GPs not functioning again

[HoliHormonalTigerlilly]

FFS It's impossible to make an appointment with my GP again. "Unless it's an emergency"
Surely you's go to A&E in that case?!

Our is fab, I've had lots of appointments in the last 2 years. You go online, send a message, GP phones you within 2 hours.

We're not doing booster vaccines. We opted out.

But where on earth does that leave your very severely immuno-compromised patients who cannot get their booster through any other means than their GP practice? A GP practice of, say, 10,000 patients will have approx 300 of them.

Do you have no duty of care to them at all?

(I'm one of them, btw, currently stuggling to book a booster after my 3 primary vaccinations.)

@DoubleYolker

Ex GP here.

I do find it strange that when A&E is over-run, no-one blames the A&E doctors. But when GP practices are completely overstretched, it’s the GP’s fault?

To clarify a number of commonly spouted beliefs:

1. GP’s are open and have been throughout the pandemic, they’re just triaging by phone to maximise the number of patient contacts they can get through in a day
2. Many hospital out-patients clinics are still operating remotely
3. Many hospital departments have closed to GP referrals leaving GP trying to manage patients that should be seen by specialists
4. GP’s have been told by NHS England to only do “urgent” work until the Booster programme slows down
5. Numbers of GP’s are dropping every year. Seems surprising given how many people are of the opinion that it’s a doddle, that GP’s sit around doing fuck all, and they get paid a fortune.
6. Omicron is hitting staff across the NHS, I know a surgery that currently has only 1 GP available to see patients due to others having to isolate
7. The Tory government and the right wing press want general practice to fail. It’s been systematically defunded for years and deliberately attacked by the Daily Mail (who’s ridiculous claims are believed by the public). The government will soon hold their hands up claiming they tried their very best, and that the only answer is privatisation.

There are simply not enough GP’s to go around, there are less every year, and the ones who are sticking with it are flat out and have my admiration.

I’m not saying don’t complain, you should all feel rightly upset with the current state of UK general practice, you’re just taking it out on those left doing their best, when you need to take it up with your MP’s and at the ballot box.

Rant over….

I get all that but, one question...

1. Omicron is hitting staff across the NHS, I know a surgery that currently has only 1 GP available to see patients due to others having to isolate.

and 1. GP’s are open and have been throughout the pandemic, they’re just triaging by phone to maximise the number of patient contacts they can get through in a day.

If Gp's are off isolating, if with omicron, it's most likely with no symptoms, can they not continue to work if it's mostly being done remotely anyway?

Anyone else I know currently isolating are just working from home.

It does seem to be very patchy service. My GP is fine, they use eConsult and I've been able to see them in person when needed. But I do believe that not all GPs operate in the same way, which is a problem with the GP system, so ultimately the fault of government. GPs and dentists are effectively private operators contracted to the NHS, and under the Tories this model is being adopted for many other NHS services too. But we can see that contracting out services does not work, yet it's the policy they're pushing, so things aren't going to improve anytime soon. Want to know why your GP don't offer the same service as the GP down the road? It's because they're operating as independent private providers. In all privatised models, if there's too many restrictions, the big money private providers who fund the Tories (and who many work for) spit their dummies out, so the Tories aren't about to start telling them how they need to operate. It's what we voted for apparently.

@DoubleYolker yes the system is broken.

It's galling to be told to go away unless you have an emergency. I would go to A&e in an emergency.

I need to discuss my meds with my GP. They could just call me.

I would never vote Tory. My MP is Labour. I'm sure he'd agree with you. It seems different practices are handling the situation differently around the country.

We've seen our GP service slide into a war-standing triage service. If you're actually at risk of dying then they will help you. If not, I suggest you try leeches and fucking blood letting

I haven't needed the GP for 3 months but unusually for me I needed them 5 times over the previous 12 months or so. Long term condition issues, then two other issues.
Phoned me up when necessary (little annoying that's its anytime in the day but not a major problem for me). One occasion, due to the nature of the symptoms, I got called within 10 mins of submitting the request.

They've got me in the same day when i needed to be seen, booked my follow on appointment while I was there so I didnt have to go through requesting appointment again. Also on one occasion did a referral to the rapid access ENT

It seems I'm very fortunate compared to some areas. It must be very frustrating not to be able to get access to GPs

Before Christmas I pre booked a telephone appointment for yesterday.
My GP phoned at 9.40 she asked me to come in at 11 am.
While there it was more serious than I thought she booked me in
for an x-ray in the afternoon. Today she phoned me to let me know
that I have appointment with a consultant next Wednesday.
Late this afternoon the secretary of the consultant phoned to
confirm and I'll get a letter in the post.

@nipersvest Although most things can be done over the phone, you would still need to to see some patients face to face after triaging (the point of triaging is to figure this out) but you don’t know how many need to come in.
If you’re seeing someone face to face that you’ve triaged yourself, it’s quick and easy. It takes much longer to see someone face to face that has been triaged by someone else. Even though you have the main points in the consultation notes, there isn’t a doctor in the land who relies on a history that has been taken by someone else, as we need to be absolutely sure that the information we are acting on is correct.
Plus there’s the routine face to face stuff like baby checks, all the home visits which can be very time-consuming, the practice nurse asking you to pop in and see a patient they are concerned about, the district nurse popping in and asking you to complete a prescription for urgent end of life medication, all the admin questions from secretaries/reception staff, plus all the paperwork requiring a signature.

So let’s say each GP triages 50-70 patients a day (often more), and 1 in 10 needs a face to face. If you have 5 out of 6 GP’s triaging from home, that’s 30 patients for the remaining GP to see (plus their own triage list for the day) plus any home visits and admin (I used to spend almost as much time doing admin as seeing patients).

There’s a lot more to the work of a GP than is easily seen just by looking at appointments alone.

Does that help explain things?

I saw my GP today. I was the only patient there! And I was seen 15 mins early. While I was in there he decided to review my medications- which is usually a separate appointment.

Absolutely brilliant. This is our main surgery for the City.

Just wish I felt well in the first place

spindley they go to designated clinics. They can get it elsewhere. We have a number to direct them to book it through.
We also have a duty of care to our non CEV patients. I can jab away all you want, but it's not best use of a qualified nurse and it means you'll wait many weeks instead for your children to be vaccinated or your mums urgent blood test or your well overdue annual smear.

Currently 67th in the Dr's queue, after calling bang on 8am 🥲

@TheYearOfSmallThings

I haven't been able to see my NHS GP since before the pandemic. You call, you wait on hold for an hour, then are either cut off or told to call again tomorrow.

I have seen my dentist and hygienist annually as usual. I have brought my parents' cat to the vet as needed. I have been to the optician for eye tests, had my hair cut, my legs waxed and my feet pedicured. No problems, no time wasted.

The issue I persevered in discussing with my GP entailed numerous phone calls, going to the pharmacist to get a BP measurement, then further phone calls from about 3 random GP registrars and half a dozen admin staff just to get a prescription which, in the past, would have been given after a 5 minute face to face appointment. When I consider how much time was wasted I am not sympathetic to pleas of overwhelming workload - avoiding patient contact can create more problems than it solves.

I agree with the last bit. My OH had a swolen/painful foot for about 3 months. He mentioned it to his oncologist at a face to face appt, oncologist examined the foot and said it needed to be x-rayed as she didn't know if it was a broken bone or neuropathy caused by chemo, but she couldn't refer, it had to be done by GP. So, OH phoned GP reception to relay the message and ask for referral for x-ray. No can do. Needs a GP appt, so arranges a GP phone appt for a few days time. GP refused to refer for x-ray on a phone appt, so needed a F2F, which was the following week. At the F2F, GP barely looked at the foot and did the referral. So that was 2 "wasted" GP appts to do something that they could have done based on the oncologist's examination. Same happened a few months earlier with a throat problem - oncologist examined it and suggested a ultrasound scan, but again, needed the GP to do the referral. Again, needed a pointless phone appt with GP, so then said he needed a F2F to examine the throat, so again, 2 GP appts to do something that the oncologist had asked for. The whole system seems set up to waste time/appointments.