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

The thing is, for the GP and for A&E, lots of things may end up being not serious and they don’t need any particular treatment; but ordinary people who haven’t been at medical school for many years can’t know that without consulting a doctor. For example, a lot of chest pain turns out NOT to be a heart attack or heart problem, but that is only discovered by doing an ECG. It’s necessary to check all the people having chest pain in order to discover who IS having a heart attack or other serious issue. That’s just one example but I think it applies often if not always and doctors and other healthcare professionals need to accept that diagnosing that something is not a serious problem is part of their job just as it is to diagnose when something is a serious problem.
The bigger issue is that our health service is not funded and resourced to the same level as other similar first world countries. It may be convenient to blame people for using the health service too much. What really needs to happen is that we pay more to resource it better.

@vivainsomnia
I'm also interested in how you think I "demanded" antibiotics?
I have been refused antibiotics twice in my life which led to serious consequences (a&e and hospital admissions...)
I certainly don't "demand" anything...

Lots of people don't need an appointment but will make one. Our previous GP manager said it was very common with older people. A previous GP (I've moved a lot) said the GP service has replaced the church in some respects of people needing to talk to someone.

Perhaps the integrated service of being properly triaged needs to be done, but that takes clinical time.

I have done my best to avoid appointments and have asked to be referred for surgery for a known problem and was without any problem. It would have been a complete waste of my time and the doctors for me to ask them in person. I have also been issued medication for a back pain issue without being seen. Should I have been? It suited me and saved me torturing me by going in.

Conversely my recent GP visit frustrated me hugely as he did not want to give me the blood sampling bag and expected me to come back to the surgery nearer the time.
Amazingly I did not misplace the bag as he had suggested I might and had it with me at my appointment.

I've had some blood tests and can see the results in my app, and have submitted my blood pressure readings. I expect to have a message from the GP surgery at some point confirming my current dose of medication, or altering it.
However as I went with swollen ankles and they are still swollen, should I mention that to them?

We went through a phase of 'only one sympton' at our surgery which meant I had to pick between elbow and neck. I chose elbow and got referred to physio as I had refused the GP's option to have steroid elbow injections. I am not keen on needles.
Physio's last question was "have you any neck pain" and when I said yes they did some particular manipulation on my neck and found the cause of the elbow pain.
If I'd have accepted the injections at the surgery I'd not have solved the issue.

Having a physio at the GP surgery is a great idea - we have one now! Having people triage correctly is important and sometimes that means looking at the wider picture.

We can solve loneliness by having stronger communities who can support people. However it's probably easier to have more GPs and even that's not simple or quick.

Problem is there isn’t enough information about what services are available. In our local pharmacy there is a poster up saying see your pharmacist for this, your GP for this, urgent care for this… so far as I am aware there is no urgent care provision in this city! I certainly have no idea where it is if there is one.

Exactly this. If you go in for a lump or a mole that the GP can confidently say is benign and doesn’t need follow up, are they counting that as “didn’t need to be there?” What a strange attitude! Basically putting the onus on the patient to be their own GP

I’m not that surprised but not sure what the answer is, nobody wants people who really do need to be seen to be missed or be put off getting help.
Triage by receptionists isn’t always effective or appropriate in my opinion.
The answer is probably more money, more GPs and more practice nurses who could triage properly.
Seeing a pharmacist is ok when it’s something they can prescribe for but I took my DD recently for a non urgent issue and they wouldn’t advise anything because she’s under 16 and said see a GP, would be great if pharmacists could then refer to your GP so it was easier to get an appointment.

This has also happened to me twice. Both times I eventually (as in after years!) got a referral to a specialist (one dermatologist, one maxillo facial) and both times they said what the GP had told me was nonsense and I should have been referred straightaway.

I do believe in a small payment to the doctor. £20-£30 per visit. There is some truth in the adage that you don’t value what is free. They’ve charged in the Republic of Ireland for years. It would limit some of the time wasters. And people who are genuinely ill would definitely pay up.

However, I do believe that time wasters are in the minority. Most people have such a struggle to see their GP and be “heard” that it is a pretty unsatisfying experience. My adult son’s recent struggles with getting proper medical attention for a leg injury was so bad that he has been left with a permanent limp; something that could have been avoided with proper medical attention. OTOH my elderly mother, her GP can’t do enough for her.

That is the same with medical treatment too. The vast majority of people given drugs to keep breast cancer in remission won’t benefit from it - either the cancer wasn’t going to return or it comes back regardless. You don’t know who is going to benefit in advance. The point of the GP is not that everyone who sees them needs treating but that they identify and treat/refer those that do.

So basically we can cut doctors down by 80%

Sounds like a cost saving measure

Whereas my previous GP used to say he'd rather see someone who was worried because either it was quick and easy, or they really needed to be seen.
Somehow he always had same day appointments.

Now we're lucky if we get a text..

I’m sure my GP has me categorised as ‘worried well’ and I’m equally sure that a lot of the time they aren’t paying any attention to what I’m saying. One of my friends died because medical staff didn’t take her seriously. When something like that happens, it makes you lose confidence in them.

I have a 12 year old for 12 years he has had poor sleep ive been back and forth (when im awake enough) he also sleep walks runs and is more than active during the night finally when he was ten the dr agreed to refer me to peads great! They rejected it he did it again they rejected again this time copying me in on the letter where they TOLD the dr to refer him to sleep clinic not them (as previously mentioned we do not deal with this level of sleep disturbance) so they are going to refer him to sleep clinic right? Right? Hello? Nothing, crickets most likely they are waiting for me to go in and waste yet another appointment asking for the same thing again but why do I need to ask AGAIN for them to do their job? Why do I need to waste time when they could literally send a letter to the right department? Im tired!

And dont get me started on the fuss caused when I asked for a second opinion on my blood test results that were "normal" but they are actually off..."you need to make an appointment" WHY YOU HAVE THE RESULTS IN FRONT OF YOU LOOK AT THEM FFS

So yes I can believe that a lot of patients dont need to be there but I do not believe its ALL our fault

Yes, I almost died when the GP decided I just had a chest infection and just needed rest. I ended up blue lighted to hospital with an empyema. Spent two weeks in hospital on IV antibiotics and had a chest drain.

A friend who used to be a GP also said that a high proportion of her patients really needed help with social issues as much as anything else, eg bad housing, and that those were the ones that kept coming back again and again, taking up a disproportionate number of appointments. She wasn't blaming them, but there was very little she could do to help.

You could say 96% of women don’t need breast cancer screening as only 4% need followup.

The GP I saw when I was in a lot of pain walking, who dismissed it as PGP (and told me to put up with it like he had to) would have told you that I didn’t need a GP appt. Yet a different GP took me seriously, referred me, and I was found to have multiple hernias, plus severe adhesions on my c-section scar. Following surgery, I haven’t had any pain since.

I don’t know how they are working this out tbh.

Having children now it’s really difficult. There’s times I have ‘wasted their time’; also times when I haven’t gone and should have and subsequently that’s been a dangerous decision.

Currently deliberating past few days whether I should take 7 month old to the docs for inconsable night screaming. Could be nothing. Could be something. No bloody idea!

The last two times I have visited the GP has been for antibiotics (infected labial cyst and tonsillitis). Problem is if we want to gatekeep antibiotics then you need to see a doctor if you want some. It’s a societal choice. I’d rather everyone who needs antibiotics saw a doctor then we overuse them.

As part of my job I get sent patient summary’s from gp surgeries - I find it fascinating the tiny things people get a doctors appointment for!

For example - and I know I’ll be told these are all essential but I’ve grown up only going to GP when it’s really really bad….

painful tip of thumb
dry skin on calf
feeling sick
mild cough
feet aching
would like to loose weight (normal bmi)

10 years for me, then 2 year wait for surgery
lots of GP visits in between for pain relief

My own lived experience in my local area (which, like most areas now is majority older people 65+) is that there are many older people with things like diabetes, copd, smoking or drinking related health issues who totally refuse to take meds/manage their meds/condition/refuse to use mobility aids, refuse to have carers or other support - these are the people I see and hear about at the drs every week and taking up hospital beds for weeks/months at a time. They are the ones "demanding" medications, district nurse visits, meds to be delivered, dr home visits...
There was one lady who lived near mum who had a dr home visit each week and after the dr left (if she had bothered to stay at home of course.. ) she'd be off on her scooter to the hairdressers/getting her nails done.
She used to make appointments at the drs, get there, refuse to wait more than 3 minutes and demand a home visit.
In comparison, when my mum had a stroke, I was told the ambulance would be 8 hours and to take her to the hospital myself 🤷
There are lots of people (not just the elderly) who totally abuse the system, whilst refusing to take responsibility for their health issues.
I've tried to use the pharmacy and even a private online GP, but they are very limited in what they can do/prescribe.
I think the primary care side of the nhs needs a total overhaul.
Its not fit for purpose.

Charge a £10 fee and that will cut the numbers down

As absolutely this! The GP in the OP is full of shit.

Last two times I went were for UTI and tonsillitis
both needed antibiotics and pharmacy can’t treat me

I think there are a lot of people who don't know basic nursing and expect a GP to be at their first point of call. Many of us have little contact with our mums or older women who have years of basic nursing experience.

I think that lots of people don't know how to maintain their own immune systems. If people eat processed rubbish or feed it to their children, they will have less resistance to every-day bugs and infections. If they don't get enough sleep, don't look after themselves, they will have less resistance. If they get little exercise or fresh air, they will have less resistance.

We also have the issues of overcrowding, a soaring cost of living, poor air quality in cities, and people being expected to work when they should be in bed, unless they have a sick note.

My ds is in the upper sixth. I cook from scratch every day, ensure we eat a well balanced diet with a wide variety of fresh fruit & veg, and vit D supplements in winter. He gets exercise, and plenty of sleep in a warm properly ventilated room. He's had one day off sick in 7 years.

A lot of little things make a big difference.