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?

"I thinks it's more that patients are at risk from going into a surgery where people with COVID are more likely to be and that people going to the surgery are more likely to be cev."

This is largely it, NHS England basically didn't want lots of frail elderly catching C19 in surgeries (and then dying as a result). NHS England genuinely have very little regard for GPs and our staff - it really wasn't about us.

Teaching is slightly different in that most (by no means all) students are low risk and it's a different cohort compared to sick people in a GP surgery. Equally students in school are presumed well, whereas people at the surgery are presumed sick. Or that was the thinking. Additionally I GP doing full F2F could easily infect 40 - 60 people per day with a new set of 40-60 the next day etc. So a C19 positive GP could easily result in the contact tracing of 250+ people.

Of course teachers have been badly let down by the JCVI groups - why the fuckety fuck weren't teachers vaccinated as part of Group 2 or 4 especially when there was the perfect half term break to do this? It made absolutely no sense and would have protected teachers from the potential cohort of students that were likely to be able to pass it on but not become unwell from it.

Stupid decision making IMO.

Telling people who cannot make themselves more available, to make themselves ‘more available’ is never going to go down well. Not on here nor by the GP receptionist.

Pre covid, if I had a gp appointment then I would have to go to the gp surgery and wait. A colleague would have to cover my class. I would normally expect no more than a 30min wait for the obvious unforeseen late running appointments.

Am I to sit in the staff room watching my phone for 2 hours whilst a colleague takes my class?

Then when you call the surgery and the receptionist tells you that you missed your phone call because 1) it was 2 hours late and 2) unidentified caller with no answerphone that you risk being kicked off the books.

I don’t understand the inner workings of the NHS but I guarantee that most people have employment commitments that mean they cannot wait hours for a phone call during the working day.

So yes it will get my back up to be told to make myself more available.

If you haven’t got the time to book all these phone appointments signpost me to the walk-in clinic or whatever, I will have more joy with my employer if I have to tell them I need to go to the clinic and wait to be seen than sat looking at my phone all day.

If you find yourself between a rock and hard place because you have to book these appointments by the nhs, at least get the receptionists to be lenient and not threaten to kick us off the books because we didn’t take a call.

Anyway shielding has now ended should we assume face-to-face appointments, and hospital appointments will start up again now / soon?

We’ve had a good service from our gps they are open and either on the phone or will see you if deemed necessary. My dad has had all his diabetic checks as normal either by phone or when it’s an eye or foot check in person but that’s not at a gp anyway.

I do know some gps don’t seem to want to see anyone at all and I’ve spoken to families who have ended up with sick children because they haven’t been seen face to face.

I

In the future the nhs imo should make citizens more responsible for their health care.
In France too gps are thin on the ground but have an advantage in that blood, radiography etc results are sent to the patient.
So when dh had a blood test he was emailed the result by the lab and he then took it to the surgery and waited in the waiting room while the gp had a look and sent advice re the receptionist.
I have had my mammogram scan and xrays sent directly to me with instructions to show my gp at some time, keep the report etc safe and take it with me to my next mammogram in two years.

It’s lovely not to have to book an appointment to see our own test results.

No one I know in any part of the country are yet. So all these MN'ers insisting that GP's are is odd.

I now can’t even get through to the reception at my GP surgery. They now play a recorded message telling me they’re busy, please hang up and try calling later. There’s not even an option to wait in a telephone queue!

How is that even allowed? The NHS is a free at the point of use service - not a FREE service. Like many, I pay significant amounts in tax and NI each month for this ‘service’. If I paid a portion of that in private healthcare fees I could have excellent healthcare.

Can’t see a GP here, they’re still shielding.

And no, my surgery has not signed up to the NHS app to allow e consultations. The GPS are all working from home and as the rude receptionist told me when I went to the surgery in person to try to make an appointment ‘we don’t have to deal with PEOPLE. Because of COVID.’ (She must have had her jab by then) There’s no other way of contacting them!

@Fucket

Telling people who cannot make themselves more available, to make themselves ‘more available’ is never going to go down well. Not on here nor by the GP receptionist.

Pre covid, if I had a gp appointment then I would have to go to the gp surgery and wait. A colleague would have to cover my class. I would normally expect no more than a 30min wait for the obvious unforeseen late running appointments.

Am I to sit in the staff room watching my phone for 2 hours whilst a colleague takes my class?

Then when you call the surgery and the receptionist tells you that you missed your phone call because 1) it was 2 hours late and 2) unidentified caller with no answerphone that you risk being kicked off the books.

I don’t understand the inner workings of the NHS but I guarantee that most people have employment commitments that mean they cannot wait hours for a phone call during the working day.

So yes it will get my back up to be told to make myself more available.

If you haven’t got the time to book all these phone appointments signpost me to the walk-in clinic or whatever, I will have more joy with my employer if I have to tell them I need to go to the clinic and wait to be seen than sat looking at my phone all day.

If you find yourself between a rock and hard place because you have to book these appointments by the nhs, at least get the receptionists to be lenient and not threaten to kick us off the books because we didn’t take a call.

Anyway shielding has now ended should we assume face-to-face appointments, and hospital appointments will start up again now / soon?

I agree with this.

I volunteered for a vaccination trial. Through that I have seen more nurses than I can count. I've been examined by several doctors and even got an ultrasound. I've sat in the waiting room with other volunteers.

Pre covid I had to have monthly appointments at my practice. Sometimes even more frequently. Since Covid my surgery has not bothered to call me unless I call in. I formally complained which achieved nothing.
I've seen the nurse for blood tests several times but no GP appt.
I've always supported GPs before but now I'm incredibly disappointed.

We've had great care from GP during the last year. My daughter was diagnosed with anorexia last summer and whilst most of direct support has been via camhs, she's had fortnightly bloods by nursing staff, triage phone calls leading to ftf appts as required - including 'come in right now', calls from staff into early evening agreeing/sorting out how to get Dd booked in for covid jab as group 6., regular check in calls from GP as to how we're managing. I appreciate that for example the 'come in right now' call probably meant that the Gp was late calling someone else back but prioritised in that moment on on clinical judgement. Is the wide system perfect? Far from it, but I've been very grateful for our local experience.

@DumplingsAndStew

What utter nonsense. They discuss on the phone first then if they need to see you face to face, they do.

Cuts out plenty timewasters.

My 94yo, pretty deaf dad's GP refused to see him face to face. Even after his misdiagnosis had led to 2 hospital admissions and the consultant had put in his letter that telephone appointments were not appropriate for his set of conditions and he needed to be seen face to face. On his 5th admission he nearly died and with no visitors I had to be the one to explain what was happening to my mum with dementia. Luckily since then they have usually seen him but it shouldn't take a heart attack and pneumonia as a result of a misdiagnosis and 5 hospital admissions to get an appointment. Unfortunately they live in a small town with no alternative practice to change to.

As a teacher I find telephone consultations difficult because the receptionist says to expect a call between x and x. I can’t have my phone out in class and certainly wouldn’t be able to answer it. However, after speaking to the practice manager and now that I speak regularly to my GP, and explaining the situation, my GP calls me in my lunch break or after school.

I haven’t needed to see my GP face to face (I have anxiety) so calls work well, it saves me time! DH has needed to see a GP. He had an op last year and the wound became infected. He was seen immediately after explaining the concern.

I work in a school if the GP telephone appointment is at 11am I don’t think it’s acceptable for my phone call to be 2 hours later and have no answerphone message. I’ll just answer the phone in the middle of the classroom shall I?

I don't understand this, if you need to see a doctor, you need to see a doctor, this has always involved time off work. In your situation I wouldn't have gone in to work waiting for a call back, I might have tried to do some paperwork. Yes the health service is running less efficiently becuase of COVID. Nothing anyone can do about it.

GP Surgeries are all individual businesses so set their own rules. Some have been seeing patients face-to-face, with some you have to battle to get a telephone appointment.
Last year when I was unwell I ended up using the Livi app to have any contact with a doctor...
Now we can order prescriptions & send emails to doctors online.
All doctors appointments are telephone only - they are also made only for that day - no advance appointments as they then don't have to cancel if they're self isolating which makes a certain amount of sense.
When they do phone it's usually on-time. However if all telephone appointments are already taken then it's Livi or 111 for you. I've seen nurse practitioners for blood tests.
Not great but better than nothing. It wasn't that great before but they did at least have a triage GP that would call you & invite you into the surgery if needed.

Ours are triaging over the phone and then doing face to face if required.

However, I have a few a&e doctor friends who are saying half of the people they are seeing should have been seen by a GP but are being sent to them. So guessing we are lucky our GP will
See us.
This wasn’t the case in first lockdown though!

@babyyodaxmas

But I would usually try and book it first thing in morning or after school hours.
I would hate to miss 3 hours of teaching for a 3
Min phone call; which half the time didn’t happen in the promised 3 hours any way

Our GP practise has certainly been the weak link in care this last year. The low point was rather than seeing a child wihh bas enough asthma he has been shielding for the last year we were told to take him to A and E because they aren’t seeing anyone face to face!

That was September and he had had a negative covid test before I contacted the GP.

Overtherainbow I can see how that is a big change for you. Personally I contact my GP maybe once every 2-3 years so a morning off work is neither here nor there. I would guess that there are relatively few adults of working age that need primary care consultations more than 3 times a year (10%?). But happy to be corrected on this.

@MinesAPintOfTea

My whole family has ended up in mental health crisis, partly triggered by DH getting controlling under lockdown. Trying to arrange a private call under those circumstances is near-impossible. Much easier if I can make an appointment, hint at "lady troubles" and then discuss the actual issues in a room with a closed door. Not possible.

This is my concern too, there must be thousands of women across the country in the same boat, unable to access confidential help.

At my GP surgery, it’s almost impossible to talk to a receptionist by phone, access is by AskMyDoc, where you have to type in your concerns and say who you want to consult with (GP, nurse, pharmacist) , and you will then get an email/ landline/mobile reply at some point.

I’ve used this a couple of times for medication queries, but on each occasion, despite me specifically asking for email or mobile response, they’ve rung the landline.

I’m in a similar situation to the above, I am really low, my husband is controlling, so I am now unable to access help for fear of him finding out. I really can’t see an answer.

Surely by June doctors and dentists will be able to operate without restrictions. My children and myself haven't been able to have a dental check up since Dec 2019, my dentist has begun working only one day a week, but apparently no other dentist in the practice can possibly take me on. That's really disappointing. But my experience of phone consultations at the doctor has been really good.

www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/

My dh is a GP and is seeing plenty of patients face to face. Everyone who phones his surgery gets a telephone triage appointment with a clinician the same day and then everyone requiring face to face will get one, usually the day day.
He is “seeing” up to 40 patients a day, maybe a third of those face to face.

I saw mine last week for a headache I was worried about. Had a telephone triage, saw her face to face then was referred for urgent scans. My doctors are fantastic though and I feel so lucky to have them

@Isadora2007

Even more weirdly why are podiatrists not back working face to face?!?

Mine has been all through the pandemic

Because they earn more money than teachers or bus drivers so can dictate to do things as they wish I expect.