something funny is going on with this doctors

[ClarasZoo]

So my doctors surgery has an inadequate Facebook update page and I have been looking at a nearby surgery's Facebook page which is more helpful. Last message says something like - please stop ringing us, we will tell you when it is your turn, but for info we have a lot of group 6 and we are working through them. There are one or two comments about how nice it is to be updated etc. I added a comment that if anyone wants to book direct (and are over 60) they can do so at a nearby hub. My post was deleted. I thought maybe I made a mistake so I posted it again. And it was deleted again. Why would the doctors want to do that? Are they hogging the patients because there is a financial incentive? Some of their patients might well travel the short distance to the hub if they were told that they could...

Have you not got something useful that needs doing? For example, I am putting off cleaning my windows not the spring sunshine is showing up the grunge. I suggest you look around and find something similar and do it .

How odd.

Our docs dont have any sm at all, and their website was last updated in March 2020. Useless.

@Viques 😂 perfect

IDK - I volunteer at a vaccination centre - is that useful?

They get about £12 a jab so yes a tiny incentive.

I shouldn't worry too much, I doubt many people would have read your message anyway by the sounds of it.

Still rather crappy behaviour from your GP - I'd complain

www.rethink.org/advice-and-information/rights-restrictions/rights-and-restrictions/complaints-about-the-nhs-or-social-services/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAyoeCBhCTARIsAOfpKxgXLvmxnJQA58cCtyFzOhf_GiqXN6sevIlf567mIFWtyi1uEWu9jTQaAnbBEALw_wcB

Can you message them and ask why your post has been deleted? I would agree about financial incentive..

So glad my excellent GPs aren't on social media.

Thank you - that has answered my question then. Maybe it's the money. Yes - I do have other more useful things to do, but when I know that the local hub is not really buzzing and that local people are frustrated about the queue, I thought my post on their page would be helpful. The more people willing to travel the short distance, the sooner the younger (teachers etc) can get vaccinated here. Perhaps I should just sit in my house cleaning windows, however, and let other people do small helpful things.

@ClarasZoo

Thank you - that has answered my question then. Maybe it's the money. Yes - I do have other more useful things to do, but when I know that the local hub is not really buzzing and that local people are frustrated about the queue, I thought my post on their page would be helpful. The more people willing to travel the short distance, the sooner the younger (teachers etc) can get vaccinated here. Perhaps I should just sit in my house cleaning windows, however, and let other people do small helpful things.

I'm with you OP - our local social media is full of people asking which group the GP has got to, moaning about younger people getting theirs sooner, saying they're waiting patiently for their letter etc... I personally think the more information people have about how the system works and how they can be proactive booking themselves in the better so I'm frequently posting the link on these types of post. I do think it's a bit off for the doctors to remove it - regardless of money, surely they have some sort of duty to try and ensure as many patients as possible are vaccinated as soon as they become eligible.

My GP is fantastic & has a very useful Facebook page. They have just yesterday directed group 6 to book online if they’d prefer. They were quite keen to vaccinate their own 80+ year olds as they felt they could provide better care while they were waiting than standing in line at a mass centre. But after that, they’ve been promoting themselves & the vaccine centres!

It’s very possible that the website is managed by someone who’s not well informed and has a blanket policy of deleting posts with links in case they’re spam or scams (spammer/scammer are a scourge of anywhere the public can post freely).

They get about £12 a jab so yes a tiny incentive

It's quite a big incentive (8%) when you take into account GPs are paid about £150 per patient per year. The average number of patients per GP is 2250, so £27k extra per GP x the number of GPs at the surgery adds up.

GP surgeries are a "business". Some of the GPs at a surgery will be employed by the partners who run the surgery and be paid a salary. However, the GPs who are partners are self employed and receive a share of the profits of the "business".

I don’t know why the GP surgery is deleting your post, but if you are on any local Facebook pages / groups, it may be an idea to post the information on those instead?

My GP practice has no social media pages, and they last updated the covid information on their website in December.
But I’m on a few local Facebook groups and there’s been a quite few posts on those lately asking if anyone knows which groups the GP is doing, have people had letters, etc etc.

I've never even thought to check before if my surgery has social media.

It turns out they do have a Facebook page! Last updated December 2016.

I won't bother following them!

They probably don't want ANY news/reports/advice from unofficial and unconfirmed sources. They would have to verify all the facts you stated to leave the post online and whoever moderates the page probably doesn't have the time, so their policy could be to delete them all, even if they are true.

£12 a jab? No wonder they are deleting it!

I'd keep posting on there OP, you are doing a public service.

@jcyclops

They probably don't want ANY news/reports/advice from unofficial and unconfirmed sources. They would have to verify all the facts you stated to leave the post online and whoever moderates the page probably doesn't have the time, so their policy could be to delete them all, even if they are true.

Exactly this.

It’s getting on to dodgy territory.

Definitely post on your local town/area pages instead, then you'll be doing a public service!

Do they leave up other links that people post? It’s likely that they have a blanket policy being applied rather than trying to get all the patients themselves. Most practices have a limited supply of vaccines so are very happy if some patients are going elsewhere, it’s the number of vaccine doses which are the limiting factor not the available patients if you see what I mean? I don’t think they’re making much / any profit once staff have been paid for, which is one reason lots of GP practices decided not to offer them.

Can you spread the information by any other means (e.g. a different FB page, when you see people in person, a supermarket board) ?

@jcyclops

They probably don't want ANY news/reports/advice from unofficial and unconfirmed sources. They would have to verify all the facts you stated to leave the post online and whoever moderates the page probably doesn't have the time, so their policy could be to delete them all, even if they are true.

This!

£12 a jab is not a small reward thats a very hefty incentive.

Yes, seems entirely reasonable that a GP surgery wouldn't want anyone not directly employed and instructed by the surgery to be dispensing 'advice' on their own FB page.

@jcyclops

They probably don't want ANY news/reports/advice from unofficial and unconfirmed sources. They would have to verify all the facts you stated to leave the post online and whoever moderates the page probably doesn't have the time, so their policy could be to delete them all, even if they are true.

I would have thought this.

Are there other people posts that have been left up?

They deleted your messages because the Practice FB page is about that one GP service and what they offer.

It's not a board to advertise other medical services.