GP surgery sent letter to deter us book appointment for toddler

[Watapain]

Today we received letter from Surgery saying that we have booked several appointments in the last month for our toddler who has been sick often and has got a recurring issue needing doctors attention. We should consider other alternatives and not see the GP.
This has really concerned us as me and DH never see the GP. I am fuming as they have sent a form asking us to sign an undertaking that we acknowledge the letter. We are not happy about it and to sign the letter.
Have you been through anything similar and how do we approach about complaining about it as the tone on it seems threatening that they are looking to remove people from their list.

OP - answer the question people are asking
was he prescribed antibiotics 4 times ?

Was the hospital admission following one of these four recent visits, or on a previous occasion with a similar illness and you’re concerned it will happen again?

I bet it’s just an automatic email, I really wouldn’t worry. If your child is sick they are sick there’s nothing you can do about it, so don’t worry about anything!

There are 2 sides to every story and we only have one of them here.
It’s very rare for a GP to send a letter like this, they wouldn’t do it lightly.

See also: letters from the DWP. Specifically tax credits. I know a few people who were overpaid tax credits - (weren't most people!) and when they were stopped and they were still owing, they had to pay them back at say £40 a month or £60 a month until the amount was cleared.

Although they paid on time every month - by direct debit - they still got nasty snotty harsh RED letters saying 'you have not paid your monthly installment, and so now the £639.00 you owe has been passed to a debt agency, and you have lost the right to pay in installments!'

They had paid! They called the DWP, and after an hour of waiting on the line, they got told 'oh yeah loads of people have been getting them, just ignore it. We have received your £60 don't worry about it!'

A mistake, that caused the person loads of worry and stress and wasted time on the telephone when it was a mistake. One woman I know who owed £975 and was paying in installments over 18 months, got FOUR of these shitty letters in 8 months.

Computer generated my fucking arse. It's human error. Someone has to get the bloody computer to do it, and it needs printing out and putting into an envelope - and posting! Them blaming the computer does my head in!

I was sent a link to an arsey leaflet about using other services / identifying when your child needs to see a GP after a run of appointments for my one year old.

At the time I got the message she was in a critical care ward receiving her second immunoglobulin infusion to counteract the damage to her coronary arteries that had occurred due to the Kawasaki disease the GP had failed to diagnose at all these ‘unnecessary appointments’.

Honestly, GP’s do not know they arses from their elbows when it comes to small children. It’s frightening.

Like what?? Google? Friends? Mumsnet?

This seems really odd!

Most practices have care coordination when you call in so you see the GP only if needed.

If you were triaged to the GP inappropriately that's the practices issue

If you refused to engage with the process then I have some sympathy with the practice but it still feels clinically risky to discourage you from seeking help if needed

I find it really surprising if this was out of the blue - eg. It’s terrible if this has happened if OP has not taken their child to the GP for the other 11 months of the year or they have a serious issue which obviously warrants more medical attention

but also one of my DC has a not too serious condition which when it pops up requires antibiotics. In the end, after DC was in hospital, the paediatric surgeon gave us a number to call at the hospital and they would prescribe the appropriate medication so we didn’t have to wait and go through the GP. This is such a better system, maybe you could explore that?

And your MP and local press I hope!

Oh, I feel for you, OP. The trouble is, so many of these things are just box ticking exercises, requiring no thought. I've known it at school, too. Some yrs ago DS2 had a school year in which he was absent a lot, with several viral infections, just through chance. As soon as he'd missed a certain number of days, we got a letter, the same letter sent to families who just weren't bothering to send their children to school. We also got a stupid leaflet telling us why school was important. But the worse thing was that DS2 was given a card which he had to have signed by every teacher to prove he'd been in class - the same card that was given to children who'd been skipping classes. He found it very upsetting. He came to no harm from his absences and got mainly A stars in his GCSEs. However, the system didn't distinguish between those whose education was at risk through missed school and those who could breeze through despite missed days. It looks as if your child has fallen victim to a similar mindless process. Do you still have a Health Visitor who could liaise with the doctors practice? I can't remember how long HVs are responsible for children. If not, then, clearly your child still has to have appointments when needed, so perhaps you could write a letter in reply? It's obvious you're not using appointments lightly, you never make appointments for yourself. Sorry I can't help. Hope you get this sorted out.

Seriously, you still believe that GP surgery’s are infallible? 😳

Hasn’t the debacle with the Govt and the Post Office management opened your eyes to stop blindly accepting whatever you’re told, especially when you know it sounds fishy?

The fact that another poster has stated that these letters are computer generated surely should make you question whether that’s a suitable communication to send out to a parent who has sought treatment for a sick child, who has already been hospitalised for the same complaint?

Jeez, I despair! 🤦🏻‍♀️

That is ridiculous and really dangerous. It could put parents off seeking medical help and delaying treatment for something potentially very serious.

OP is getting a bit of a rough time from some posters. It doesn't matter if the child needed four sets of antibiotics - you can occasionally end up with multiple appointments for one issue.

Lots of opinions re computer generated letters that I agree with. To add - GP surgeries should be looking at people repeatedly coming eg in a year .... To discourage those who misuse the system, to maybe see a trend for a long term issue (and help them with that!!), even to point to CBT for health anxiety... But an automatic letter for four appts in a month is stupid. Like OP said, it has worried them.

Exactly So what were they other appointments?

That is shocking. I know some people book appointments for the most ridiculous things but to send such a letter to parents of a toddler that has been admitted to hospital is shocking. And the excuse of a computer generated letter is a cop out.

Does it really matter?
A visit to GP cannot be justified unless somebody needs antibiotics?
I don't think a pregnant mother of a toddler would like to go to see her GP just for fun.

How about actually asking for an appointment to speak to the practice manager and expressing your feelings about this? You can then see what they have to say about it and you may be able to come to some resolution with them about the way forward? Surely this is a practical solution as opposed to firing it up when it may not be necessary?

You would think any doctor of any worth would see a child however many times the parents brought them in (assuming there’s nothing like FDIA involved).

I’d say 4 times in a month with meds prescribed for a recurring illness for which the child had been previously hospitalised, doesn’t warrant any letter of that kind!

What other help? I've got numerous long term health issues and there are long waits to see consultants.

Standardised computer generated letter !!
Don't blame the computer system - the computer system needs reviewing if is sending out letters to genuine cases - if a child needs antibiotics on each occasion then there is a genuine reason for them to visit the GP !!
As a manager it is surely up to you to make sure the software being used is fit for purpose and if it isn't then it needs to be redesigned - this is part of the issue with problem with our NHS.
I recently had to cancel an appointment sent out for a national screening programme because I am already under consultant review yearly and already have the screening done by them. Their reply said thankyou for informing us.
The screening programme computer system doesn't know about people who are ready under a consultant for the same problem. I took time to cancel my appointment so it could be given to someone else ,not everyone will do this - so how many appointments slots are lost this way? It surely wouldn't take much effort for a consultants admin team to contact the national screening programme with a list of patients that don't need an appointment would it ?

It sounds dangerous to send such letters to parents of children, in particular toddlers.

Erm, I think you (and quite a few others) have gotten rather over invested in this one. Demanding the OP answer your question is a bit crazy. We can all post whatever we want, but she doesn't owe you anything.

I had a work colleague who would rush their pfb to A&E for every sniffle. My Doctor had a watch and wait approach which I grew, as a new parent, to really appreciate. I knew the surgery was there if I really needed them if DC deteriorated. But otherwise I needed to be patient. It was helpful as I grew into new parenting. For pre-schoolers there are normally midwives or community nurses - perhaps your surgery feel those are better 1st options.