To think the NHS makes it difficult to avoid A&E

[ArchesOfsunflowers]

All the comments about people just going to A&E… but there’s so little alternative!
I try to play the rules, this time:
-GP no appointment until May
-None at 8am
-Try pharmacy for infection, looks at me like I have two heads and says go to GP
-111 really really difficult to be listened to, get callback in the end (refused to discuss both ear and throat having pus/ swelling, I had to pick one issue)
-call back hard to hear, like he’s swallowed the mic
-rude and dismissive but says he’s sending antibiotics to pharmacy. Told off for overuse of antibiotics (she’s not had any in five years???)
-pharmacy receive nothing, so restart the loop.
(Here there’s no walk in, I know some areas have them. We have GP and A&E or out of hours calls/ online consultations)

I’ve luckily not had to call them often, but with 5 children sometimes they need the GP. It’s just inaccessible here. 8am calls are the only on the day options but you end up in a queue for ages to be told there’s no appointments if you call on the dot (it goes to answerphone recorded messages before 8, no calling earlier.)

I get the funding issues. But without GP access people get funnelled to the only option. It’s not just the narrative ofthe lazy/ feckless who go there on whole family jollies to have a fun day out. It’s the fact that people can’t wait a month to see a doctor and there’s nothing else. People get sick occasionally however hard they try.

DD has huge tonsillitis, covered in pus and an ear infection with it, gunk dribbling out. I’m not going for no reason, it’s reasonable to check a child crying in pain with a high fever and pus leaking…but the system is broken. We are being told to blame each other, it’s our fault. Or to shut up because people are sicker or something.

The issue though is an under funded system that’s also got management issues that’s not fit for purpose. It’s not just time wasting for an otherwise fit for purpose system. My local hospital for example is being rebuilt with less beds, and the end of life care ended. No alternative in place, and the population has hugely increased since it was first built. It’s funding… and bizarre planning. And gatekeepers. Partly people, but a shit ton of big issues as well

But the NHS isn’t a business, and it is trying to run it like one (stupid focus on targets not patients, cost cutting tot the bone etc) that got us where we are. Ow. You also would not like medical care to be run as a business, which is ultimately FOR PROFIT. Just look at the US, where people die because they can’t afford healthcare or face a choice between bankruptcy and the debate of a loved one- in a developed country which prides itself on being the best one the world 😂

My GP told me to take DD to an and e because she has a stye that won’t shift, because they don’t have any appointments for the next two weeks.

can you imagine!

12 years ago the NHS was rated as the best health service in the world. Now, it's a total disaster. Wonder why ???

We need more GPs. There are doctors who want to be GPs. But the government decides to cut funding for doctors, yet offer more funding for non doctors (Google ARRS ).

We have enough doctors. We gave a massive need for more doctors. We don't have enough jobs.

My GP practice is teetering and getting worse. A big problem is there automatic message which has been left on 'busier than usual if its not urgent please try again tomorrow' for over three years now. Which I think about a lot in relation to a particular care client with the early indications of dementia. Someone who would listen to that, think 'no its not so bad' and hang up ..... and not remember perhaps that this wasn't the first/ third/ tenth time they'd heard that message, potentially tehn having an emergency / A&E condition. I am currently being sent strongly worded reminders about smear tests, but if I were to not ignore that message I'd not be booking a smear, as it CAN wait.

I live in a very rural area. we have a small GP practice with 4 GP's. I take the time to read their annual report. this year they all earned over £100K and are working 2.5 to 3 days per week in the practice. thats all down to tony blair and his doctors contracts. no wonder you cant get an appointment with them. thats why so many people go to a and e in desperation. the system is broken and it needs someone with the balls to stop treating it like some sort of sacred cow and sort out these stupidities.

100% agree. They are bleeding this country dry to make money for themselves. They are the nasty party and always will be.

From the Gov website. All your GPs must be partners and not salaried. Means they have expenses that come out of that pot, so it's not their take home pay.

Where? We are thinking about moving as well

Its primary care that have destroyed A&E , GPs are private run businesses ( that received NHS funding) and they have gone to shit since this move.

if anyone on this thread truely believes a labour government will solve this in their next term then they are absolutely deluded. It will take years and probably needs to start with the NHS being shut down and then starting again from the beginning .

In my area not a single GP works a full working week, but the average local GP salary is 80,000 - 100,000 most working 3 days or less. These are the figures posted by the surgeries of what they spent on salary. It's disgusting. We had 1 GP that worked 6 days a week 7-7 until he finally retired and now it's back to rarely being seen or being sent to the hospital.

@SENlife because the government will not give money for Doctors. PAs yes. But they don't let surgeries employ GPs (2.7% rise in income this year). It's nuts. But hey, then you'll go private and line their grubby little hands.

Yes £100,000+ for part time is wrong. But that only applies to owners of the surgery not the majority of GPs who are salaried.

@SENlife oh and what to you is a 'full working week' ? Most GPs I've spoken to will work 40-50 hours in those 3 days. Doing it full time is unsustainable.

Definitely not the owners the practices now have to legally declare the GP earnings.

For 2 years through covid id tried to get a GP appointment, got one as we came out of lockdown but i had another issue by then, so 2 ailments, would only discuss one, got so fed up for over 6 months being told call back tomorrow at 8am nothing available, that i contacted local MP.
Eventually changed GP surgery, Oh what heaven, i can call on a Monday and be seen same week, i can now pre book appointments.
Lovely GP doctor, on first visit said Oh we dont see you much, no sh** sherlock you cant get in anywhere else!

Nope - AE & indeed the rest of the NHS, is destroyed because patients cannot be admitted to the ward, corridors have been made wards, patients don't get seen in a timely manner, people are released back into the community who should still be in hospital, so they get re-admitted or die.

Sort out social care, which is basically a matter of funding/wages and the Hospital system would then cope far better, fund council services properly and less people would need to be dealt with by GP surgeries, which are picking up the pieces from 14 years of Austerity.

So it is possible and its not deluded to think it can be done, it would also in the medium to longer term, save money.

Seriously? our practices they work 9-6 so definitely not some miracle 50 hours. Even our local hospital the consultants are working part time and making up the rest of the week in the local private hospital where they can charge significantly more.

Agree wholeheartedly

I have had 3 appointments all on same day over the last six months at my GP and received medication each time, on one visit they said if no improvement I would need to go in to hospital within 24 hours. Hadn’t needed meds for almost a decade. I am however not in the SE which seems to be bearing the brunt, that’s a numbers game isn’t it with the density of population.

My surgery has a poster with how many appointments are missed each month, it was close to 300 when I went a couple of weeks ago. I’m sure maybe 10% had a genuine emergency but what should happen there?

Hahahahahaha social care doesn’t cause the delays in hospital ! ( well it doesn’t where I live !)

lack of Gp appointments = people going to A&E who don’t need too = ambulances backed up = test take too long = patients not being discharged because the pharmacy is backed up or their is no doctor to sign it ( despite community care being in place to start ) there is no transport etc etc.

All the discharge money and winter money and funding for discharge is given to the NHS ( who can then decide if they share it with social care partners!) the NHS are measured by ‘bed days saved’ they give zero shits as to what happens next, people are sent home ‘medically optimised’ rather then ‘medically fit’ now. The NHS is a disaster because they waste money left right and centre. The majority of the time, social care pick up the pieces.

@SENlife no, your surgery is open 9-6. The doctors will then have to make referrals, follow up on referrals, look at tests results etc. Some will start at 7am and leave at 9pm and still not get all the work done. Appointments are just one part of a v complicated job.

Funnily enough, DH and some friends were talking about this yesterday. One of our friends has an obvious issue with an infection in their finger. They've been trying to get a GP appointment for a week now. Keep ringing at 8am, keep being told nothing left. Tried 111 who just said present at minor injuries. Our local area has no minor injuries. He was told to present at A+E but feels ridiculous to do this and there is at least a 7+ hour wait.

I've been trying to organise prescriptions since changing GP in December as we moved. We originally signed up for this new GP in October, they refused to add us all as they wanted work proof and bill proof from our 15 year old DS. Kept explaining he is 15, the moron on the desk said "I know but we need this". She wasn't listening. Finally after months and having to get school.l to email them, we got in.

Since then I've been told we can't get medications prescribed without a med review. Except I've called repeatedly since December to be told no appointments and it's not an emergency. DS has incredibly important medications which I've not been able to get. Luckily his consultant is sending a strongly worded email. I've explained these are medications prescribed by a specialist to be told their prescription nurse "will judge if they're necessary".

It's a joke, it's GPs at the centre of it or their useless and gate keeping desk dragons

I think it differs hugely from area to area- my GP is fantastic always get an
appointment when I need it and usually on the same day. Whereas my friend who lived 30 mins away had no option other than to go to A and E for antibiotics for a
Chest infection. She was trying 3 weeks to get an appointment with her GP with no success and the Urgent care centre near her had closed down. She has no option and the nurse at A and E told her to
Complain to the GP surgery and she was really poorly. She couldn't believe it when I told her I get an appointment usually on the same day!

The op is literally saying she’s trying to book a gp appointment.

@SENlife salaried GPs can not earn the amounts you say, only GP partners can.