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 ?

My Drs have been quite good, i have seen a Dr face to face, one of my sons is with the same as me, another isn't,
My Dr told my son at same surgery as me he should have a flu jab as immune system is low due ti blood condition,
Other son with same condition, [twins] was told he couldn't have an appointment until March , or a flu jab, because he wasn't over 50
Both should have had reviews earlier this year, both have very high blood pressure and had TIAs ,
First son has had condition reviewed and some treatment, at the hospital, second son had a review eventually after i phoned up and told them he was ill and had numbness in his legs and couldn't walk, and insisted he was seen as a matter of urgency,as he kept falling,
I agree what are Drs doing ?, leaving patients needing necessary treatment with none,
I feel for all those people who have deteriorated due to no treatment except Covid
Also receptionists saying whether you can see a Dr or not as in my sons case

@sleeplessinderbyshire

I am a GP. I’ve spoken to more patients per day since lockdown than I ever have before. Fewer face to face but literally hundreds more phone/video/email contacts. It is generally considered “safe” to deal with 12 consultations per half day. I’ve been averaging 20+. As well as mentoring my junior doctors, teaching students, clinical admin, sorting out issues relating to the hospital having to cancel everything. Oh and repeat prescriptions, letters from the hospital, results, referrals. And supporting our burned out terrified admin staff who deal with vitriol and abuse on the phone or in person every day. I also work out of hours as a GP in A&E and it’s business as usual (except in PPE and with more terrified patients) there too.

Stop believing the Daily Mail. Very soon as a profession GPs will be so vilified and so disillusioned we will all leave the profession. Having witnessed the after effects of a local GP taking their own life recently as a result of work pressures I’d suggest people remember we are human too

Eh hello - this is my OWN experience of the surgery that we use . It has nothing at all to do with the DM. If that is your attitude to anyone commenting on services then I am glad I'm not at yours . Are we just expected to accept any level of service without the right of comment or complaint ? It seems that there is a great deal of variation through the country and it is interesting for me to hear this .

@Mustbe3ormorecharacters

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

Did you not read my post then ?

Well said, and yes indeed to your username - Viva Milton Keynes!

Bloodylongdrive I realise you are responding to a negative post but lines like "teachers have done nothing but moan" is a kick in the teeth when you have looked after key worker dcs, sat up late at night giving feedback and wrestling with entirely unfamiliar computer systems, and currently attend work in the midst of a lockdown with exposure conditions that fly in the face of what the government tells is to avoid. I don't want claps but no insults would be nice.

@VivaMiltonKeynes. You asked what GPs are doing and @sleeplessinderbyshire answered

No need to be rude

3 weeks ago I had a phone consultation with gp who sent me for blood tests, 2nd phone consult a week later and she asked me to come in (booked me an appointment for 45 minutes later), sent me for more blood tests, called me 2 days later with results and discussed them sent prescription to my local pharmacy. So in answer to your question, pretty much operating as usual. I’ve always requested phone appointments as I work and have 3 dc so it’s just easier/more convenient.

Friend who is a time and motion study man owner/director of an international company said this is the beginning of the transformation of the nhs. Cut down physical visits for the worried well and the ill that cannot realistically be helped any further. Online as much as possible with that type of patient.

Forget private medicine for now, they are snowed under handling NHS operations which have been unloaded onto them. The best you can hope for with a private consultant is face time.

Ours seem fairly busy still.
I've been 'seen' by phone and seen in person a few times since March, plus have seen the nurse for bloods and blood pressure checks. Going next week for a pneumonia vaccine. DH was seen by phone and then in person last week too.

We call in the morning for same day, or a coupe of weeks in advance for a given doctor. They then call you between certain hours. If they need to see you they invite you in later that day.

We have a lot of elderly people in the locality and they are doing a lot fo home visits for them too.

@GreyWall

Yes we do see them individually as groups of 32 packed like fucking sardines and NO PPE for them or us. The DfE and Govt are hiding the real statistics. I mean seeing them individually would half... actually lessen the risk by 31 times.

Are you really a teacher? You don't seem to understand pretty obvious differences in the jobs or a teacher and a doctor or nurse.

Lots of posters on this thread have been seen F2F (including me/ my immediate family).
Do teachers have to come right up close to their pupils and examine their ears/ throat/ chest, etc? Of course not.
Do teachers see ill patients who cough and splutter all over them? Of course not.
The risk is clearly not the same and it's surprising that you can't grasp that as a supposedly well educated teacher.
Now you might be angry about the way your profession is being treated which is fair enough but it is jolly unpleasant to slag off another which is working equally hard. My own experience of the local schools in lockdown has been pretty unimpressive (putting it mildly) but I wouldn't come on here and slag off all teachers angrily.

@PrattHancock

Well said, and yes indeed to your username - Viva Milton Keynes!

I love the number of people who are thrown off by this

@Xenia

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.

Do you know what you would pay privately if you needed emergency treatment for an accident or illness or if you developed a serious disease? A family of 4 on 50k a year are paying what £250 each a year by your calculations. Do you think that is a lot?

The message is that as many people as possible should be doing as much as possible from home. It reduces risk for every single one of us. Yes GPs can see everyone face to face but the overall infection rate will go up for everyone and it will be much more difficult to access care because more will be ill and shielding.

Same here op
Can’t get to see a doctor for love nor money

@Greywall my understanding of the English language is the "groups" and individually" are not the same words. If you GP saw you in a group of 32 others I doubt you would describe this an individual consultation. As someone who does regular individual consultations they are very time consuming, and as I said above for the vast majority of these social distancing is virtually impossible. My last consultation was in an office that would give a broom cupboard a run for money in terms of size by the nature of the job, most patients are "unwell" many have temperatures etc but it may or may not be covid19.
Secondly practically you could not teach 32 children individually this is the nature of your job as is many NHS workers coming into regular contact with this who have covid we have learned to get on with it we have no choice throughout the world the dedication shown by health care professionals during this pandemic has been extraordinary and the reason why many have lost their lives. Can I you either learn to live with the risk as we have or get out.
Lastly as I said above there is little evidence that masks protect the wearer.

Our doctors surgery have been amazing - seen a doctor everytime we have needed too

The 'essential services' that I personally haven't been able to access have been.

NHS dentists (no routine appointments whatsoever)
NHS physio' who has all but disappeared since lockdown in March.

CAMHS also not seeing anyone F2F here (not needed this personally but find it shocking)

Also important to point out the ones with ‘choice’ are not the less well off. Are we suggesting if you have money you can opt out and pay for private care but that will leave the poor people with no healthcare?

@OpheliasCrayon

Oh they're doing absolutely nothing because covid is the only illness in the world.

What on earth sort of borderline offensive question is this?

Treating ill people , unwell kids, vaccinations , being the usual absolute life line for those of us with chronic illnesses. I see or talk to my GP at least once a week.

They're doing their jobs. And bloody well

Well yours might be, and you should count yourself very lucky. Many are not, as can be attested by the many and various upsetting threads on this subject. I won't bore people with my elderly mother's lack of GP care, but it has been woeful and I have submitted a formal complaint.

And tbf the last time I had a f2f with my GP was 7 weeks ago. After a lengthy appointment with him and an additional doctor he called in they had me sent direct to hospital with concerns. Unfortunately 2 days later I had to call them back and tell them I had Covid - it wasn't suspected at the time by them, the previous days nurse, the A&E staff not the hospital ward staff as my symptoms were not obvious ones.

That possibly meant they had to be somewhat more careful for a few days afterwards too!

Here you phone up, then get a phone call a week later then get an appointment.
Tbf they were good when my son was having a mental health crisis.
I do think its hit and miss in different areas

I went in with chest pains and had an ecg in the surgery. The nurse took the ecg readings to show a doctor in the next room. I mean... chest pains, this is why more people will die because of covid. I am disgusted

I don't understand why you are so concerned?
You had an ECG there and then. The doctor next door was able to look at the reading immediately and take the necessary action. There was no delay in this happening.

I had a number of ECGs at the hospital - both recently and in the past few years. Every time it has been mainly the nurses who take the ECGs and then the doctors who look over them, diagnose, take action as required. Covid hasn't changed this in my recent experience.

The dentist practice I use has been made covid secure since the summer.

My registered GP practice has seen no patients face to face since March and their website too is rarely updated (no staff!). Apart from one or two nurse practitioners on site its to all intents and purposes sealed off to the public. (When this is all over I fully intend to change GP practice).

The surgery that my mother visits has two nurse practitioners in it and no GPs. They are making phone calls to patients.

What if you're housebound, disabled or otherwise vulnerable, or you are deaf cannot go online for whatever reason. Not everyone is literate let alone computer literate or can even fill in forms online. I do accept that not all GP surgeries are like the above examples but lack of readily available access to a GP is a big problem for many people.

A recurring issue on here is the long wait on the phone.
Triaging everything and insisting that all patients ring up has obviously massively increased phone calls.
I was on hold for an hour last time I rang.
GP surgeries are run as businesses, why are they not recruiting many more staff to fob people off answer the phones?

At my Mums GP they are not seeing any patients face to face, the nurse is and can then as the GP for advice who is in the next room but won’t see anyone.

Why is it ok for the nurse to see the patient but not the GP??

I can’t find now who put about e consult for children, I’ve used econsult for kids, does it now give you an option of ‘for my child’ or similar