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.

I got a letter like this from my GP once, and after some careful negotiation he made me the chairperson of his patient participation group. I think he figured out in the end that I just liked being in the GP surgery a lot so he gave me a job.

Be a grown up?? How insulting to the OP. Make a drs appointment? When she's been told not to, to discuss a non medical issue? That if the trust has gone on both sides she could find another GP?? Drs aren't there to 'trust' their patients. They are there to assess their medical conditions. And why should she have to potentially leave the surgery and travel to one further afield (which may or may not accept her as a patient)? What if she can't get to another one easily. What if this letter creates an anxiety and causes her to second guess every appointment in the future, regardless of where she goes. It's a very alarming letter to receive.

Why are you vulnerable? You sound pretty ordinary. Or do you mean a hypothetical situation?

AnotherSurvivor why?. That's such a trite answer. What do you expect the mp to do, storm the surgery.

I had to read the OP, trice.

If all is as stated, then it is damn outrageous and heads must roll.

I've met people who have been to gp and the gp has been rude, dismissive, arrogant, smug etc etc.

The reason people go to a gp or take their children is because they are worried about the health of their loved one or self. Getting a letter like this needs investigating and stamped out A-Sap

I'm going to email a link to this thread to media outlets. It may not happen overnight but trust me by the end of the week it will be on all media

How will that help the OP?

Good luck at speaking to your practice manager at your GP practice OP.

I think the one at my practice is a fuckin mythical being as its impossible to contact her.

I agree it's ultimately a patient safety issue. Professional standards and regulatory body need to know which practices and practitioners think this is an acceptable way to treat vulnerable people

Can you clarify did you DC attend GP surgery 4 times in a month and given antibiotics on all 4 occasions or just once or twice?

Not necessarily my practice nurse can prescribe antibiotics.

That’s crazy. Are they even allowed to send letters like that?

This is so horrible, so unethical. Please take it further and complain.

Here, see below easy guid what to do next

https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/files/How_to_raise_concerns_about_a_general_practice_0.pdf

HTH

Change your GP - they are there for you, not the other way around. Complain to your MP and leave negative feedback on their website, explaining what happened. They have gone barking mad, GPs, with their online appointments, early retirements and part-time working.

I would send a letter acknowledging receipt of their letter. In it I would say that, as you would be aware, DSs appointments during this time were related to XYZ condition and resulted in XXX treatment, which is only available from Drs, GPs being more appropriate in this situation than emergency departments. You acknowledge that other service providers may be more appropriate for other ailments and, where those ailments occur, will seek relevant providers.

As an aside op, I'd say if your child has been prescribed four lots of antibiotics in a month, you DO need a different service. DS has just got back from three days in hospital and finished five days of IV antibiotics because the four doses of antibiotics we've had since mid November have done nothing. Hospital picked up a chest infection which listening couldn't as well as treating the tonsillitis the antibiotics hadn't cured.

Please escalate his care if the last batch of meds haven't worked.

I fully appreciate the pressure of working as a GP and how under funded the system is and how many posts are unfulfilled

But I also agree with this;

They have gone barking mad, GPs, with their online appointments, early retirements and part-time working.

If OP phones up for an appt, she probably has little say in who she sees tho so it's up to reception to send him to a nurse if they think that's better. I frequently end up seeing the paramedic not the GP and indeed our last visit with DS before he ended up in hospital was with her. No disrespect to her, she gave the same antibiotics the Dr would have given.

I think you've given the game away here OP.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/high-intensity-use-programme/

This is the guidance to English hospitals looking at patients who frequently attend the emergency department. These patients often have unmet needs and are frequently vulnerable or from socially deprived backgrounds. The idea is to use a coaching approach and de-medicalise and de-criminalise the pattern. Not to use an authoritarian or chiding letter

Awful. That’s a terrible approach. I would complain and find another GP surgery. Hope your little one is ok.

At my surgery they ask who you want to see, GP or nurse.

This

To be successful, it has to be a two-way thing. Trust on both sides, means that the GP who repeatedly is not 'trusted' by the patient, will possibly, and quite within their right- say that the professional relationship with that patient is not working, and that it is better to find another GP. And yes, doctors are well within their rights to say this, and that it is for the well-being of both, firstly, the patient.

This outrage is all very dramatic with letters to MPs etc. A simple call to the practice manager could clear this up or lead to taking it further if necessary.

The OP said that her child had 4 visits to the GP in Jan and was prescribed antibiotics. She hasn't said if there were 4 x prescriptions or how many visits to the GP they had previously made, so they could have been making regular trips for concerns which could be dealt with elsewhere. For all we know, the first visit in January may have been completely necessary and the other 3 could have been handled by a quick trip to the pharmacist.