to think most GPs just fob you off

[littlestmummystop]

I have my own GP in a big new shiny surgery but never get to see her as she is always booked up and often goes on holiday. So I get a different one every time I go..

I am a pretty healthy person luckily, but really don't feel like I can trust most GP's opinions. They always seem to just go for the easiest diagnosis.

I can see why so many people's cancers etc. are missed by shoddy GPs.

The latest advice is for people to stop bothering GPs with minor ailments, but you have to wait so long for an appointment I can't see why anyone would go unless they have to.
Then when you finally do get there, they are usually so dismissive that only people who complain the loudest will get proper care.
I understand they have a tough job but I can't help but feel most have a sense of superiority and are left not answerable to anyone.

AIBU?

Home visits take up a massive amount of time and all of the GPs I know do them in the "closed for lunch" time.

My GP is fab and I can get an appt most times. She takes every word I say seriously, has spent time getting to the root of my PND and never seems hurried. If I don't see her I see one of the other fab GPs. So YAdefnitelyBU and are making sweeping generalisations. If you aren't happy with your surgery then change.

Mine do home visits,but there have to be criteria, they can't just visit anyone who requests one as they take time, they can see a few patients in the time it takes to do one home visit.

I can get an appointment within a week, sooner if urgent.

I used to work as a medical receptionist though in a very busy practice and I can remember often looking at our list of appointments and it was literally full at times for two or even three consecutive weeks.

Even then though they did have an open surgery in the morning and always had emergency slots.

YANBU i have actually seen my own GP in a few years because everytime i go i get the nurse instead
and when i do go i am in and out in seconds and always made to feel like i have 'inconvenienced' them by coming

ive been ill for weeks, and keep putting off going to my gp because i feel like a nuisance

have not

I had a weird experience with a GP last week. Really weird. Not only was she attentive and thorough (all good GP's I've had do this - but not all GP's per se) but she also talked to me in a way that made me feel like her equal. It was actually very unsettling (in a good way), which in itself is telling and sad.

I think she's a Scandi, which I think explains her manner - they don't have the same culture of social hierarchy in Scandinavia, on the whole. Though I did once have a brilliant British doctor who I would say was fairly similar. I was gutted to leave her practice when I moved, and then even more gutted when my new practice was run by a moronic oaf who should not have been in a job that involved contact with living beings. I don't say this lightly. He seems to play a game called 'let's see how few words I can let the patient utter before I can guess the condition'. I once sat by the reception desk for 40 minutes, and during that time four separate patients came back from their appointments to complain about how objectionable and rude he was. (that's pretty much all the patients one would see in that time, on average, right?). Thank goodness he is by far the exception.

Anyway, my experience with the egalitarian Scandi GP made me realise how, even with good doctors in this country, there are still significant elements of the Dr/ Patient relationship which are unnecessarily paternalistic. When I was at uni I attended lectures in Dr/ Patient relationships along with the medical students, during which we were taught that both parties should be considered equals in the encounter. That was 15 years ago, yet I rarely experience this with doctors of any age. I wonder whether, if this paternalistic element was trained out of doctors' behaviour they might find they encounter fewer of the 'dependent' behaviours which some patients display.

Obviously I can't comment on your surgery wedlocked, but we have a duty doctor and you can always get an appointment for that day. And they will do home visits. As I say I may well be lucky, but I've had to use surgeries in several parts of the country and I've always been able to get an appointment that day. We also have evening surgeries.

I'm sorry you've been given such a long wait for your appointment, but the point I'm trying to make is that the OP made a huge generalisation. And the problems people are mentioning seem to be with the system rather than individual doctors.

On the subject of getting an appointment, one of the good GP practices which I used to attend changed their system so that you could only ever book up to 48 hours in advance. It was simple, and brilliant - you'd never have to wait more than 2 days to see someone. I don't understand why all surgeries don't do the same. Are there practical reasons why this might not work, say, in smaller practices?

Actually I didn't say that GPs should do home visits on request - of course that would be unworkable. I just think they should do them if the person is too ill to get to the surgery.

ime it depends on the way the practice manager runs the practice. I have been registered at gp surgery where the problems are exactly as the op have describe. ring up 8am for emergency appointment for 18mth coughing up blood and wheezing to be told couldnt be seen because they were full, to be sent to drop in centre, to be told couldnt be seen there as ds have just come off antibiotics 12hrs previously and need to be seen by gp and thus sent back to gp. we ended up in A&E on that occasion.

The gp practice i am at now is fab. yesterday (monday) i walked in to make an appointment for the evening (btwn 5:30 and 7pm) and got one for 6:20pm tonight (tues). I was the only on in the surgery but she answered the questions, gave me my results, scratched her head and said she wasnt sure. more tests. but she is ruling stuff out and has halved the problem from 2 causes to 1 cause for one aspect and another for another.

It is hit and miss.

Between 5.30 and 7 - you're lucky.

But I am glad my dh doesn't do those hours (finishes at 6). Cos most surgeries mean another hour of paperwork. So if we are Lucky dh is home by bedtime for our children.

Doctors (believe it or not) also have home lives!!!!

Speedy I'm not sure I get your point, our Docs do the same thing. (I believe it was a Labour idea targets etc) but what happens is if all their appointments are full you are refused an apointment and told to call back the next day before 9 (all appts gone by about 9) was the same if you wanted a smear or other appointment after say 1 month. You were just told to call before 9 and see if you could get one in the next 48 hours if not you were told to call back the next day.

TB was rather famously caught out on question time by someone asking him about it if I remember rightly!

Weegiemum we all have home lives believe it or not!

Funny how those who are the least ill, always manage to complain the most and be the most outraged!
Am off hate these dr bashing threads, I could sit here and tell you of the 1000's and 1000's of patients who have been managed well and kindly and diagnosed appropriately and timely, but of course thats not nearly as much fun!

I tell you what when your ilk OP and the wonderful government, have managed to destroy the amazing service that NHS GP's provide in this country, and you are left with a crappy, privatised service, or a service that you have to pay for, we will see how much you complain then!

I speak as a doctor who trained in another country with no NHS and trust me people it is so much worse you cannot comprehend how lucky you are in this country!

the doctors rotate so they do 2 late surgeries every fortnight. and its only 2 nights a week they are open til 7pm, normally its 6pm.
when they work late they start late. its a good system but there will be 4 retirements in the practice this year so they dont have the complication of young children at home. i suspect it works for those with children/that age group to because of the way it is organised.

this thread is making me angry OP... I reiterate - YABVU.

If you can't get an appt with your female GP, change your GP to another in the practice. IME female GP's tend to get swamped with gynae problems/smears/breast exams for women who don't want to be examined by a male GP. (quite rightly)

OP - if you have some random ailment that simply needs antibiotics (or similar) what does it matter if you don't see your named GP?
I was registered at the same GP surgery for my first 25 years - in my teens and 20's I don't think i ever saw the same Doctor twice. I've had two cancer scares and an abnormal smear, and the fact I haven't seen the same Doctor all the time (in my case) is irrelevant, as each time was a one off appt. If I had an ongoing health concern, I would expect to see my OWN GP for continuation of care, and I always have done.

On a separate note, I once walked into a GP surgery in a posh part of town, with my poorly 18 mo (was miles from home/ any hospital) and asked the receptionist, apologetically, whether they'd mind quickly checking his temperature for me as I was worried and wasn't sure whether his temp was going up. They were coming towards the end of their lunch break, there was not a single patient in reception so they were not seeing patients at that time - I think they had about 10 mins to go before starting up again.

The receptionist looked at me patronisingly, then phoned one of the nurses and said 'we've got a young mum here' ( - I was 34 with plenty of grey hairs, hardly a 'young mum') and then explained the situation. They refused to take his temp because he wasn't a registered patient there.

It would have taken about a minute to come out and check his temperature, then I would have bought Calpol or something. Surely for a young child they could have given a minute of their time? I found the whole response very offensive.

SpeedyGonzalez - I have a GP who sounds like your 'Scandi' one. He's an ex-football player from Burford. Best GP I've ever come across.

daysoftheweek, I think they may have had a women's health specialist practitioner who handled things like contraception and smears, so perhaps those appts were handled differently. Apart from that all I can say is that I never had the same probs getting appointments that I've had at most other surgeries.

speedy are you serious do you honestly think that is an appropriate thing to do, I am gobsmacked

Speedy - x posts, didn't see your last one.
That one you just posted is regarding receptionists - they're a WHOLE different breed.

had you scowled, and persevered, you would have been seen. But seriously, you went to the docs because your DC was a bit hot? (sorry if there was anything else going on, but by the time DS was 18mo I could tell whether he had a temp or not)

yes, I know I'm being a bit of a cow. sorry. wine.

macdoodle - which post are you referring to?

umm that one about being offended because they wouldnt check your Dc tempertaure
Talk about attending for inappropriate minor ailments, we struggle to care for our 7000 patients, should we do a walk in minor illness clinic for everyone as well??

"They were coming towards the end of their lunch break, there was not a single patient in reception so they were not seeing patients at that time - I think they had about 10 mins to go before starting up again."

Speedy - do you realise that the GPs were most likely on house calls during their lunch breaks? GP's (IME) don't get lunch breaks. It's why you get a loads of tutting patients in the waiting room at 14:03 - the Doc isn't back yet, but the Mum with her 'poorly boy with a cold' can't wait 5 mins for an appt.

They probably wren't being offensive, just astounded