My doctor doesn't "do female problems"

[Polkadotbikinininii]

Phoned to book a Dr's appointment for my daughter about her periods. After going through triage with the receptionist (for literally 10mins) I was told that the Dr who is on this week "doesn't do female problems" and I need to phone back next week to make an appointment with a different doctor. I can't book that appointment today though.

Can you imagine a female dr deciding she doesn't want to deal with problems potentially affecting half the population?!

On the other hand, at least he won't be dismissive or try to mansplain

Yes, seeing the value in it is fine. Seeing one doctor and having them say “now I have established contact/ruled out emergency I would like to pass you to my colleague who specialises in these issues.”

Delaying primary care because you yourself just don’t “do” women’s problems is a different issue entirely.

Absolutely shocking! Complain and shout it from the rooftops, local fb groups, local media etc. Dr's practices are businesses at the end of the day!

I would check their website if it says anything about speciality etc. it could be a bad explanation from a receptionist. At some point we have this - certain GPs were dealing with certain problems, they don’t anymore, they just don’t have enough appointments I guess.
I wouldn’t go all guns blazing but question the reasoning behind this approach pointing out that it’s unhelpful and putting half of their patients in a really tricky position.

Can you look at the GP register (or whatever it's called) online and see if the GP they are recommending has Obs/Gynae qualifications?

When our little village had its own surgery run by a husband and wife GP team, she would generally see women about gynae issues as that was her expertise. The other would see you if she couldn't but for non urgent matters that's what they would advise. Likewise, he had experience/extra qualifications in acupuncture and pain management so patients would be guided to see him.

Wasting an appointment with a doctor who will refer you to a colleague who specialises is a spectacular waste of a scarce resources i.e. GP appointments.

Can you imagine a female dr deciding she doesn't want to deal with problems potentially affecting half the population?!
we had a female doctor like this- brilliant for the kids but with women her go to solution was canestan for everyone! I’d say ‘em would you be able to look?’ and she’d sigh, barely look, then continue on with canestan. When I found a fab female doctor that dealt properly with women’s issues I almost cried!

Tell you what, if your receptionist ever says to you, ' Oh you have a GI issue, I'll book you with Dr Martin, he specialises in that', you feel free to turn down an appt with Dr Martin, on principle. And leave the rest of us happy to see GPs with specialisms in our condition, where they are available.

again - i haven't seen anyone on this thread say that. I HAVE seen people say the receptionist needs better training and saying what she said (esp if just repeating the GPs actual words) is not acceptable.

I have some experience of this within both the NHS and where i live now. With the NHS i pointed out that sending my mum a WhatsApp and an email to remind her to make an appointment (and then threatening to take her off their rolls when she didn't reply) is over the top and not needed when it clearly states in her contact details that she uses neither, and that the best way (also in her notes) is to send a letter or a call to her landline. They pay better attention to this for all patients now. The discussion was friendly, no accusations and no finger pointing.

With my local GP several of us pointed out that the way the reception was set up caused huge issues with people entering and leaving because it created a stupid pinch-point that could easily be avoided with a relatively simple change. Was implemented with a smile.

Also people saying it is shocking, go to the media etc which is a bit of an overreaction isn't it.

again - i haven't seen anyone on this thread say that @Brefugee

You missed the post I directly quoted and responded to then. I was responding to someone arguing that GPs should be generalists and not have specialisms.

My posts are responding to people who are arguing GPs should be generalists only. There are quite a few people on this thread arguing this,. so its surprising that you claim not to have seen anyone doing this.

As with all things this could be interpreted in different ways and the first thing to do is ask for clarification.

It could be the GP doesn’t take routine appointments related to child health or gynaecological health. There may be reasons for this. One could be a lack of a chaperone which they prefer to have with them, this doesn’t mean there are restrictions it just means they always prefer to have one. It could also mean restrictions, which might be educational as much as behavioural.

Whiilst most medical professionals in a GP are generalists they increasingly have access to other health care professionals, specialists and clinicians with special interest. They may know that insisting on seeing a generalist GP or nurse asap is what you want it is not what you need. You could just end up being booked in again to see their specialist.

Never heard of such shit.

I don't really understand what the issue is. An alternative appointment was offered. It's not a life threatening emergency.

Doctors quite rightly can opt out of signing off abortions, this seems to be a extension to this.

Are you confused about the meaning of the word "general"?

I had a similar experience once. I went in to discuss something, an on the day appointment because I was worried and needed an exam. The male doctor got agitated and asked why I didn’t ask for a female doctor. I said why do they not teach the men about vaginas?

Are you confused about the opportunity to see someone with specific expertise and training? Yes see a GP without specialist knowledge rather than one has specialist knowledge. What a great win.

Complaint

I was thinking this too.

are you confused by a receptionist talking like an absolute arse?

All this requires is a bit of training and clarification. Especially, for eg, what the OP / daughter should do if they have some (whisper it) women's issue that CAN'T wait a week?

Can’t believe some people are defending this. Do complain, I had a similar issue and was so shocked that I didn’t complain and I regret not doing so:

I made an appt for a gynae issue, the only appt available (apparently) was a month away, it was later changed by the surgery. I turned up and was seen by a male doctor. He did examine me and declared he couldn’t see a problem. He advised me that next time I should make an appt with a female dr.As if it was that easy!!! I was so shocked I mumbled something and left, but seriously???? Ridiculous. And no mention of specialties etc, just plain old misogyny.

I've seen many people on MN and irl that only want to see a female dr for such issues... particularly where a young girl is involved. I'm wondering if you got an appointment with this male GP you'd then be complaining no female dr was available for you to see?
Regardless it is fair that a male dr may not see himself as knowledgeable in all the nuances of female related health because (1) they don't experience it for themselves and (2) many patients prefer a female dr for such things so male drs don't get so much hands on experience so as to speak.
It's best to take the receptionists advice and see a dr who is more confident in that area. Personally if I was taking a young girl I'd ask for a female dr anyway. Good luck.

The OP says there are two gps in this practice, and the only one working this week "doesn't do women's problems".

Obviously, it would be lovely if every GP practice was large enough to have gps specialised in different areas and with enough capacity to see people as needed. This is not what the OP is talking about.

But clearly, some posters are happy with women and girls not being able to access medical care without unnecessary delays caused by a doctor refusing to deal with issues that can affect 50% of the population.

But there’s no indication that OP needs a specialist. And if she did, it wouldn’t be the specialist GP - it would be off to Gynaecology or wherever was appropriate. As before, GP’s are designed to give blanket primary care in this exact way. If OP needed repeat appointments, beyond initial assessment, seeing the colleague would be appropriate. Do you really think making suffering women wait even longer for help because certain men can just decide they don’t like dealing with periods is appropriate?

As before, I have never in my life heard of a GP saying he just doesn’t deal with bowel related issues, or if you have migraines they just won’t visit with you. The daughter needs primary care, potentially a basic prescription that should be well within this GP’s capability.

YANBU. That needs reporting or at least making a formal complaint. Healthcare professionals should not be able choose who they are willing to treat. It really p**ses me off.
Outrageous that your daughter have to be disadvantaged and wait longer because they aren't willing to treat 'womens problem'.

Its not quite the same, but I used to work in a gynae ward (as a nurse) and some of the other nurses refused to look after women having terminations (not even just not giving the medication, refused to do the medical/post op care). It drove me mad, why have you come to work in a gynae ward if you're not willing to provide the care? Just do your f*ing job! I complained every time, they started making people give written confirmation they were willing to provide this care before they were offered the job.

Definitely complain.

I'd complain. A GP is a general practitioner!

There is absolutely no way I would want to be treated at any stage of pre-during or post termination by any medical staff who was pro-life. That would have been absolutely awful. I would much rather they were not required to deal with me.