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Original poster

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

657 replies

whenwillthemadnessend · 30/03/2021 22:46

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?

OP posts:
VaizyCrazyDaizy · 31/03/2021 07:07

My GP surgery is useless. No face to face appointments in a year now. They have being so slow in providing prescriptions my asthma drugs I have had to resort to ordering drugs off the internet! Very good and not much more cost than the NHS prescription. I have received zero help with a severe frozen shoulder and ended up going to a private hospital using my credit card to pay for very expensive pain relieving treatment. I have found ringing 111 the NHS helpline very helpful when need health advice fast. One thing I have noticed I have had zero tooth problems for the first time ever having not had a visit to the dentist for a year - I think I will continue to avoid the dentist......

CrunchyCarrot · 31/03/2021 07:07

It's really bad here (I'm with a large multi-GP practice). I normally had telephone consults before Covid, as I'm largely house-bound. However last time I rang, a few weeks ago, I couldn't even get a phone appointment (unless it was an emergency, and it wasn't). I was told to phone the next day at 8.00 a.m. and hope I got an appointment arranged then. I've also had times I've rung up, gone through all the blurb and selecting options, been told I'm the first caller in the queue and then been cut off!

chopc · 31/03/2021 07:08

We are seeing people face to face if they want to be seen or if the clinical need dictates it. But the assessment is done on the phone first to gather as much information as possible. Are you sure your surgery isn't seeing people @whenwillthemadnessend ?

CrunchyCarrot · 31/03/2021 07:09

Oh and I do manage to get a phone appointment, then "the GP will phone back 'some time today'"I am told! Not even given a time slot, as used to happen.

chopc · 31/03/2021 07:09

If people cannot answer the phone they can use e consult or we can send them a text they can respond to. Many ways of receding medical care these days

LemonRoses · 31/03/2021 07:11

@Perlea

Because they earn more money than teachers or bus drivers so can dictate to do things as they wish I expect.
They earn more money because they work harder for longer hours, after a very long training that sees them much better qualified.

They have far greater professional accountability than a bus driver or teacher, and risk losing that all for a single error. They really can’t do as they want - unlike a bus driver who can decide to make a fifteen year old walk the four miles home because they do have the right change.

MinesAPintOfTea · 31/03/2021 07:11

@babyyodaxmas

www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/ Flowers
Thanks. I have used a similar chat service. Not going to help discuss my anxiety medication, or my child’s referral to CAMHS though.

Let alone the safeguarding discussion.

LemonRoses · 31/03/2021 07:12

Perlea you sound jealous - what stopped you training as a GP?

skodadoda · 31/03/2021 07:14

@VanGoghsDog

I've always wondered how come it's supposed to be so risky for a GP to see one person at a time,

Because the people they are seeing are ill.

Surely that is the basic reason people need to see a doctor.
Sirzy · 31/03/2021 07:16

@chopc

If people cannot answer the phone they can use e consult or we can send them a text they can respond to. Many ways of receding medical care these days
Yet way too many practises aren’t thinking outside the box and are making things a lot harder for the patients.

Ours has removed the opportunity to book an appointment online. It is phone or nothing.

The other week Ds had tonsillitis. For various reasons getting antibiotics quickly is vital for him. It took over 300 attempts to get through to then be told there are no calls left. Thankfully she agreed to a request for a prescription to be done at least. GP obviously understood the medical need as he phoned me within an hour and we had a very useful phone consultation.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 31/03/2021 07:16

@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.

I like the new system, cuts down the needs for a visit for many and those that need to be seen are. Likewise with the nurses. Less delays and less people on site for it feels safer.

I imagine it’s helped stopped people making unnecessary appointments for things they can buy over the counter or the supermarket like calpol and head lice lotion etc.

underneaththeash · 31/03/2021 07:21

@therestissilence that's ridiculous. I'd call back and remind them the doctor that he/she has a legal duty of care towards your daughter and that you will take the matter higher if a face to face appointment isn't forthcoming.
(I say this as a HCP who has seen patients face to face for the majority of the pandemic).

Theunamedcat · 31/03/2021 07:22

My doctor is going to "ring me back" yesterday I still haven't been called its ok though because its only my blood test results that could shorten my life or kill me no big deal

I wouod be ok with a telephone appointment if it was an actual appointment not the doctor will call you "today" and having to wait from 8am till 7pm for a call when i go back to work I simply won't be able to get healthcare

Parker231 · 31/03/2021 07:26

DH has been a GP for nearly 20 years. He is leaving as enough is enough. The practice will close as there is no one to take it over and the other GP’s are locums.
The problem is simple - there aren’t enough GP’s for the population. The population has increased but the number of GP’s has decreased. Going forward wait times for appointments will increase. When you ring up for an appointment and there aren’t any, it’s not because the GP doesn’t want to see you but because there are no appointments left.

ClashCityRocker · 31/03/2021 07:28

Whilst I don't disagree that phone consults are useful in many cases, our GP service has been shameful during the height of the pandemic.

My husband had sixteen telephone consultations about the same issue. It took from March until September to get referred for the 2 week protocol. When my husband was finally seen by the consultant at the hospital he weighed 5 stone and was admitted immediately. We're now in the process of sorting out end of life care as it turns out the thrush that the gp diagnosed on the basis of never seeing him was in fact a grade four tumour which hasn't responded to treatment.

We're hearing so many similar stories of missed diagnoses due to an over reliance on phone appointments.

Abraxan · 31/03/2021 07:29

I don't mind the telephone calls first abd would like to see them remind, though with some changes at my practise.

I'd like a time for the call.

I teach so can't have my phone with me all day and I can't answer just whenever they call. I want to be able to request when I'll be able to answer.

I've been seen face to face a few times in past year but after a telephone call.

TalbotAMan · 31/03/2021 07:34

@Isadora2007

Even more weirdly why are podiatrists not back working face to face?!?
They are (and always have been) round here. During the worst of both lockdowns they were emergency only, but they have been back doing routine appointments snce the start of this month.
ApplesPearsAndCrumble · 31/03/2021 07:35

Got to say my GP surgery was reluctant to see patiens before the pandemic and have basically shut up shop since the beginning. We have no full time GPs at our surgery and they publish their accounts on their website and the part time GPs earn 90k each. They also have a lovely system where you cannot book appointments in advance and have to start ringing at 8 am to try and get anything. I was without contraception for basically 10 months and the GP refused to reissue it without me coming in for my blood pressure to be checked, yet would not allow me to physically come in for my BP to be checked. I asked if I could get it done at the pharmacy and the results sent through, but apparently not. Hmm I finally went batshit and wrote a letter of complaint and got a prescription renewal in February.

I am unimpressed to be honest. The Advancted Nurse Practitioners are seeing people face to face. At the same fucking location. Gps.nope.

Kazzyhoward · 31/03/2021 07:37

@chopc

If people cannot answer the phone they can use e consult or we can send them a text they can respond to. Many ways of receding medical care these days
Only if the GP surgery offers alternatives like that. Ours doesn't. It's a random call back if you're lucky.
BamboozledandBefuddled · 31/03/2021 07:38

Our practice isn't seeing people face to face and doesn't do video consults. A phone appt has to be booked by 10 am for that day - you can't book ahead. Phone call will be any time up to 7 pm and they only phone once - if you can't answer the call for any reason, you lose your appt.

Thankfully, we're able to afford to use the video-consult GP services that are available now and they've been fantastic. £30 consultation and £20 prescription isn't an option for many people though. But apparently it's fine that we're on a path to healthcare only being available to those who can afford it.

ApplesPearsAndCrumble · 31/03/2021 07:39

I would add that our GP surgery is fairly notorious locally for being crap. I think there was an investigation of some sort a few years back because I had an appointment (or my disabled DS did) and we were asked if we minded an observer sitting in, which we did not. The GP was absolutely spitting with rage that the observer was even there and the whole experience was very unpleasant.

Kazzyhoward · 31/03/2021 07:42

@Theunamedcat

My doctor is going to "ring me back" yesterday I still haven't been called its ok though because its only my blood test results that could shorten my life or kill me no big deal

I wouod be ok with a telephone appointment if it was an actual appointment not the doctor will call you "today" and having to wait from 8am till 7pm for a call when i go back to work I simply won't be able to get healthcare

Yep, but no just GPs. My OH's oncologist has "gone dark", didn't phone on a booked appointment slot and isn't responding to messages left via reception and her secretary. He's in the middle of chemo and suffering bad side effects but there's no one to talk to - everyone is fobbing him off saying to talk to the oncologist, but it's impossible.
Kazzyhoward · 31/03/2021 07:42

@Parker231

DH has been a GP for nearly 20 years. He is leaving as enough is enough. The practice will close as there is no one to take it over and the other GP’s are locums. The problem is simple - there aren’t enough GP’s for the population. The population has increased but the number of GP’s has decreased. Going forward wait times for appointments will increase. When you ring up for an appointment and there aren’t any, it’s not because the GP doesn’t want to see you but because there are no appointments left.
The irony!
frostyfingers · 31/03/2021 07:44

I don’t understand why there is such an enormous disparity in what GP’s are doing. I’ve had a couple of phone consultations, several face to face visits and then two hospital appointments in the last 12 months and on each occasion it’s worked brilliantly. I hadn’t appreciated quite how unusual that seems to be, nor how lucky I have been.

YourRoyalHighness · 31/03/2021 07:47

Only phone appointments here too- I honestly think it's because the GPS prefer it. The ones I've spoken to certainly seem to