To think this is what happens when receptionists are the ones who decide whether or not you actually *see* a GP? (Ear infection)

[lCantHearYou]

Wednesday last week- woke up with an intense pain in my left ear, and assume I’ve just jammed my ear plug in a bit too far, but over an hour later the pain is still there and I can’t hear out of that ear, so I ring the GP surgery.

The receptionist, based on no medical expertise whatsoever, asks what the problem is and unilaterally decides that all I need is a telephone appointment. The GP she’s scheduled the call with is well known in our community for not doing face to face appointments if she can help it and generally having the attitude of just wanting to get you off the phone as quickly as possible.

Later that morning, GP call. I explain that I’ve been having this very intense pain for several hours now that paracetamol isn’t really touching, my ear is ringing very loudly and all external sound is very muffled and barely audible.

She decides over the course of the 3 minute call that since I’m recovering from a cold I’m probably just a bit congested, tells me to take some Sudafed/other decongestant and paracetamol and it should right itself in a few days.

I start alternating pseudoephedrine, paracetamol and ibuprofen, but the pain wakes me in the night every night.

Thursday evening DH, the DC and I travel up to PILs house.

Friday morning, DH and I leave for a long weekend abroad (on the Eurostar, thank god we didn’t fly or I’d probably have at least one ruptured ear drum).

By Friday evening the pain and hearing loss has now spread into the right ear as well. Spend the whole weekend in pain and practically deaf, which kind of spoils things somewhat.

Monday evening, we all get home. 3:00 am I wake up in so much pain I can’t keep still, DH wakes to the sight of me sitting upright, rocking back and forth with my hands clamped over the back of my head. He calls 111 who schedule a phonecall with a Dr… who rings back 3 and a half hours later and says, sounds like an infection, I can prescribe antibiotics or you can just wait and see your own GP. I opt to see my own GP, so 111 Dr puts in notes that I need a face to face appointment.

So we’re back on the phone to the surgery, to the receptionist who’s halfway through saying “I can schedule a phonecall…” when I tell her about 111 Dr’s advice to seek a face to face appointment. Then she relents and schedules one with a different GP to the one I spoke to the week before. At the actual appointment, this GP barely needs to glance in my ears before saying it’s a severe infection, inner ears are very sore and red, lots of pus and gunk and, in her words, “looks incredibly painful”.

I’ve now been on amoxicillin and cocodamol (which I’m alternating with ibuprofen) for 5 days now. I can still barely hear a thing beyond the very loud ringing and the sound of my own pulse throbbing in my ears. All external sound is very muffled and distorted. If I wait too long between taking pain meds I fucking know about it… I’ve taken to sleeping with the cocodamol under my pillow so that when (not if) the pain wakes me in the night I don’t have to grope around on my bedside table to find them. Part of my job involves being on the phone, sometimes for hours at a time, so I have to jam my earphones right into my ears and turn the volume up full, and by the end of my shift (I work very late at night) I’m doubly exhausted from the effort of straining to hear anything.

AIBU to think that if, on that first day, the receptionist or indeed the GP had paused for a moment and thought “hmmm, intense inner ear pain, badly affected hearing, maybe get her in so we can see if there’s an infection”, then I could have started on antibiotics that day and at the very least the infection would likely have been contained to one ear and might even be starting to get better? As it is the receptionist didn’t bother, the GP didn’t bother, and instead of getting better it got considerably worse, the antibiotics are making fuck all difference and I’ve now had almost two weeks of intense pain and hearing loss for no good reason? And AIBU to be pretty pissed off about it?

Sorry for the twilight rant… I’ve just woken up feeling like the back of my skull is being squeezed. Again.

Ear infections do not spread from one ear to the other unless a) You have used the same cotton bud to try and clear 'possible wax' from the external auditory canal. b) you should not use cotton buds in your ears at all [you may perforate the tympanic membrane] creating further problems. c) Antibiotic ear 'drops' are best to use in cases of infection rather than oral antibiotics as they get straight to the infection where as oral antibiotics can take 2-3 days and are not as effective.

@stbew read ALL of it

The reason I didn’t take the antibiotic prescription from the 111 Dr is because he called at about 7, my GP surgery opens at half 8 and the nearest pharmacy opens at half 9, so the difference in time between me starting the antibiotics from one or the other was an hour or two at most. I thought it worth seeing the GP in person in case there was something else going on that antibiotics alone wouldn’t fix (like, as a PP suggested, impacted ear wax). The GP I saw said to go back after a week if there’s no improvement, so I intend to make another appointment tomorrow and will be requesting that same GP again if I can

You are right OP, it's completely shit and very worrying. We have some of the worst cancer survival rates in Europe - not because the actual treatment is worse quality, but simply because of the delays people face getting diagnosed and starting treatment.

Tbh, for an issue like yours I'd have booked a private appointment as soon as the first GP fogged me off. Round our way you can get a same day GP appointment through Doctap for £60. Obviously for some people this is unaffordable, but as you can afford a Eurostar weekend I'm assuming you can, and would rather have spent £60 than ruin your weekend.

OP I agree with other posters who are saying antibiotic drops may be more effective. You may have otitis externa (infection & inflammation of the external ear canal) rather than otitis media. Otitis externa can be incredibly painful as the ear canal becomes very swollen and inflamed, and if you're using ear plugs and in-ear headphones it may not be helping the infection at all. Oral antibiotics don't make much difference to otitis externa because the ear canal skin itself needs to be treated and ear drops are better at doing that

if you want to stop them doing this. you do this.
Ok so I can I have your name.
Thank you, I will be coming into the Doctors and I want you to sign a letter to say you denied me the right to see the Doctor. I also want you to record this information on my records.

user1497787065: The GP can only make a decision of face-to-face or phone call IF the Receptionist passes on the msg, which they don't; hence 'please call again tomorrow, call 111 or present to A&E'! with my 'ear problem'. I couldn't get an appointment so I wrote out for a repeat prescription for my regular hypertensive and wrote a note on the form (the relevant info about my problem) asking the GP if he could possibly arrange me an appointment - bypassing the 'Gate Keeper'. Yes, I was called by the Receptionist to say that an appointment had been made at a different surgery (same day) at request of GP. I was also told that such cases should not be referred to A*E as they are not of the 'emergency' nature.

I think it's harsh to blame the receptionist for doing her job. Even if she has no medical expertise I assume the doctor who spoke to you does. And she decided you didn't need seen in person based on your symptoms at that time.
Your symptoms changed, you could have called back.

The first GP may have said exactly the same thing if they'd seen you F2F, as it wasn't that bad then.
The receptionist (as you rightly say) isn't a medical expert so is trained to suggest phone appointments - even the second time. The first GP did say to come back in a week, which from the receptionist POV you were doing.

Im not a gp but please dont jam anything in youre ears you will make the problem worse or end up in a and e with an ear, nose, throat consultation to have the ear plug removed which will probably be more paindul than it is now.

It's okay asking for Dr to call BUT what if you don't have internet/lap top or a mobile phone in order to send a photo through 'link'. My dad is 83 and has neither and he has only been hospital once and seen the GP about 10 times in his whole life. The elderly get treated the same as everyone else ... it's diabolical (ring back tomorrow, no appointments, ring back tomorrow no appointments ad infinitum) - not an emergency but a necessity he is seen face-to-face - it is diabolical.

In 2012 my receptionist told my husband there wasn't any appointments left and my symptom didn't sound too serious so to try again the next day despite my husband's protestations that something was seriously wrong.

He practically dragged me out to the car and took me to our small community hospital around four miles away. He got me through the doors and a passing nurse took one look at me and bypassed check in and everything. They took BP temperature etc, looked at my legs and within 15 minutes I was being blue lighted to my nearest general hospital.

To cut a long story short I had massive multiple blood clots on my lungs and they had already started to affect one side of my heart. The consultant said I would have been dead within 24 hours had my husband not taken me to our local A and E.

Receptionists frighten me now. They shouldn't be allowed to say who does and doesn't need to see a GP if they aren't fully medically trained like a nurse etc

Privatisation? GPs ARE private businesses and always have been (with a few exceptions bought into the NHS). They are generally partnerships run by the GPs in the practices. The ‘senior managers and pen-pushers’ are the GPs.

It is the GPs who recruit and set protocols for the receptionists (sometimes they follow algorithms for this)

@Doris86 That is exactly what happened to me. Basically told to call OOH which I know is wrong. My comment to receptionist was this: I have called you at 8am (first in the queue and you say you have no appointments ... that can't be right The Practice does not book appointment in advance ... 'Ring 111 or present to A&E '- I said 'no' get the Dr to call me and let him decide, it is not an 'emergency' but I need to be seen. Don't ask me to call 111 and don't ask me to present to A*E that is for emergency patients only and I AM CALLING WITHIN HOURS 8am. OOH is not to be used in this way. If you do not pass on my msg to the Dr I will be contacting the Practice Manager ... the whole thing is a shambles. OOOOOoooo (I am not normally assertive) But hey ho I got an appointment at 9.30. There was no-one in the waiting room - I waited 1/2 an hour before I was called in and nobody came out of the bloody Dr's .... guess what - he was just folding his newspaper away as I walked through the consulting room door FFS

OP,

You are not being unreasonable. It's awful.

This was in the news last month - a poor, poor man died after an ear infection spread to his brain.

He had numerous phone appointments with the GP surgery, he was refused an in-person.

There is an audio recording of one of his appointments. I imagine it will stay with the healthcare assistant and the poor mans family forever.

www.itv.com/news/granada/2022-09-29/man-who-died-of-brain-abscess-should-have-seen-gp-face-to-face-says-nhs

Well, what happens if you don't have receptionists attempting to allocate appointments is that you will be unable to see a GP at all as the waiting list will constantly be full.

GP reception staff are very important members of the team and I hate how they get spoken about on mn.

He had numerous phone appointments with the GP surgery, he was refused an in-person.

That story is horrible and so sad. Started with an inner ear infection. Do any of those on the thread defending these disgusting GPs still refusing face to face, care to comment on this?

No GP should do video or phone appointments. It needs to stop now. You should insist on seeing your GP. Always. The receptionist can do a receptionists actual job, which is NOT deciding who is sick and needs a doctor and who isn’t. They should have zero say, zero to do with it. I’m disgusted we even get asked by them what it’s for. It’s so fucked up. That poor family.

GP reception staff are very important members of the team and I hate how they get spoken about on mn

Well I hate people dying because we have shifted a healthcare practitioners job to someone who isn’t a healthcare practitioner. They shouldn’t be anywhere near deciding whether or not someone needs a doctors appointment! My GP doesn’t do this, so why do others?

@Bollindger: Unfortunately, for the receptionists this has to be the way to go (the only recall we have is to complain ... which I find hard to do). Okay they have got their protocol to stick to BUT it is sometimes so ridiculously annoying and really Receptionists do not hold any medical certificates acknowledging that they have the right to diagnosis.

WahineToa · Today 14:07
GP reception staff are very important members of the team and I hate how they get spoken about on mn.

I agree with you, I am a Medical Secretary and have worked NHS and Private. I would never 'fob' a patient off without medical advice from a qualified Practitioner.

You poor thing. I would put in a complaint to the Practice Manager.
A receptionist isn't qualified to make those sort of judgements.
I hope you feel better and that the P.M talks to the staff to make sure that this doesn't happen to anyone else.

WahineToa · Today 09:17: My daughter's father died because no one would listen. He could have been treated earlier BUT he still would have died eventually, but not so painfully and not so much impact on our lives. The Nurse at that hospital thought ' he was faking, refused to take meds' It was horrendous ... he had a brain tumour (which we did not know about) (very odd behaviour, violent) and me and my daughter were constantly in danger .. Sad, that some people think they know more than the medics. In this instance it would not have helped at all but 'WE' did not get the support we required. Speak to the organ grinder and not the 'monkey'. I don't mean disrespect but the qualified Practitioner knows. The Nurse tackled me 'head on' and I said 'with no disrespect, I want the appropriate clinician./Consultant to make that decision'. She reported me for 'abuse' the Consultant was not happy with her one bit. A nurse/receptionist has no right to make a diagnosis as that is not in the realms of their Job/training capacity.

My son had an accident playing school. He fell off something - not far to the ground. I got a call from school. He was in pain. Could I collect him. He was holding his arm carefully. He said his collar bone hurt. Suspected broken collar bone. This was pre COVID, so we saw the GP. He suggested that we took him for an x-ray at A&E. We booked him in - receptionist asked what the issue was. She said, 'I don't think you've broken anything. You'd be in much more pain than this'.

X-ray showed that he had indeed broken it, quite badly from the look of the x-ray. I would have loved to tell her.

@danblack87 I can very sadly Trump your tale with a healthcare assistant making the decision that a distant relative was drunk and parked them in a side room to sleep it off and then forgot when they were discovered they’d passed away, aneurism. Even if they were drunk, would you leave them unattended lying on their back potentially 🤦‍♀️

@HiveBee That's what the nurse said to me ' he is drunk' - no he wasn't he hadn't drink for 3 weeks.