To think that people have become completely incapable....

[memorial]

Ok so I'm a GP (yes yes I know I could be anybody) and have been for over 20 years.
But bloody hell our society have become completely and utter incapable of any kind of self care or self responsibility. I have never known anything like the kind of demand we are facing. And I'm sorry most of it is just complete and utter nonsense. Over and over again.
Genuinely ill and needy people are being lost in the deluge. It's absolutely impossible to offer any kind of decent care. And we are losing doctors, nurses and staff rapidly. And we cannot recruit. It's not about pay It's about absolutely ridiculous workload and risk.
Yes the system is broken yes we need more of everything.
But every single thing does not need GP hand holding. It doesn't need 2 page complaints because you didn't get what you wanted when you wanted it.
Some days I just think people won't be happy until I go and wipe their arses for them.
I'm done. And it's not just me.

You have my sympathy, op.
I don't work in health and it is very hard to get appointments in my surgery. But it's not your fault.

I love Dr Rangan Chattergee, got two of his books and I listen to his podcasts. He talks so much sense.

@memorial I get it, Dh is a hospital consultant and was planning on working until 65 (another 10 years). He’s now saying he can’t even face this coming winter and wants to look at retiring early. This is a man who lives and breathes medicine and has never done any other job, medicine was his passion. The job is killing him, I don’t want him to die an early death.

Please don't give up, memorial. Some people are dreadful in all walks of life - I was a teacher - and it comes down to a lack of education and self management, leading to confusion, fear and entitlement.

The truth is, we need you to keep doing what you're doing. I've been stuck in hospital for six nights now. Loads of lovely nurses and HCP, but not enough doctors as patients lie groaning and dying around me.

Please don't give up. Every profession has to shovel through shit to get to the gold.

I have several friends who take their kids to the doctor for everything, standard kid sickness - coughs, colds, tummy bugs. Just to be told its a virus and let it run its course. I think it's really odd, like they need some kind of drama or validation around their child's minor issue.

Did you reflect on why this happened?

That actually none of this is a reflection on you but in order to cope with the increasing demands from patients they’re having to do things differently?

I’ve been there, feeling dismissed by medics and having to learn to manage a long term condition which wasn’t diagnosed for thirty years but that’s a reflection on a couple of very old school GPs not GPs as a whole.

Sounds par for the course, unless you were in and out in under ten minutes, or need special assistance.

But your BP, what are you doing about it if you think it’s high? You should start managing this with lifestyle changes first.

In less than 2 years after they’ve lost the election we won’t have a Tory government anymore. Things will be a lot better under Labour. It’s this that’s the only thing that’s keeping me going to be honest.

Why would you not go back for a potentially lifesaving smear just because you felt rushed?

@memorial I agree with you wholeheartedly. If we are appointed a theoretical 'NHS budget' I know a handful of people who ripped through theirs eons ago, haemorrhaging it on absolute bullshit.

@JaneJeffer

Very helpful.

not good for the OP (IF she's genuine) or her patient list, or the surgery blah blah... which will filter down to everyone. We need our GP's to be supported and listened to. GP care need improving & that's not going to happen with attitudes like yours.

Some of the responses to this post are the exact reason so many are leaving primary care, sick of being the NHS punchbag while trying to juggle a demanding and often misguided patient caseload. You have nothing but sympathy from me OP! And for those saying if you don’t like it get out, you prove my point.

When a patient who is eating unhealthy UPF presents with IBS , do you have a Frank conversation about how bad processed food is, how are bodies are not good at coping with it and they need to work on gut biome and eat 30 veg/fruits/seeds/beans etc a week? These are the sorts of convos that need to be happening, but most GPs are scared to have them because it’s stepping over a clinical line into preaching about lifestyle. But we do need to educate people

This.

I have IBS but have never had a conversation like that. Fortunately my husband is a good cook and by chance does cook with things like that. I very often have mystery tummy aches and it's only when it's a new type of pain that I present! My wonderful GP had a feel and thinks she has a hunch about something that could be up.

But I totally see how doctors get flamed for trying to recommend a healthy lifestyle. I had a spat on my own thread the other day with a HCP whose doctor had told her to lose weight and she was calling him a moron. That's a HCP of all people!

I'm overweight post partum. I'm the world's slowest slimmer but I am getting there, and I wouldn't dream of calling anyone a moron for giving it to me straight.

We need to start charging... everyone ... for GP appointments.

Does the solution need to be an school education programme, with ads for adults? Explaining what can be coped with at home and with the chemist, such as sore throat, headache etc. I try to Google a good source like the NHS or a medical school, and then wait a couple of days before seeking treatment. Got stung by a jellyfish last weekend. It hurt like hell the first day, but woke up fine the next morning. Had a mild allergic reaction, face slightly swollen, but not severe. I find real food, rest and a good night's sleep, sorts out a lot of minor ailments.

And some of us would be absolutely screwed due to having serious long term health problems.

There’s a balance here though isn’t there.

Resilience as a term has fallen out of favour because it has been appropriated by governments and other large agencies as a way of negating the causal factors but actually it’s a valid concept. Why is it that some people survive and even thrive in some circumstances and others don’t?

We’re doing no one any favours by ignoring that elephant in the room.

I agree with OP, and I'm someone who unfortunately has to go in quite a lot. I'm in a way, worried well. I have an underlying condition, but need an occasional check that everything else is as good as it could be (iron levels, HRT etc)

My surgery are doing brilliantly with phone appointments, but it's hell of a hard to get through to book one!

The impression I get on here is that old fashioned home nursing has gone. No one seems to know how to soak and lance a whitlow, avoid an ingrowing toenail, starve an upset stomach etc. It's straight to the GP.

Maybe we need schooling on antihistamine, antiseptic soaks etc!

Almost certainly not a doctor though. Non doctor hospital HCP buying into the anti GP narrative. The worst kind.

I’m a mother to young children so socialise a lot with mothers of young children. Medical professionals are always quick to reassure “us” to get things checked and follow our gut. But I’m always a bit confused why my peer’s guts tell them to book a GP appointment for things like conjunctivitis.

I feel for you OP.

Retire???

Do people actually know how fucked we are in this country re healthcare and frontline GP services?

What a pathetic thing to say.

I don't understand the morons being rude- we need every doctor we can get.

Some of them we can do without, trust me….

That is not a simple sore ear. I have had a stomach ache. I have also had gallstones which led to pancreatitis. Believe me, I could tell the difference. With the stomach ache I took a paracetamol. With the gallstones, I ended up in A&E.

As for mental health issues, people could probably sort many of them out with a few sessions with a private therapist (mild depression/anxiety) which would cost less than a weekend away. Going to the GP involves having a conversation with someone who is not an expert in mental health issues and eventually after a long wait being referred to an overworked service with no choice as to who you get and no choice as to the type of therapist.

Similarly, with simple joint or back pain, if you can afford it, see an osteopath or a physio who is far more qualified to diagnose what's going on than a GP, who's not a specialist. They will refer you back to the GP if they are concerned something else is going on.

I know not everyone can afford private services, but a lot of people can, and if they paid for these services, they'd get sorted out a lot quicker and would take the pressure off the NHS.

I am so very sorry. The young doctors are under ao much pressure without the respect, experience or support to deal with it. Am desperately trying to dissuade one of my DC from going into medicine. Tellingly they most definitely doesn't want to be a GP

You see it on here all the time “I’ve stubbed my toe this morning and it’s a little red” should I go to A&E

The GP system is broken. There are so many things the GP can access that other services can't. The amount of times I have to refer to a GP to complete a referral is ridiculous. The GP literally copy/pastes my info into their referral and sends it on. Multiple times I have literally sat on a phone while I have dictated a referral to a GP for a service that only they can access but literally didn't know about. Undoubtedly they were told about it via an email they didnt read as the dozens of others they had were urgent (this is how it my job).

I don't think people realise all the things that fall on GPs doorsteps. They are the first point of contact for every other service. When you are on the phone unable to get through half those others waiting aren't other patients for appointments they are other professionals needing info or referrals or a change in script. There is basically no multi agency working.