My GP has told me that 80% of their appointments don't need a GP appointment.

[Hiptothisjive]

So I get that there are always people that need reassurance but this number shocked me. Basically a lot of people are visiting their GP for reasons they don't need to and taking up a lot of GP time.

It's great some of the prescriptions that can be given via a pharmacy now, but surely there needs to be a re-addressing of when to visit a doctor?

YABU - to expect people to know better than go to their GP when they don't need to
YANBU - people should go to the doctor whenever they want to no matter what the issue

Totally agree, I’ve long been saying this 28 days only script should only relate to issues where the illness is expected to clear up, or be temporary, and subsequently requires regular reviews.
i myself am on 2 meds for life, its a complete waste of everyone’s time, effort and sanity to be requesting a new prescription every month. Think of the time saved that could be better utilised for all involved…..GPs, admin staff, pharmacists etc…

This is an incredible dangerous attitude to triage. Totally unqualified staff deciding where to send people based on nothing…

No, because that's a routine scan for a fairly common cancer and scanning everyone enables it to be caught at an early stage which works out much more cost effective that treating late stage breast cancer, not to mention the personal cost to sufferers and their families. It's completely different to referring everyone with heartburn to an oncologist.

But they wouldn’t be referring everyone to an oncologist with heartburn. The doctor would ask suitable questions to the patient to see if there are other symptoms going on to see if it could be more sinister. Most won’t be but they might pick up on one cancer out of 100 heartburn patients who otherwise would find out too late they had cancer. That is the point of a GP

Sometimes you need a doctor to say whether it’s ok or not, we simply don’t know as we’re not the experts.

I had a terrible cough so went to the doctors after a week of not being able to sleep, eat etc, only to be told that a cough can take a few weeks to go away. I was made to feel like I shouldn’t have wasted their time. I left it a few weeks and went back, still feeling awful and was told off by a different doctor for leaving it so long as I now had pneumonia! I wonder when the magical day was that I should have sought medical attention that wasn’t deemed too early or too late. 🤔

At another time, I went with some symptoms that they dismissed as nothing. I went back a month later still having the same symptoms and other symptoms which I’d had to take time off work for. Again dismissed. A few days later I became very poorly and was taken to hospital where I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.

I have zero faith in seeing an GP on the NHS, especially ones who tell patients they shouldn’t be taking up appointments. We now see a private GP when necessary.

Yes but for every case of cancer there'll be thousands that do in fact have sore throats and indigestion. GPs dont have xray vision so they follow the age old path of if it doesn't settle then refer. They don't refer on first consultation usually unless there's an obvious problem.

We've all heard it, come back if it doesn't get better. GPs just hedge their bets generally.

The system causes a lot of problems.

I made a query about a referral I know nothing about,to a hospital I do not want to go to,for a specialism I'm already under ina different trust answer you need to see the GP.

Last appointment not my regular GP wouldn't listen, gave me a fit not I didn't ask for or want and wrote to my specialist. Saw specialist nope not our remit go back to GP.

Well change

They will have some kind of guidelines to follow as 111 does when you ring them.

I had multiple GP appointments for my child that were 'not needed'. Finally got the right person and they were admitted to hospital. GP told us they could have died, thankfully they got treatment and responded quickly. But those initial appointments of me being an 'over reactive mother' probably got packed into that 80% statistic, even though it was them not taking proper notice and I am so glad that I kept pushing.
I have lost faith in GP's, I have major hormone issues but they are so rude and dismissive towards me, telling me I am 'anxious' - its very clear that things are not right, but they keep telling me all is well and won't redo my bloods from two years ago. If i could go private I would every single time.

I don't think that 80% of people are talking bullshit. Maybe there are appointments that are unnecessary due to people worrying, maybe there are some that are unnecessary due to poor management from the NHS, but I think the suggestion that 80% of appointments are time wasters is ridiculous.

What your GP is really saying is that they are able to fob off/gaslight 80% of their patients. A lot of people are having to live with pain and try to advocate for themselves whilst the GPS keep fobbing you off. I'm guessing the 20% of appointments that are not considered wasted are probably the children appointments because parents are relentless in advocating for their children and the GPs don't want to be blamed for anything that could go wrong with children. Therefore they pop out a prescription for antibiotics or refer them to a consultant.

I think some of it comes from the pressure from schools about attendance. Lots of schools do a home visit on day 3 of a child’s absence and want medical evidence. We’ve been through that.

Also, both parents now work in a lot of cases, so parents are under pressure to gets kids well and back to school asap as they need to be at work.

It’s shit!

'What your GP is really saying is that they are able to fob off/gaslight 80% of their patients. A lot of people are having to live with pain and try to advocate for themselves whilst the GPS keep fobbing you off

Have you ever watched GPs behind closed doors? I can absolutely believe that 80% of people do not need seeing. I presume they only put the interesting cases on that and even so it's patient after patient saying they feel a bit off it.

Surely your statistic just means that those people were worried about some symptoms, but the doctor told them no treatment was necessary as either it would cure itself or medical intervention wouldn't help. But they needed to see the doctor for the latter to make that determination.

And actually for a lot of the 80% seeing the doctor and having the reassurance is the cure in itself. The visit was therefore worthwhile

It's difficult for people to know.

I recently had some symptoms that I wanted a GP appointment for as I thought I would need a prescription. We have a triage system where I am, so I filled in a form, sent photos and a detailed description and asked for a face to face or at least a phone appointment. A couple of hours later, I got a reply that wasn't really anything at all about what I had sent, and saying I couldn't have an appointment or call.

So I went to the pharmacy to see if there actually was anything over the counter I could take. The pharmacist was great and checked my symptoms (as in actually looked at the problem) but agreed I needed a prescription from a GP. Fortunately, she was able to signpost me to a walk in centre in the next town, who then did see me, and was able to prescribe the medication I needed.

It was a lot of hassle when I was feeling unwell, just because my own GP surgery dismissed my concerns as not needing an appointment.

In my case, it wasn't a life threatening condition, but it was painful but easily resolved with the right medication.

Edited to put some breaks in!

But you don't need to see a GP if your only symptom is heartburn, it's very easy to check what the symptoms are and contact your GP if you have a majority of symptoms. If that's the case and you have good reason to think it's more than heartburn, then you can go to the GP who can examine you but if they suspect cancer it will need to be referred.

I'm not sure what people think GPs are. They're just people who have been trained to have a good understanding of the human body, deal with more minor complaints and refer bigger ones to specialists. Their own specialism is generalism; by definition, they're not experts in any one particular field.

There's not much a GP can ask you that isn't a routine list of questions that a Receptionist can ask. They can have a feel around and see where you have pain or if anything feels different than a healthy human body, but they don't have X-Ray vision. Some cancers have very vague symptoms and they have to make a judgement call about if there's enough there for a very expensive and stressful referral or if it's likely to just be an over-anxious patient. Sometimes they make the wrong call, but they can only go on the evidence they have.

Lack of common sense. Lack of family support. I want it NOW. I want see the cleverest biggest person, not a scummy little nurse or pharmacist. I've got a sore stomach, notwithstanding I drank 20 pints last night.
I want a letter for benefits, I want a letter for the council, I want a sick line - five minutes ago.

Entitlement.

I’m very fortunate not to have to go to the GP surgery very often but back before Covid and the advent of online appointments you did tend to see the same old faces in the surgery waiting to see the doctor. Again. One of the receptionists told me most of them didn’t need a GP appointment. Stuff like a kid has woken up with a stiff back. Quick, get him round the doctor’s. Absolute drain on resources.

This is what frustrates me about things like inhalers.

They don't quickly go out of date, and it's something we will always need to use preventatively in our house, so why every 28 days do I have to fill out a form that wastes our time, for a GP to approve it and waste their time, when it could easily be moved to every 2/3 months instead.

I thought that was why they introduced 8am triage to decide who you need to see? So surely it’s their own fault or the fault of the receptionist? When I call for me or my kids (after first trying a pharmacist) I say what the issue is and I’m told who is going to see us.

Reflux is a symptoms of cancer itself and the recommendation is to see your GP if symptoms occur several times a week and over the counter medications are not working.

Breast cancer is a fairly common cancer but at mammography screening women are free of symptoms and 96% don’t need any followup. You are suggesting people with a symptom of another type of cancer, but who also could go one to develop Barrett’s Oesphagus (10-15% with GORD do) don’t see a GP?

My GP refused to come out to see me on 3 separate occasions,when I had a baby and was so ill I couldn’t walk. And looked like some thing from a horror film.

After calling a blue light ambulance because my skin was turning dusky I was diagnosed with Steven Johnson Syndrome. Which can kill you.

There are good and bad GPs. Like in every other walk of life

That isn’t what you were saying though.

111 also don’t have ‘guidelines’ but algorithms that they have to follow step by step.

Tbf they don't do housecalls anymore except for the most housebound, ill patients and even then community nurse teams tend to manage things.

It's a case of go to the practice or go to urgent treatment centres.