One illness/condition per phone call to the Surgery..to the surgery o

[dottypotter]

Phoned the doctors surgery this morning.The receptionist asked what was wrong and I mentioned two things.

She said only one per call. So I choose the main one I felt was more urgent.
After further questioning she told me I could ring the chemist as they could treat it.
I rang the chemist, they called me back later in the morning, with some questions and then told me I could pop down and pick up a prescription which I did.
Other problems been shelved for now.
In the past you would have just gone to the doctor and mentioned the other thing while you were there.
Now it seems you cant?
What do you think?
Has it happened to you?
Sorry Pharmarcy not Chemist.

Although generally surgeries are restricted and dictated by the NHS contract, things like this can be influenced by the partners so it does depend how forced thinking they are. Here whilst an appointment is 10 minutes and for 1 health matter only (unless they overlap so are essentially one), you can request a double, or ask the GP at the first and they book you in for another. It won't be long until we are all seeing PAs unless you can pay privately anyway i suppose.

A few years ago you could go in with two issues, but I did sneak a quick second one in recently as it was a v short appt and she said ok!
I’m more concerned about their being no continuity of care or that another issue may be due to an ongoing ailment, but you haven’t realised, or they don’t look at your notes so prescribe something that will aggravate another condition.
i have a few chronic issues but I can only really talk about one at a time although I feel some may overlap and I’m not sure which one is causing the symptoms.

Yes but that assumes the patient will know the symptoms could be connected. If, as in my PP, you don't know that night sweats and neck lump are both signs of lymphoma, and it's been impressed upon you not to ask about more than one thing, you can easily see how it won't get across to the Dr. I think we can sometimes forget that not everyone is able to advocate for themselves or stick up for themselves as well as we can.

I pay £75 per hour for a private GP (as does up to 30% of the country now, apparently). For that, I get listened to for 15 minutes, treated with courtesy and, I feel, they try to get to know me as a person I think.

In fact they provide me with the same service as my childhood GP did on the NHS!

If you go with a general GP now, you have to frantically pro-actively manage the system to get appropriate treatment. So you google your symptoms first and try to guess a diagnosis, then decide what the most urgent thing is. You then learn the buzz words to get an actual appointment with a qualified doctor, rather than being passed down the chain. You then prepare a good presentation in advance, so that the doctor might look at you and examine you, rather thank looking bored and typing into a screen. And, even then, in five minutes, they may well miss something or misdiagnose, as you have probably never seen them before and might never again. No thanks!

Often, it is not the poor doctor’s fault. I ended up having to console a young hospital doctor who broke down on me saying she couldn’t give anyone the service they wanted and had been working a ridiculous number of hours covering for sick colleagues. And she was young, bright and personable, just what the NHS needs. Sadly, I doubt she will be in it for much longer,

The system is broken and we need to start again from scratch.

Yeah it’s ridiculous. Major illnesses are missed because they refuse to look at the big picture and treat one tiny symptom.

When you "get there" implies that you would be seeing the Dr in person at the surgery. You're very fortunate if you still have that option! My GP surgery has only offered telephone consultations for almost all cases since about 2017.

The only time my doctors surgery do this is if you've been given a same day emergency appointment for something

Otherwise they have no problem with you mentioning more than one thing

My gp lets me talk about as many things I’m worried about in an appointment. It’s actually a better use of her time as I have multiple conditions and often one thing is related to another symptom so it helps with a better picture. She is an exceptional GP though.

There’s a difference between telling the GP that you have an upset stomach, headache and your joints are aching, or that you have an upset stomach, you’ve sprained your wrist and you think you’ve got conjunctivitis.

'I'm experiencing hearing loss and tinnitus on one side'

Did you know your smear test is overdue?

'It's on the list, thanks. Now, my hearing...'

And have you had your prediabetic tests this year?

'I'm not prediabetic, the tests showed that, now, my hearing...'

Ah, well, you might as well be, it's all the same really when we all just want to sit and eat biscuits all day...

'What? I'm coeliac, I'm not about to be sitting around eating biscuits all day, especially as I'm at work for most of it. Which brings us back to my hearing...'

Have you had your flu and covid jabs?

<hard stare> Oh, yes, it says you have here. And your Shingles too, I didn't know you could get that under 70.

'Yup, it's the Psoriatic Arthritis medication'

Oh, what's that?

'Autoimmune disease, long story, been on them for years, as is said in my records. I've got a constant hissing sound in my left ear and it's becoming really difficult for me to hear the phone at work...'

Oh, you're working, are you? Well, we do clinics for diabetes on Mondays at 2pm...

'I'm at work. It's hard enough to get time away from my desk to have a telephone HRT prescription renewal'

Oh, you're on HRT. You know that after a year, you have to stop taking it because of...

'Yeah, I'm here for my hearing. It started about...

Go to Specsavers and get the wax taken out. Now can you complete this short test about your feelings, as lots of women find out that they need anti-dep...

'I'm not depressed, I just need my hearing checked out and I've got a family history of...'

-pressants, especially when they're sitting eating biscuits and cake all day to make themselves feel better. Oh, are you OK? You seem to have drifted off a bit there.

'I've got the attention span of a goldfish at the best of times, never mind when I'm here to try and get my hearing checked out - although if you wanted to refer to a specialist for ADHD...?

Oh no, we mustn't talk about more than one thing at an appointment, you'll have to make a separate one for that. Thank you for coming and have a lovely day.

'But. My hearing?'

Just old age, probably, you'll need to make another appointment as we're out of time. Don't forget to book your place on the Diabetic Clinic for Monday.

@Soontobe60 ,

Except that the three together are all symptoms of reactive arthritis….

And that was from a quick google. Often what seem unrelated symptoms are symptomatic of one underlying condition, something a good GP will spot.

That shouldn't be funny but it is! 😁

I think it's crazy because how are patients supposed to know if two different symptoms are caused by two different illnesses? If you present with dizziness and weight loss but feel you can only mention one, it could lead to the wrong diagnosis.

My GP surgery doesn't have this as far as I am aware.

Even if it did, I'd still attend my appointment and mention everything that's concerning me because 1) I pay a lot of NI for this service and deserve at least basic medical care and 2) I'm not medically trained so how would I know whether the issues are connected or which is of most concern - that's the GPs job

Except that if your joints ache, and so you go to the doctor but aren’t allowed to mention you have also have dry painful eyes and stomach problems, you aren’t presenting a full picture. The doctor might ask if you also have x and y, but frequently they don’t.

I just say I have a xxxxxx. Then when I get into the doctor I list all symptoms I have so say I was going with fatigue I would say I feel so tired, my knee hurts I have constant headaches, my back hurts etc etc and play that it’s all one thing!

Receptionist won't let you make double appointments at my surgery. You need GP approval to make a double appointment.

Check out the irony in that 🙄

And it's great you are able to do that. But plenty of people aren't able to advocate for themselves or navigate authority that well. They don't have the confidence, or the English, or the ability to assess what the GP might need to know and what's irrelevant, for themselves. Articulate educated people are generally ok, to understand what's required, to use the time efficiently, to stick up for themselves if needed, but not everyone can do that. And I think people are in danger of slipping through the net.

Get an appointment for the main problem, but tell the GP both.
They're not going to cover their ears & refuse to listen.

I managed to link mine together when I spoke to the doctor! What’s he gonna say - that symptom is not related so we can’t discuss it today? Even if it was a very tenuous link!

Not with my GP. It depends on time either way mine. Once in a face to face or telephone consultation if the issues are quick mine will deal with more than one

Not everyone can afford that, nor should they have too
Plus I actually think it's alot more than that.
It's bad enough people can't get a dentist.

My gp did a few years ago. Blunt told me they could only deal with one symptom...utter nonsense

God help anyone with undiagnosed autoimmune issues,which often require someone who can join the dots. I'm a RN - this is very dangerous practice. People will have died as a result already, but I doubt that will be recognised, as no one will of joined the dots afterwards either. The NHS is f**d. It shouldn't be up to the patient to identify their most important symptom, and shelve the others.

Oh I completely agree, this shifting of responsibility onto the patient is completely unacceptable for the reasons you describe.

All the more reason, though, for those of us who can to insist on getting what we need and not accepting such low standards