GP didn’t call me because their “workday has ended”

[angelinlothian]

I had a telephone call booked in at 15:40.

It rolls around and no call. 17:30 comes and goes which is when the surgery closes.

I get a text to say it’s not been completed as they got to the end of their workday and couldn’t make the call, which means at least 8 people were in the same position as me, they didn’t have their calls made.

So I now have to compete again tomorrow for an on the day call, and even having one booked in doesn’t guarantee it!

AIBU to think this is exactly why so many people end up in A&E? We’re told to go to our GP, but our GP won’t see us!

@CreativeGreen no, not 'everyone' is unable to access primary care. Plenty of practices now have total triage systems with a duty doctor each day working through all the online forms and assigning them accordingly. Many previous commenters have said their practice does it this way and it works well. More than happy to accept that sadly there are still far too many practices with the 8am scramble of course but it's hyperbolic to suggest the same dreadful experience for all.

As for GPs defending themselves, why on earth would they not be the best placed to comment on their own jobs and working practices, and the burden upon them? If I started criticising you and your industry without knowing much about it's inner workings, would you have something to say about it? If I said teachers or police officers or civil servants or social workers were lazy, selfish, lying about their workloads and refusing to change just to be stubborn, when I do not walk in their shoes, they would rightly call me out on any inaccuracies, fallacies or assumptions. Rightly so.

I think your probably right people get brushed of by GPs before ending up at A&E, but that's been the case for a long long time.

I know a young guy who was getting treated by GP for migraines before he could take no more and A&E found a tumour. That's 20+ years ago.

Someone said to me in the USA the Doctors work from the worse possible scenario backwards, get lots of scans and tests done at the outset possibly because insurance pay for it.

UK seems to operate rule out the most likely work up to the more serious causes.
Maybe the scrimping and savings on scans and diagnosis is actually false economy.

All your ‘facts’ aren’t really facts though are they?

God forbid when doing their GCSEs and deciding to work towards getting into medical school that these prospective medical students didn’t consider the impact of having children on their chosen career paths.
Bloody hell.
Or should doctors not be allowed to have children?

They get remunerated very well and can afford a nanny? Do you actually have any idea how much GPs actually earn and the cost of a nanny for any decade outside of the 1960s?

Do you actually bother to preview your tripe before posting?

Thanks - the use a nanny is completely off the wall - surely the nanny would still want a finish time go home make her own dinner!

Their children should just be collateral damage to suit the NHS and its failings.

For those that think doctors shouldn’t ever be able to pick up their own kids etc and should stay at work as late as needed in order to “finish” all their work, are you the same ones that think vets should work for free because they are meant to love animals and that dentists should treat children for free even if no NHS contract because it’s their moral duty?

Nobody expects GPs to be their 'indentured servants' - they do have an expectation which I think is not unreasonable, that GPs will see them in a reasonable timeframe as that is literally what their job is.

But there are only so many hours in a day. You could say this about any job that’s its not unreasonable to be able to complete your job in your working day. But if the workload is so high it’s impossible then what do you want people to do? I treat patients in my job. I normally see about 14-16 a day. Every half hour back to back. However if my job booked in 40 patients in a day then unless I only saw them for 10 mins each and therefore didn’t do my job properly I just could not get through them all. So if a GP is given 200 patients to get through in one day, it’s it just impossible. It’s not the GPs fault. So while it’s not unreasonable to want to be seen in a reasonable timeframe, what is the solution if there isn’t enough hours in a day?

We haven't been paying the taxes for that sort of service.

Too many people, an aging population and not enough GPs or community services.

I think we mostly accept Op should have been automatically added to the next days workload.

However I do have to wonder if GPs being under pressure to see people within 24hrs or whatever target they have been set. Actually helps or makes the whole thing worse.

Not every appointment is THAT urgent. Surely it makes more sense to have appointments categorised between urgent "needs to be today" and non-urgent "can wait a few days"

It’s not an emergency.

“a reasonable timeframe” does not mean the same day.

Judging by some of the posters on here you either magic-up some extra hours or work for free.

Reading some of the comments on this thread it makes me wish everyone was paying properly for their own healthcare. They’d soon appreciate it more instead of moaning. I bet they are also the ones that complain that doctors earn too much. Ignorance really is bliss.

smh.

I know.