GP's please why are you not back to seeing us face to face

[whenwillthemadnessend]

Just that really ?

Please can any GP's explain the reasoning

If dentists physios and accident and emergency doctors can see people why can't GP doctors?

We see an awful lot of patients regularly that have pre chemo/treatment blood tests etc and our priority is to keep them safe.
Why can't people see this?

Not a GP appointment but I've just had a letter for a hospital appointment in DECEMBER that has been changed to telephone due to covid. I think the way forward will still be telephone consultations wherever possible.

@NaToth

This is not right. Mots practices have been doing all of what you need after an initial pause to assess risks - so for at least 9 months, now.

Complain, please.

Iv always had
GP’s and Nurses appointments through lockdown
I believe they are and have always been seeing ‘Emergencies’

@Tistheseason17 and I have said many times I embrace the new way of working. However, I am working today and set aside 30 mims to do some personal admin - one task being to order a prescription that has come off repeat because I had too many and it needs resyncing.

So go onto website, navigate to the prescription page and then get a message to say that requests can't be submitted because practice is closed. Why on earth can't a request be made through the portal out of hours to be picked up when they reopen on Tuesday?

@RosesAndHellebores
That is bonkers!
I would suggest getting set up on the NHS App which is not subject to the practice website closure. You can req on there - we do this for our patients and we action the req on Tuesday x

Aah but unless I go to the surgery and present my id papers - passport and a bank statement I can only log into the nhs app on a one time basis and then you get kicked out. I did sign up properly once before but there was a problem with the system so I was asked to do it again, between 9 and 5. I could do it now I'm wfh but they won't allow it because of the face to face restrictions. Is there a prescription to stop one's head hurting when it is constantly banged against a brick wall?

I signed up to the nhs app online with no involvement of the GP surgery. It’s a while ago now but think I just put in passport details and went through a verification process. On each log in I get a text with a verification number but you just enter that and you’re in. You can send messages if you want an additional item not on current repeat. I would need to go into the surgery to get access to systmone online but not for the nhs app

@RosesAndHellebores
As PP states, no need to go to practice for NHS App 😁

Aah - thank you. I may be conflating two systems. I don't particularly want access to my notes.

@poppycat10

Today DH had a morning surgery 8am - 1pm and this afternoon he is going to the local mosque to try and persuade more people to have vaccinations

His time would be better spent dealing with patients, not trying to persuade people to have vaccinations who don't want them. It would be quicker and more efficient to do all the people who want to be done, and then go back and persuade the doubters. In my view he is not prioritising his time right - he could either be out there vaccinating under 50s who want to be "done", or doing telephone/video consultations with people who have conditions other than covid, having done F2F in the morning.

busted a gut on Thursday to get the scanning up to date so someone will have that time on Tuesday to ring all the over 80's to book them in for their 2nd covid jab in 2 weeks time, which will be on a Saturday

where my mum lives they booked first and second appointments at the same time - I would have thought that was more efficient and half the work. OK some over 80s might forget but even if you phone them today for tomorrow they might forget

Actually most GP practices get precisely 2/3 days notice of vaccine deliveries - booking in2nd vaccines at the same time as the first would lead to double the workload on an incredibly stretched service, having to cancel all the prebooked appts when no vaccine arrived!

@poppycat10

I really like the phone and online consults. Much quicker response times. And much more convenient as avoids having to go into the surgery. I like this particularly at the moment as wish to avoid unnecessary contacts. Everything I've contacted them about could be dealt with perfectly remotely

It would work fine for me. But imagine someone without a smartphone who wants to get a photo of a suspect mole to their GP (or practice nurse). If they ask for a F2F appointment the receptionist will have been told to tell them to bog off, but actually they should ask can you send us a photo and if they say no, get them to come in and a nurse could look at it quickly and let you know if she thinks it needs a GP or it could go straight to a referral. They could even stand in the car park and someone could look at it (depending on its location :) )

But they won't, the receptionist will just breezily say "oh we're not seeing people for that, take a photo and send it in" and put the phone down and the person is left hanging with a potentially dangerous mole.

🤣🤣🤣🤣 We are fully.booked 4 weeks in advance where I work - we dont get a break. going to the loo for a wee is a good shift and you think we have time to pop to look at a mole outside 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I had to say No to doing an urgent ecg last week - pt already in the surgery with chest pain - literally on the verge of walking out - as are most of my colleagues - we may not be frontline hospital but by god we are knackered and overworked The general public have no idea how awful Gp practice work has been for the last year - I work in a practice where we have never locked the doors, have stopped hardly any services ( spirometry and ear syringing only) and are working as normal. I'm a HCA at the moment ( ex nurse) but am looking to change career like so many within healthcare. Gp, nurses and other staff recruitment is a nightmare- no one wants these jobs - we have been advertising for a Nurse Practioner for over 18 months. - Can't see it getting any better unless there is a massive change which will involve people paying much more.

@Nothingoriginalhere
I don't believe missing a potential cancer referral is a laughing matter because your practice is busy! Many patients will be missed with this Laissez faire attitude. Not every poster would be able to get a decent photo and upload it. I know my mum wouldn't

So so rude and unprofessional

The poster isn’t being rude - she has said they are booked up for four weeks. Those appointments may also be urgent issues and certainly will be important to those who have made the appointment. What should they do - cancel one of the already booked appointments?

the laughable bit is the fact you think we can just pop and look not missing a possible cancer - you completely misunderstood or maybe chose to.
Every single patient is a concern and worthy of our full attention - we just dont have enough time to do even half - this is what frustrates everybody
My time.is fully booked - every minute from my start to the finish of my shift - no wriggle room - to get on your high horse about unprofessionalism just shows you actually have no clue how overworked, overbooked and stressed GP practice staff are. How difficult.it is to recruit any staff at any level from partners to reception and how bad it is going to get in the very near future. Did you know a huge percentage of practice nurses are due to retire in the next few years and no-one can be recruited to replace them!

@Parker231

The poster isn’t being rude - she has said they are booked up for four weeks. Those appointments may also be urgent issues and certainly will be important to those who have made the appointment. What should they do - cancel one of the already booked appointments?

Thank you - at least someone understands we can only do so much.

I consider the rows of laughing emojis extremely rude and condescending regardless of how busy the practice is. Shows little respect for the patient.

What do you expect us to do? walk out on the patient we are dealing with to see another in the car park??
You are deliberately misunderstanding my post - I am.laughing at your assumption we have the time.to pop out - nothing to do with any patients

@Mindfullness

We see an awful lot of patients regularly that have pre chemo/treatment blood tests etc and our priority is to keep them safe. Why can't people see this?

My OH needs pre chemo blood tests, but his GP surgery refuse to do them anymore. They always used to, pre-covid, but now they just say "not our responsibility, ask the oncology dept".

@RosesAndHellebores

Aah - thank you. I may be conflating two systems. I don't particularly want access to my notes.

It is confusing as there are 2 systems doing essentially the same thing! Systmone has been available for ages, nhs app is more recent. Try downloading the nhs app and see how you get on. You can order prescriptions, see appointments (not sure if you can make them), you do have to get approval from GP surgery to see your records through the app but because you’ve already verified your identity they can enable that without you going to the surgery. I do think sometimes communications are poor and it leads to many crossed wires. I think a user guide of what is available would be really helpful as a national thing. Pharmacies are available to provide many additional services but that’s not always popular with the GP surgery as the funding goes elsewhere then. It certainly helps with manpower if your patients can get flu jabs, medication reviews etc elsewhere. Not sure if it was you who mentioned about getting 12 months of thyroxine? Stable medication can be done on a repeat script- GP authorises supply plus repeats which are held at the pharmacy and you return to them each month. They check no change in your condition and dispense your supply. No need to return to the doctor and it avoids having to through medication away if things do change

My GP has been wonderful throughout. I've seen them several times when needed, had regular monitoring over the phone and have a smear test booked for next week. The only problem I've had is that you book a telephone appointment for the day rather than for a session (say, 9-11, or 3-5 etc) and I can't answer my phone when I'm teaching (obviously!). But when I explained this to my GP she said just put a note to say I'm a teacher in the online appointment request and she'll make sure she calls me last after 4pm.
Some of the GP surgeries I hear about on here sound awful. They are very much not all equal.

@BungleandGeorge - I understand about picking prescriptions from the pharmacy but I would prefer to do it once a year rather than six times. It takes 30 mins a time. Also, nobody ever asks if all is well and my dose has been unchanged for 30 years. I have also never been asked to go for a blood test - I let it go 16 months once to see if anyone would notice. They didn't. I had to ask for it. It is such a waste of time.

Re my identity, the surgery says I have to present the documents again!

On the changing medication point, it is most likely the dose would be increased or decreased by 25mcg. If that were the case I'd use a pill cutter!

@RosesAndHellebores

On the changing medication point, it is most likely the dose would be increased or decreased by 25mcg. If that were the case I'd use a pill cutter!

Same here. 6 x per Yr at pharmacy even with repeat dispensing. My GP keeps reducing my thyroxine if my TSH moves by 0.1! I had 6 blood tests last yr, reduction in meds. Took my hair falling out and thyroid storm b4 GP listened and increased thyroxine - sounds common, but that's a whole other thread!! Apparently, some people abuse thyroxine for weight loss which is why we have to collect every 2 mths! So frustrating 😫

[quote TurquoiseDress]@poppycat10

I'm pretty sure if a patient reported a suspicious mole & did not have a phone capable of taking photos, the GP would arrange a face to face once they'd had the initial telephone consultation

Something like skin, photos are brilliant for diagnosing skin conditions but if these cannot be sent, a face to face appointment is surely the obvious next step [/quote]
My DD (6) had a nasty skin infection and GP would not see her. He said he didn't want to prescribe anything because he wasn't sure what it was, but on the other hand couldn't see her. He told me to let it take care of itself.

Of course 'a face to face appointment is surely the obvious next step' but I assure you, it is not happening for many people.