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

@BashfulClam I updated what I meant further down the thread.
I am not expecting receptionists to make/offer medical advice.

The gp fobbed my Dad off. Turned out he had heart failure and dementia. When I stepped in to help the GP was still doing telephone appointments so it transpired he was missing them. I dread to think how much time was wasted.

I might add that this was several years after Covid but they were still doing the bare minimum of appointments face to face.

God help you if you are old or disabled and unable to manage the tech stuff. People will come on and say they should just learn but it’s not as simple as that. My Dad COULD manage tech stuff then he couldn’t. Trying to support him at a distance nearly sent me over the edge. There needs to be a solution that looks at the bigger picture and not just Ted Smith missed his appointment AGAIN.

Maybe every practice should have someone who just renews prescriptions on a separate line/booking system and he/she can call every prescription patient, check there are no issues with the meds and re-book. They'd save a lot of people calling in taking up GP's time if one person had this as their entire job and any issues the patients get referred to an actual GP to talk to.

Triage staff at surgeries will have guidelines to follow it will not be down to individual opinion or interpretation of symptoms.

I think a study of countries with timely and efficient GP services and further referral (or self referral in some countries), needs to be undertaken, and the best one replicated.

Might cost us more in NI and/or co pay fees, but I think that would be worth it.

So no point in medical school then is there? A routine questionnaire can triage everyone and tell everyone with non obvious symptoms to take Rennies or ibuprofen.

The PP is correct - it takes training and experience to assess when “common symptoms” have crossed a threshold and need further investigation. I know two people in my own circles who died prematurely from “heartburn” which turned out to be angina in need of urgent treatment. Neither were big on the “wine or chips” , neither had predictive factors such as high BP, weight, previous assessments and a receptionist is (a) not qualified to give advice (b) should not be conducting surrogate consultations at reception. Unfortunately one didn’t want to “waste” the GP time and the other couldn’t get an appointment and was told to treat themselves with indigestion remedies (a fact not recorded in the notes).

The whole point of the family doctor system is to have patient histories, ideally some background on the patient and to be able to assess what is minor and treatable at GP level what needs taking further. That is what the years of training and experience attracting the bigger salaries are for. If GPs are unable to provide that service but minimum wage reception staff can fill at check box and that is good enough then what is the point of the system?

Must be a postcode lottery thing. I've been seen very quickly when ill, and been given an appointment for the next week when it's just a routine ailment.

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.

And you think receptionists can make that judgement call?

But they are and that’s really dangerous.

I'd love to see that statistic broken down into demographics, such as age groups, health conditions, employment status etc. Barely anyone I know goes to the GP even when they need to. My OH has incurable cancer but seldom goes to the GP and will "wait and see" for whatever condition/side effect he is suffering from to see if it clears up on it's own. I suspect most of the statistic is made up of a relatively small number of "serial" appointment seekers. The old 80-20 rule probably in play whereby 20% of the patient base makes up 80% of the unnecessary appointments.

Triage is one of the hardest things to do in medicine. It's really hard to believe that any grown adult thinks a receptionist can do it reliably. How would anyone think that? Do they just not understand what medical training is for??

Research has shown over and over and over that the most effective primary care model is one in which every patient gets a face to face appointment that is as long as they need, be that 3 minutes or two hours. It saves millions and millions throughout the system by making sure a person with a relatively minor illness gets all the help they need before it becomes a major illness. Primary care also needs to include support around loneliness and isolation, helping people to resolve housing issues and all the various social problems that contribute to poor health.

@C8H10N4O2

The whole point of the family doctor system is to have patient histories, ideally some background on the patient and to be able to assess what is minor and treatable at GP level what needs taking further. That is what the years of training and experience attracting the bigger salaries are for. If GPs are unable to provide that service but minimum wage reception staff can fill at check box and that is good enough then what is the point of the system?

I think that idea has long since gone. You never see the same GP twice anymore, let alone a long term relationship. And the ones you do see often havn't bothered reading your notes/medical history, so you have to remind them of your conditions, diagnoses, past consultations, etc.

I agree, several times when I've used the online system and it's deleted all of the info I painstakingly type in because I answered incorrectly "pain has lasted 1 month" on the last question I think fuck this and don't bother going through it all over again. It just makes it more frustrating because it feels like that's exactly what they want with those systems.

I haven’t been to a GP in 12 years. I’ve needed the pharmacy a few times, but never bothered the GP with anything.

I don’t actually understand what everyone is always needing to see a doctor for. Of course people will have actual illnesses or suspected illnesses, but it can’t possible be hundreds of people in every town every day. So I believe most of those people queuing up for an appointment really do not need to be there.

It's about 25 years since such a "perfect world" system existed in the UK GP system.

What a weird way to see the world - you're fine so everyone else must also be fine?

Well yes, the GP system has become a national "fob you off" system.

I'm aware. It's still the case that it works and it saves money. It's nothing to do with being perfect, it's everything to do with having a properly functining healthcare system.

@sandyhappypeople there is a self injectable contraceptive called sayana press. I switched to it so I didn’t need to deal with the faff of the nurse appointment in the right time frame. I don’t mind injecting myself though, I know some people hate it.

No, just everyone else can’t possible be unwell. The majority of people sitting in A&E, do not need to be there. The majority of people wanting to see the GP, do not need to see one.

oh man, those poor GPs. I bet the GP we saw many times before my child was diagnosed with a brain tumour (by A&E) would have said the same thing, why are these two back again droning on about their little one having headaches and vomiting in the night….. the eye rolls we received were real.

If only we didn’t need them to make referrals to specialists.

They shouldn't be.
It wasn't what I meant.

Most my GP appointments aren't needed they are insisted on by the GPs for their paperwork and liability.

Annual check ups for lifelong conditions that have never changed, prescription reviews, referral pre-meetings just so they can send a letter to the specialist I need to see.

Basically NOTHING happens in them, just a polite hello, followed by a 'has anything changed' and then a 'OK, fine come back in 6 months'. I have questioned it several time but have been told they have to see you even if its just to send a bloody letter between departments. Its a PITA for me too as I have to find a way to get there.

Or, I’ve been suffering for nearly a decade and don’t want to live my life like this anymore

I was able to do this via the GP's online system. Uploaded photo of manky mole, requested a referral to a private dermatology consultant, GP sent the referral within 2 hours.

It actually took 3 times longer to get it approved by my insurer!