@Octavia174
GPs need to refer for specialist treatments... imagine demanding to see a Neurologist, just because Dr Google told you that headache was in fact a Brain tumour.... the system would collapse.
For some things, yes, a referral from "someone" is required, but not for the really simple things like hearing aids, ingrown toe nail removal, x-rays for suspected fractured fingers/toes. You don't need a gp referral for a dentist appointment or a pair of spectacles, so why do you need one to get NHS hearing aids or NHS glasses at Specsavers?
Only a couple of weeks ago, my OH (cancer patient), mentioned a very sore foot to his haematologist, thinking it may be neuropathy caused by chemotherapy (something he was warned about when treatment started). Haematologist suspected it was a fractured bone in the foot, but was unable to send him for an x-ray, so told him to get a GP appointment, for the GP to send him for an x-ray. Took many attempts to get a GP phone appt, then had to explain symptoms etc for GP and relay what haematologist had said, only for GP to say she had to see the foot before she could send him for x-ray, so took yet another F2F appointment for the GP to "look" at the foot, so she could do the x-ray referral. That was 2 GP appointments just to do a bit of paperwork to refer to x-ray, even after the haematologist had already looked at it and said it needed an x-ray.
It's that kind of waste of resources that's causing the GP appointment shortage, i.e. 2 "wasted" gp appointments just to get an x-ray that a consultant wanted.
It's exactly the same inefficiency/waste of resources, when the haematologist notices abnormalities in his blood tests (that he has 2/3 times per month for the chemo treatment). Sometimes it's low iron, sometimes low calcium, latest time was low vitamin D. Every time, the haematologist tells OH to contact the GP to ask for prescription for iron/calcium/VitD tablets. Every single time, the GP receptionist insists on making an appointment with the GP and won't just pass the message on. Every single time, a wasted GP appointment, just for my OH to tell the GP what the haematologist has said, every single time, GP says she can't see the hospital blood test results and needs her own, so OH has to make an appointment at the GP surgery for a blood test (increasingly difficult), then follows another message from surgery asking for OH to make a phone appt with GP, only for GP to say she'll issue a prescription. Why the hell can't the haematologist either just issue the prescription himself (along with the other bag of drugs prescribed every month) or just email the GP to ask the GP to issue the prescription, with a note of the blood test result?
The whole thing is far too fragmented, no one talks to eachother directly, leaving the poor sod of the patient with the task of the ever increasing difficulty of contacting the GP themselves. How about a bit of joined up thinking and NHS staff liaising directly between themselves. We often say it must be nigh on impossible for the elderly and confused people to navigate the NHS if they have major health issues. My OH is in his 50s, fully compus mentis, with a managerial/professional job and he finds it exhausting trying to navigate all the obstacles put in place by the NHS to try to manage his condition.