GP appointments for children should generally be face to face

[Tootsieglitterballs]

AIBU to think that where children are concerned, for a lot of situations a face to face appointment should be offered, not a telephone appointment?

I mean, Is this the new normal ? Children (well, parents of children) being refused face to face appointments in the first instance, only offering telephone appointments.

In the last few months, we have been refused a face to face appt, and given telephone appointments for;

• an unusual, very sore rash surrounding a very infected wound under the hair (under 5 yr old)

• Episode of viral induced wheeze that an inhaler wouldn't sort out (under 5 yr old)

• chest infection (under 5 yr old)

• follow up appointment following a stint in a&e after not being able to breathe (under 5 yr old)

Obviously, all telephone appointments have resulted in needing an actual appointment.

Surely this alone is a waste of time? I completely understand the need to triage adults in particular , and I know services are overstretched, but surely there are certain criteria that even the receptionist can use their judgement on and book a face to face appointment in the first instance. I mean rashes, FFS.

I personally like the econsult and telephone appointment system. Pre covid, trying to get a GP appointment was a nightmare.

I have needed a couple of appointments over the last two years and all have been done by telephone, on the same day as I filled in econsult.

If they need to see you f2f they let you know.

People can still ring to make appointments if they can't or don't want to use econsult.

My only issue with children not bei

The government could easily insist on this. GPs would do this very quickly if the alternative was not being paid.

GPs are already overworked and go above and beyond their contracted hours on a daily basis. There are nowhere near enough of them to serve our population and are trying to establish the best way to use their time efficiently. If the government (with absolutely zero experience of running a GP practice) avoid paying, even more will leave.

I am not referring to the practices which have been sold to private organisations here - they do not operate ethically in many cases and are all about maximising profit at expense of patients. This is something which is sadly going to worsen

It is astounding how clueless people are about the GP crisis at the moment

(I am not a GP and have no intention to ever work in a GP practice)

Stupid phone posted before I finished 😒

I was saying that my only issue with children not being seen f2f is that potentially wider issues may be missed. Obviously other professionals e.g. teachers will see the child but a GP can get indicators beyond medical from seeing someone f2f.

I don't mind telephone consultations, provided the GP offers a f2f appointment if needed. My friend's son ended up in hospital and had to have surgery because the GP diagnosed his condition by telephone. The diagnosis turned out to be wrong and the prescribed treatment did not work, which led to a potentially life threatening worsening of the condition. The surgeon certainly had a few words to say about the initial lack of a f2f appointment and said the problem would have been very visible with the correct examination.

@user1496146479 exactly ! This is half my point, surely that's two appointments that could just be one... someone else could be being seen in that appointment!

I really think telephone consult first should be optional - I'm sure the majority would choose that option as it fits in better with busy lives.

Anyhow, seems like it's certainly a mixed opinion! Been very interesting to hear different sides and stories.