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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Example of a really good doctor that you don't get nowadays

20 replies

MeanBean · 17/09/2004 20:59

I heard a very ambiguous story today, which I thought I'd share with mumsnetters. It was from a very old lady (78) who told me that doctors just don't care anymore, so she doesn't bother going to them. When her baby (who is now middle-aged and lives next door) was 2 weeks old, she was crying all the time, so the doctor came out to see her. When he saw her faeces, he said "your milk is too fatty, if I were your husband, I would tell you to put her on powdered milk immediately".

At ten O'Clock that night, there was a knock on the door and it was the doctor with a large supply of infant formula!

Part of me was horrified, and part of me was impressed by the service!

Just thought I'd share that with you all...

OP posts:

mears · 18/09/2004 00:53

Impressive service - crap advice. Maybe it's just as well they don't visit anymore

cab · 18/09/2004 01:08

lol

suedonim · 18/09/2004 01:37

Impressive service but.....

Actually, dr's did provide an amazing service back in the days of yore. I was very ill with a chest infection of some sort when I was about 7yo and the doctor came morning and evening for two weeks until I'd 'turned the corner'. I can't imagine any dr doing that nowadays!

80sMum · 18/09/2004 08:33

Trouble with nowadays is a) there are more people and fewer doctors, b)doctors (well, GPs I guess I mean)have lost a lot of their status in society. Time was when they were looked up to as pillars of the community. Not so now; many people just think they're there to be bullied into writing sick notes or prescribing unneeded medication. c) doctors don't get paid as much as they used to. All these things means fewer people are interested in being GPs, so we get a poorer service.

hmb · 18/09/2004 09:08

When I had dd 7 years ago I left the hospital taking antibiotics. I had a very strange adverse drug reaction to them, and the first night we had to call out the on call doctor. He was very supportive. The next morning , a Saterday, my own GP made an uncalled House visit to make sure that I was OK.

alexsmum · 18/09/2004 10:31

my boys see an immunologist quite regularly, and he is fab.Gives out his mobile phone number(which he always answers),phones to check how are they are,organises for other dr's ie,paeds.to see them if they need to,keeps biscuits in his drawer for all the children.We love him.

JanH · 18/09/2004 10:57

A couple of years ago I suddenly had a really really bad pain in my back, behind the armpit IYSWIM - I thought I'd pulled something and kept trying to change position but it got worse and worse, I finally rang the Health Centre and told them what was wrong, the woman said "well what do you want to do, do you need an ambulance?" and I said "I don't KNOW!" and started crying...my GP was at the door 5 minutes later. (It turned out to be a pulmonary embolism so quite urgent!)

doziduck · 18/09/2004 12:50

alexsmum, if it's not too nosey, what do tour boys see the immunologist about?
my ds2 might be going to see one.

Tessiebear · 18/09/2004 13:42

When my Midwife came to visit in the first week after i had DS2, i told her on the phone i thought i had Mastitis - she arrived with a cabbage!!!! And advised me to refrigerate it and then put the leaves in my bra!

Original poster

MeanBean · 18/09/2004 14:38

Admirably prepared midwife tessiebear! I had one who arrived with a breastpump which she'd borrowed from another patient who she had just visited, to see if it suited me before I went to spend the £20 on it. I was pretty impressed...

OP posts:

Hausfrau · 18/09/2004 16:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

soapbox · 18/09/2004 18:16

Well just to reassure you all that some drs still go way beyond the call of duty here are two examples:

My DD who was 3 at the time had a severe bout of urticaria - as a result of an alergic reaction. We had to'd and fro'd to drs a&e over the course of the week. Then on about the 4th evening there was a knock on the door just as I was settling her to sleep. It was the GP (youngish guy) he said 'You had't been to the surgery today, I called the hospital and you had't been admitted and there was no way I would have been able to settle tonight without knowing how she was'. He came upstairs and checked her all over, the urticaria was too close to her mouth (with the risk of swelling up her airways) and so he advised me to take her to A&E again. By the time I got to A&E they were waiting for me. The GP had left my house, had immediately driven to the A&E and explained what the problem was and had left a hand written note in case there should be a staff change before I got there. All this at the end of a full day at the GPs surgery.

In case you suspect that this was in some pretty rural location with a caring village dr, this was actually in Lewisham where we lived at the time!

When my father was dying of cancer and he was at home just waiting for the end, the local GP visited him at least 3 times every day, primarily to sort out his pain relief. He called in every night at about 9pm to check that he would be comfortable for the night. On the day that he actually died he took myslef and my sisters into a room and told us it would not be long. He described in minute detail the changes that would take place at various stages over the next few hours. This meant that we were able to sit with Dad through his last hours without fear of how the end would be (none of us having even seen a dead person before). He really did help Dad to have a peaceful passing on in the family home which was what he wanted. Had he not been so caring then the only alternative would have been for Dad's final days to be spent in hospital where he hated being. This was in an pretty grotty scottish town with severe drug problems and not enough GPs to go round!

So I think that our doctors take a lot of flak at times maybe they save the best of themselves for those that really need it. I know that when the chips were down for our family that I appreciated enormously all that they did for us!

edam · 18/09/2004 19:12

Wow, Soapbox, those are really moving stories. I know a few good GPs (and I also know there are lots of 'normal' ones) and they really do (cliche alert) make such a difference. One, a work contact who has become a friend, was so reassuring when I was pregnant with a medical condition. Calmed my mum (who he also knows through work) down for me a treat! And hearing them talking about their patients (obviously not with any identifying details..). I love the sort of doc who talks about what their patients have taught them, sign of a great doc in my opinion.
As an example, one of my friends was determined to be a surgeon. Classic surgeon material, decisive, bossy, highly intelligent, impatient of anyone slower or weaker, ex-head girl at public school, even joined the navy (clearly ideal officer material). Then she had to do a medical evacuation after a helicopter had ditched. One crew member died but the other had to be taken back to the UK and she travelled with him. Just spending time with this highly traumatised man changed her as a doctor, made her so much more understanding of people in a crisis. Of course, that's not good surgeon material so now she's an anaesthetist, but hey, at least she'll be good with relatives of patients in ITU.

edam · 18/09/2004 19:13

Oops, that sounded really snide about surgeons, sorry to any MN surgeons or surgeons' partners.

mears · 18/09/2004 19:18

I must admit that Doctors in our surgery are really good, especially with my elderly father. He gets visited at home whenever needed. However it will all change with the new GMS (General Medical Services) contract. Doctors are no longer required to provide an out of hours service and many have withdrwan their services. It is going to cause problems across the country.

eidsvold · 19/09/2004 09:57

When living in the UK and I was discharged form hospital after emergency caesarean ( dd in SCBU) GP came out the next day to see me. Was worried when I wasn't at home ( obviously visiting dd in SCBU) He called dh on his mobile to find out where I was and was I ok. He was finally reassured to hear I was visiting dd in the hospital and had agreed to do post natal care there.

Thought it was lovely of him. Old midwife ( who was replaced towards the end of pregnancy) came to see me when dd was born. She still asks friend about all of us - especially re dd's care etc.

susanmt · 20/09/2004 15:56

Its really, really nice to read a nice thread about doctors. They do get such a bad press a lot of the time, sometimes my dh (GP) gets quite down about it.
Any or all of these stories (apart from the formula milk at the start could have been my dh. He loves doing all this sort of 'extra' stuff, even though it means he drives a LOT of extra miles (being in a remote location). Doctors mostly enjoy interacting with patients properly, its why most of them went into the profession in the first place.

PMSL at the surgeon story though. We know a few surgeons (only a few, most of them would not deign to mix with GPs) and it is spot on!

lou33 · 20/09/2004 16:02

My gp surgery is good too, docs are lovely. One of the dipensary staff is a pita though.

suedonim · 20/09/2004 16:34

All our GP's are okay (except one retired locum who really should have been put out to grass years ago cos he's useless) but there's a probem with lack of continuity in the way things are run. In the past year our Gp went on Mat leave and then her replacement also went on Mat leave. Afaik, neither of them have come back so we have to see any random gp who happens to be available. Whilst they are nice enough etc, they don't know your history and it sometimes isn't really satifactory.

As for the appts system! On Sept 2nd there were no appts with the Dr we've recently gravitated to until October!!!! It must be awful for dr's, having to run surgeries when they have this mountain of bureacracy to deal with. I bet they'd much rather be seeing patients than filling in wretched forms.

susanmt · 20/09/2004 17:04

Yep, the bureacracy is the killer.
Dh works 9am-5.30pm plus 2-3 evenings of admin work per week (plus he does every 3rd night/every 3rd weekend on call). He has a surgery from 9.30-12.30 every morning (either him or the other GP in the practice) while the other does visits.
The afternoon is seeing any emergencies and basically form filling. Dh does all his practice development work in the evenings when he is on call.
He has max 4 hours patient contact time a day, but works 8.5 hours per day plus about 9-12 hours a week in the evenings (not counting call outs).

Yep, paperwork has taken over the NHS. A lot of that is pointless form filling to keep the government happy.

Still manages to see everyone who calls on the same day though!

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