To make a complaint about a GP?

[BowsandBaking]

I called the surgery to request a routine appointment for my 3yo who has been having increasing joint pain and headaches for the past month and a half.
I explained he has been struggling to climb the stairs over the past week and recently fell down from half up when his legs gave way. The receptionist and she told me to call back at 2pm for a same-day appointment. She said “I’m not medically trained but I feel this should be dealt with today”.

I called back at 2pm where a very harsh, second receptionist told me calls after 2pm are for medical emergencies. I told her that her colleague told me to request a same-day appointment. She reluctantly issued one.

The GP was fuming from the start. Sarcastically reminding me around four times during the call that the afternoon service is for emergencies only. I explained that I tried for a routine appointment but she’d made up her mind by then - she clearly felt I was an over-anxious first time mum. She suggested maybe I had traumatic birth.

She wouldn’t let me go into any detail. I tried to explain that he started new medication around the onset of symptoms and she cut me off. I tried to explain he cannot use his language to fully explain his symptoms as he has additional needs. She was questioning what I define as “additional needs”. I tried to explain that he’s under multiple of consultants for various complex medical needs and is awaiting an MDA for the additional needs.

She kept sighing. She ended up giving him an appointment to be seen tomorrow in such a way that it was very clear it was extremely unnecessary in her eyes. I felt so belittled.

The most important thing is that DS will be seen tomorrow, but AIBU to complain to the practice manager? I think this kind of belittling could prevent somebody seeking medical advice.

If GPs can only manage to cope with simple infections and routine stuff such as blood pressure control etc. then why can't other staff take over the role? A decent advanced nurse practitioner, a pharmacist and a well designed computer algorithm to identify things which may be more serious could well suffice. A friend of mine died because she had repeatedly low haemoglobin and a high white cell count. A stuffed cat could have identified what that was, but her GP failed to act and she died a few months later following an emergency admission to hospital. And why do GPs hate women? It's always anxiety isn't it? Only when it's not. Women can actually become sick just like men! Wtf are they actually teaching in medical school for them to be churning out fools like this?

@BattenbergdowntheHatches

Good grief. Do complain, she sounds awful. What a disgraceful way to treat a child and her mother.

GP’s seem to exist solely to scold people for seeking help, presumably in the hope they’ll fuck off and die on someone’s else’s dime. Don’t need a six figure salary and a pension for that.

I always find GPs really helpful. And it's a high responsibility role so they do deserve to be remunerated. Yes, the receptionists can sometimes feel obstructive.

I always find GPs really helpful.
Fine, but this one wasn't.

You are all aware aren’t you that the NHS is facing the biggest staffing crisis it has ever seen following a major pandemic response?

Staff are stressed, tired amd burnt out. There aren’t enough of us to provide the care we want to give (which as a clinician is stressful). Such stress enhances the burnout rate which increases the staffing pressures on the remaining staff smd so the cycle continues.

Yes, sounds like your interaction wasn’t that great but does it really merit a complaint? You got an appointment.

All of the keyboard warriors on this thread need to reflect on the reality of the NHS at the moment vs. the amazing gold rimmed experience you are being told you deserve.

Quite frankly as a frontline clinician I feel like I’m being ritually sacrificed by the govt/my employer. There is not enough time /resources for me to give the care my patients have been led to believe.

This is having horrendous consequences in my personal life. But even worse for the first time ever all my colleagues and I feel the same. No one has anything left in reserve it’s all been used up over the past two years.

Call them out on it if they do it in your appointment!
"Is there an issue? You seem to be irritated by something."
They clearly don't care about your feelings, why should you care about theirs? Drives me mad!

@MauveMavis

You are all aware aren’t you that the NHS is facing the biggest staffing crisis it has ever seen following a major pandemic response?

Staff are stressed, tired amd burnt out. There aren’t enough of us to provide the care we want to give (which as a clinician is stressful). Such stress enhances the burnout rate which increases the staffing pressures on the remaining staff smd so the cycle continues.

Yes, sounds like your interaction wasn’t that great but does it really merit a complaint? You got an appointment.

All of the keyboard warriors on this thread need to reflect on the reality of the NHS at the moment vs. the amazing gold rimmed experience you are being told you deserve.

Quite frankly as a frontline clinician I feel like I’m being ritually sacrificed by the govt/my employer. There is not enough time /resources for me to give the care my patients have been led to believe.

This is having horrendous consequences in my personal life. But even worse for the first time ever all my colleagues and I feel the same. No one has anything left in reserve it’s all been used up over the past two years.

So we should be grateful for an appointment now? And to that end just accept any level of service?? 🙄 this is the attitude that let's the poor service continue. And we are paying a hell of a lot to access this care, it's not free!! For the amount of times I've used the NHS it would be cheaper to pay each time to go private than the amount I pay in NI and tax etc. So no I won't accept poor service whatever whatever circumstances.

@MauveMavis great, so we should just have to suck it up and accept bad behaviour? Talk about race to the bottom. How long before clinicians can't be bothered - sorry, are under too much stress - to even look or speak to patients anymore? Where are people supposed to go then? Doctors have been being rude and obnoxious to patients since time immemorial and they should always be called out on it. They're in the wrong job if they can't even be civil and listen to patients. They get away with it because they can.

[quote BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation]@MauveMavis great, so we should just have to suck it up and accept bad behaviour? Talk about race to the bottom. How long before clinicians can't be bothered - sorry, are under too much stress - to even look or speak to patients anymore? Where are people supposed to go then? Doctors have been being rude and obnoxious to patients since time immemorial and they should always be called out on it. They're in the wrong job if they can't even be civil and listen to patients. They get away with it because they can.[/quote]
👏

I’m not saying don’t complain.

I am saying think about what you complain about. Seriously poor care which contravenes National guidance. Game on. I’ll help you write the letter.

A difficult consultation where a patient didn’t like the doctors attitude but got the outcome they desired. …maybe not.

If everyone complains about the latter the threads about GP practices closing will be even more frequent.

@Nelliephant1

No need to complain, why on earth would you create more work and unnecessary hassle for a hugely overstretched service just because someone was a bit grumpy?! People have off days, you've got no idea what she was dealing with before your phone or what was heading her way after you finished call so chalk it up to experience and remember that you wanted an appointment and that's what you got. I'm sure you have days too when you're not a sparkling ray of sunshine.

Complete bollocks. Normally I agree that people so,et I,es get caught on hop and express frustration. But this gp didn’t do this once then correct herself, the whole appointment was like this. They are professional. They are paid to listen to peoples whinges and moans and potential time wasting as ,yes, occasionally a potential time waster actually turns out to be a serious medical emergency. That is their job. If their bedside manner is rude and partronising they need to be told this and check themselves. If they are stressed out, I’ll and tired themselves they need to take some leave to get back to a better disposition for a job that is overwhelming demanding and frustrating much of the time.

@MauveMavis

You are all aware aren’t you that the NHS is facing the biggest staffing crisis it has ever seen following a major pandemic response?

Staff are stressed, tired amd burnt out. There aren’t enough of us to provide the care we want to give (which as a clinician is stressful). Such stress enhances the burnout rate which increases the staffing pressures on the remaining staff smd so the cycle continues.

Yes, sounds like your interaction wasn’t that great but does it really merit a complaint? You got an appointment.

All of the keyboard warriors on this thread need to reflect on the reality of the NHS at the moment vs. the amazing gold rimmed experience you are being told you deserve.

Quite frankly as a frontline clinician I feel like I’m being ritually sacrificed by the govt/my employer. There is not enough time /resources for me to give the care my patients have been led to believe.

This is having horrendous consequences in my personal life. But even worse for the first time ever all my colleagues and I feel the same. No one has anything left in reserve it’s all been used up over the past two years.

Ok, I get that. But it sounds like the gp took their frustration out on the OP. that isn’t ok. If someone is close to burn out they aren’t going to be able to help patients- they need to take time off. Yep, all sorts of reasons why they can’t - but they’ll be taking more off if they get full blown mental health problems with stress

Question? What are GPS doing to sort this isssue out? Where is the union (so to speak) in protecting the well-being of GPs ? Who did you vote for and who did other GPS generally vote for. There are things that health care workers who are ranting at the state of the services can do- taking it out on patients isn’t one of them.

IP - I have a DD with severe disabilities. Her GP is outstanding in terms of care (he intervened when she needed an ambulance but the ambulance refused to come - during the “petrol crisis”) but his general manner is somewhat cold. I hear you - it’s not about manner/grumpiness etc.
GPs ARE meant to be the first port of call - not the prescribing consultant and the symptoms you described are very concerning. It’s not for the general public to decide if it’s medication causing very worrying symptoms.
As for frontline staff blah blah - GPs haven’t been having face to face consultations frequently.
Paediatric wards have been empty during the pandemic- I have heard that directly from NHS staff - and nurses were redeployed to ICU care (perhaps as children weren’t mixing etc at school or doing activities that caused injuries and few having covid/serious covid). So those of you banging the poor NHS drum - stop.
I’d have lost any job I’ve ever worked in if I behaved like this GP (professional or “unskilled”).
She isn’t obliged to work as a GP if she’s burnt out etc. there are plenty of jobs in other areas.
I’d suggest you write to the Practice Manager Op - be clear what outcome you’d like (I’ve we’d had serious complaints to make to the NHS - and be because of the ambulance issue I mentioned and one because I was sexually assaulted by a paediatric consultant).
Does your DC have “open access “ to their local CAU?
Could that be arranged?
Pm me if I can help at all. I’m 4.5 years into learning all the ins and outs of which consultant for which problem etc.

@MauveMavis speaking with a bad tone to a patient can have very bad consequences. It adversely impacts people with mental health difficulties, neurodiversity, anxious people, older people and people with learning disabilities. It is absolutely not okay to speak to patients with a bad tone. Impacted people will stop seeking healthcare because of it. I expect that's okay though, because, fewer patients to be forced to see 🙄

Instead of whining, doctors need to address the problem of staffing shortages......like the BMA did when they voted to restrict doctor training places back in the 2000s because they didn't want the profession devalued.

The public deserve better.

I’m not medically trained enough to know which consultant to go to about a completely new, unrelated problem. I have always been advised to go to the GP as the first point of call with a new medical issue

You don’t need to be medically trained. You are saying these new symptoms coincide with a new medication. The consultant who prescribed the medication will know if what is being experienced is likely due to the new meds or not. If not, they are savvy and will be of more use than the GP in telling you which of your other consultants would be the most appropriate for what’s being experienced. No need for you to have any training or try and work it all out!

Also, does your child have a coordinating paed? If so, they would also be of more use in assessing the new med and cross-referring as required than the GP.

I wouldn’t waste your time making a complaint. Nothing ever happens.

I've been in a very similar situation with a patronising assed dismissive GP. Mine turned out to have double pneumonia.

Definitely complain, crank that complaint up if you get a significant diagnosis too. I did & as a result forced some child aware retraining for that particular GP, so he didn't get to do it again to anyone else, he apologised in person too

Realistically what are you expecting the Gp to do? Not being arsey but just aware how little knowledge GPs often have when it comes to medically complex people (no dig at GPs they are after all general practitioners)

I’d expect them not to tut and sigh and suggest that her concerns might be a result of a traumatic birth. That’s just misogynistic, minimising crap. If they felt the worsening symptoms were something they should check then I’d expect them to see OPs DS , and if not to advise OP who she should g speak to.

The govt increased the number of medical school places but failed to increased the number of junior doctor positions that the new graduates need to get full registration with the GMC.

Come August there will be around 800 unemployed medical graduates who wanted to be doctors in the uK but there wasn’t an available list for them to make the first step towards this (rightly or wrongly this has never happened before).

Ask yourselves if this is the actions of a government who want to promote the nations health or that of a government who want to force down medical pay , reduce services, sell the NHS to their US cronies and give everyone a much more expensive less good health service….

I know what I think and what I vote for (clue it’s not BoJo and his corrupt privileged mates).

Ps: and if all of you think you could do medicine better please go to medical school and try!!

Oh as soon as she cut me off and rolled her eyes, I'd have given it to her both barrels. That's disgusting behaviour even if you were a bit anxious.

I would have been very alarmed at a sudden deterioration like that, especially his legs giving way and intense headache. What if he was having a stroke or some kind of neurological event?

Seeing the doctor same day was necessary imo, if not A&E. I don't understand why people are saying yabu. I doubt that would be the case if it was their child.

Problematic GPs and doctors have existed long before the latest government neglect of the NHS. It's a problem with culture, training and doctors believing they're something they're not. Who is encouraging and facilitating these beliefs? Who addresses the behaviour of GPs? Who are they accountable to? Their patients? No. Who addresses the massive amount of misdiagnosis that goes on?

You are all aware aren’t you that the NHS is facing the biggest staffing crisis it has ever seen following a major pandemic response?

Staff are stressed, tired amd burnt out. There aren’t enough of us to provide the care we want to give (which as a clinician is stressful). Such stress enhances the burnout rate which increases the staffing pressures on the remaining staff smd so the cycle continues

I think you’d have to have been hiding in a cupboard to not know this. It must be a bloody nightmare. Nevertheless, at the GP practice I go to (which has also been a covid vaccination hub), no matter who you speak to - reception, nurse practitioners, GPs, admin , pharmacist - are always helpful, polite, caring. They’re amazing and I’ve made sure to let them know how grateful I am to be a patient there. The government is a disgrace when it comes to systematically neglecting the NHS but it’s not ok to ‘kick the cat ‘ and take that out on patients.

Wow this GP was really dismissive. Yes do make a complaint. I am a doctor . You did the right thing and this was very much below the expected standard of care.