so pleased you had a good experience, there are some amazing, caring, professional people in this world.
I don’t think the person we saw was one of them.

I work for the NHS and know how hard people work but also think your experience is abominable. There is no excuse for treating patient like however hard it is behind the scenes. I think you should complain, you may even be doing that nurse and her colleagues a favour. Whether she is genuinely stressed and burnt out or just a nasty person there is no excuse for speaking to a patient in that way and the quality of her care is likely to be compromised. Consequences could be very serious for the next patient if she carries on in this vein.

Rainbowsew

Thank you.
People do react to stress in different ways.
She was very bolshy, very confident.
She had no reason to be offhand with us.we spoke to her politely (when we could actually get a word in edgeways). It just seemed like she was being unpleasant because she thought she could talk down to us.

I’ve just had a thought and I really hope this has nothing to do with anything... I’m just wondering how I have managed to get through 50 odd years and never been dismissed so blatantly by anyone. I’m also trying to find possible reasons why someone would be so horrible when not provoked.

I usually dress well - conservative. Makeup & hair done. Boring and neat.
We went to the clinic early - pretty much straight out of bed. Both DD and I were in leggings, trainers & scruffy sweatshirts. No makeup, unbrushed hair. We both looked like shit tbf! Me because I’d just got up (and I’m getting old) and DD because she was so poorly.
So many people say that they get treated differently depending on how they present themselves. I’m probably imagining things now but if there is any truth in this, it makes things even worse.

Rainbowsew
Sorry, I went off into my own thoughts there...
Yes, I agree with everything you say for the same reasons.

You need to complain, her attitude sounds completely inexcusable. It sounds like you were very patient and polite. I've worked in a patient facing role for a long time and I've had some very rude, unpleasant and entitled patients push me to the very limits of my patience . . I've always managed to remain polite, respectful, professional and kind, and I'm 'only a band three' nothing special in the slightest.

I had a lady reduce me to tears the other day she threw such an unpleasant tantrum as I had kept her waiting fifteen minutes past her appointment time, I still remained professional and pleasant. No matter how busy, stressed or important someone is, it takes no extra time to be kind and respectful towards patients. She's a nurse practitioner . . she's a highly educated professional and should know better and be better able to moderate her behaviour. She needs a big attitude adjustment or she shouldn't be working with vulnerable patients.