What are GPs actually doing during all this time ?

[VivaMiltonKeynes]

We were discussing this . In our surgery they have e consult online and you get a call back . On the couple of times this has occurred it's not even a doctor at our practice - it sounds like a service they use and it is really appalling . They don't even seem to have read your notes . The nurses are run off their feet doing the usual blood tests, flu shots etc but what are all the GPs doing ?

As a teacher I do find it really peculiar that it is ok for me to be face to face with teenagers every day but the GP and dentist are able to take such precautions.

Well, the doctor's clientele mainly consists of sick and often elderly people. Having a conveyor belt of people in this category in and out of your room during a pandemic is not great idea. That's if you can convince them to come to the surgery anyway, given the increased risk posed to them. It's not about protecting the GP, it's about protecting vulnerable patients. Some of them will need to have f2f appointments, so best to reduce the risk by reducing the GPs contacts.

My gp is doing their normal job. Phone and online consultants but face to face in full PPE if needed. I had a bit of a weird freckle thing appear with a funny texture and had to have a face to face appointment as she couldn't see it well enough online.

I have seen a GP twice since March, after doing econsults. They are clearly busy doing econsults, as I just had to wait 2 weeks for a phone call about my diabetes blood test results, because it was deemed non urgent and that was the earliest date he was free to call me.

@PrattHancock

It seems to be a postcode lottery. I really don’t recognise the good service and face to face appt options some are describing above. I wish my surgery gave a stuff about their patients, but they really show no signs of it.

Yes, it's no good the good GPs getting offended. Maybe wonder why some of your colleagues are so rubbish. I don't believe they've all got long covid either.

At one point my mother would have had to have waited 11 days for a telephone consult, that is now down to 3 which is something, but really you should be able to talk to a GP the same day if you call in the morning.

When you contact a surgery the assumption should be that you need to speak to someone, not that you are a timewaster. The triage is a good idea and can weed out some time-wasters but it shouldn't be done to try to stop people getting access to care at all.

As a teacher I have read some dreadful comments about schools and teachers on here and I know my friends and colleagues (who work in schools across the country) haven’t recognised the gin-swilling, sunbathing layabouts criticised by many posters. A GP posted earlier about her colleagues suffering with exhaustion and mental health issues and many teachers are also on the brink of collapse. I am going to hazard a guess that GPS are in the same position and there is a lot of work going on in a very challenging environment - it’s just that we may not see everything they are doing. And whilst I bitterly resent having to sit in a room with children who aren’t wearing masks, I don’t want other people to get ill doing their jobs either. They can work online for many appointments and that will stop the spread of COVID. It is not the best way but it is the best way right now. Our lives are important too.

My GPs are crap and refusing to see patients and if you need baby seen you need to take them to a&e.

Dm Gp are doing above what is required of them. I’m very impressed with the care they have provided my dm (back in March) and dsis right now.

@cologne4711 to be fair, in many areas pre pandemic it wasn't possible to speak to a GP same day because they are understaffed and overstretched in terms of patient load. That is direct result of poor funding I think.

@Phineyj I am having dental work done, my dentist judged it an emergency (basically pain). The initial consult was okay, but for the treatments as it will create aerosols they have to book the room for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, as after treatment it can't be used for 1 hour (and needs a deep clean).

A dentist has to get very close to your face - which is where the greatest chance of passing on infection is, and creating aerosols makes this even riskier. Teachers may get close to children but they aren't asking them to sing at them all day long, and sitting very very close while the child does so.

Spoke to my GP during a telephone triage appointment. What are you doing OP?

Our GP surgery has been good. Same day telephone calls from a GP and, dare I say it, has been easier than going in to the surgery for minor issues or questions. Face to face appointments that day or the next day for medical issues that can't be resolved over the phone.

It's worked well, our GPs have erred on the side of caution and seen patients in person where there are potentially more urgent or serious medical concerns.

@DumplingsAndStew

Oh yay, another GP bashing thread.

In the past three weeks we've had:

Phone consult with GP
Face to face appointment
Phone consult with practice nurse
Face to face appointment
Appointment with practice nurse

Tomorrow we have another phone consult, which will be followed up with a face to face appointment if needed.

Medical appointments are there if needed. I'm glad they've been able to weed out some of the queries that don't need an appointment.

Have you actually bothered to RTFT? I'm very pleased that you and your family are able to get the medical attention you need but that isn't the case for everyone. Is that really to difficult for you to understand or do you just not give a damn?

I'm a teacher and I much prefer telephone triage, plus our surgery is very obliging about when they call. I've had call backs at 7pm and collected the prescription from my pharmacy at 8pm same eve. Just because my profession isn't being treated well it makes no sense for other professions not to take the precautions they need. I for one hope this system of telephone appoints carries on after the pandemic, as it was really inconvenient and expensive to cover me at work for a face to face appointment between 9 and 12 where I might be waiting 40 mins in the waiting room.

My GP practice has been great. I'm suffering with long Covid (8 months and counting) and I've seen the same GP face to face 3 times, as well as lots of phone appointments. I've also been referred for and had an MRI, and seen a hospital consultant too. Econsult seems to be working very well at my surgery.

My GP "was struggling to understand " why I'd called for advice on whether my breathing difficulties were in the normal range as part of covid. I'd been diagnosed and sent a text, surely that told me all I needed to know.

Well yes, but I've never had covid before and I wondered if I was going to drop dead because I couldn't get a breath. Felt worthy of some reassurance at the time.

I don't think the issue is with the GPs it's with the heavy handedness of the reception staff.
I wouldn't let anyone talk to me the way they do sometimes, but when you're sick and feeling fragile you have no choice but to take it.

Our recently retired GP says they are a lot of idle layabouts taking shocking advantage of Covid, and no excuse for not seeing patients.

Online consults used to be excellent pre-covid. A very efficient way to deal with pre-existing conditions or new minor ones.

I did one a few weeks ago about an existing condition for which I wanted to change medication and a receptionist called me back. She started to give me medical advice and I had to insist that she put it through to a HCP.

Ours has been brilliant. They registered my mum as a temporary patient, saw her face to face twice, referred her to a consultant, made appointments to see the district nursing team, rang me to find out how she was etc. Couldn't fault them. The doctors are excellent and the receptionists are lovely.

My mum's would only offer a telephone consultation. This was for someone who I'd told them I was worried about because she wouldn't answer her phone and the neighbours were concerned about her. They took my number and told me they would call me back but they never did. Eventually, they did call to offer her a flu jab, which she has already had at their practice. It was a bit late by then because she was already in hospital and we found out she has cancer. I got a "sorry about that" from them.

Before now I'd have called this GP bashing too, but last week I needed one of my DC to be seen. Waited nearly an hour for the phone to be answered, complete with patronising recorded announcement telling me approx once a minute that the excessive wait was the fault of all the stupid patients who have caused a 'bulge in demand' by putting off consultations and treatments until now (how very dare we). Finally got through to a receptionist who granted me a phone triage call, which came several hours later (fair enough) from a doctor who isn't with our practice, didn't have access to the computer system and didn't really know either how the practice works or anything about local provision.

I expected DC to be seen once we'd spoken (definitely should have been) but no such luck. Argued successfully for blood tests and was told to take him to a hospital in the next county. Queried this and was told to call the surgery back to check local provision. Cue another hour-long wait to get through, followed by an appointment (hooray) for late the following afternoon. The appointment was at a different surgery from ours (they are doing shared hot/cold provision) so I was asked to pick up the blood form from ours before attending. When I did, I found it was for fasting bloods (no mention of this on the phone) so needed to be early in the day. Another hour's wait on the phone, by which time all the early appointments had gone until the end of the week. All calls answered by the same one person. Finally took DC in on Friday to find, as a pp said, that the nurses are rushed off their feet and the GPs are nowhere to be seen - the place was literally full of empty consultation rooms.

I don't know wtf is going on, and I don't blame the individual doctors, but it's quite clear that the necessary reduction in availability during the first wave of Covid has by now been utilised to massively withdraw primary care provision in a general sense, which of course fits in nicely with this government's openly stated desire to increase the range of primary care services delivered through an insurance or private paying model. I am happy to do this to get a timely flu jab but when I have a really rather poorly DC on my hands, it's not good enough. The practice was pretty good in the past, but a general trend towards reduced service has been going on for a year or two.

I can't contribute any more to the thread as I'm trying to make contact with the OOH doctor as we speak. The NHS has gone to shit, and not (just) because of Covid.

This sounds incredibly insulting to Drs.
The accusatory tone is horrible.

Mine has been very good, although it understandably took them time to get a system sorted. You can either use e-Consult or book a call on the day, and they ask you which doctor you want to speak to. If the GP thinks you need to be seen, they will ask you to come in. It actually works better than the system they had before

I understand the difference. The GPs and dentists own their practices (or at least, the ones making the decisions do) and they have effective trade unions too.

I'm not bashing GPs - ours are good, I said that - but we are all subject to the same tax system, yet some of us can get decent and timely services and others can't. Which is clearly unfair.

My 82 year old dad nearly died in the summer because he couldn't get anyone to see him in person. When he did get admitted to hospital, the staff and treatment couldn't have been better. But you cannot diagnose colon inflammation on a phone call.

Making it so hard for people to be seen in person is extremely risky for the patient in some circumstances.

My GP has been great. The one time I needed to see her I got a phone appointment quickly, I shared some photographs with her after the appointment over the surgery's secure site, and I got a diagnosis the same day.
My friend who has long covid problems has been seen by a number of consultants as well as her GP.
I don't have any sense that GPs are slacking off. I do worry a lot about the wait for other types of surgery/treatment, including the national scandal of how long it takes to get mental health support.

What are they doing? Patting the receptionists on the back and telling them they are doing such a good job at keeping people away.

Thsi might be the time to let us choose if we are in the NHS or not. 20% pof your income tax goes no the NHS. For that I have used my GP only for 7 minutes of time in 15 years (don't get ill so far touch wood....) I call it the £100k 7 minutes. I would rather just opt out.