Why are GPs so protected?

[BiggerBoat1]

Can anyone explain to me why GPs still aren't seeing patients face to face.? All other services seem to be back up and running and in my doctor's surgery the Practice Nurse and Midwife are seeing people as normal.

Dentists are back up and running as are opticians etc. I am a teacher so I have been expected to be in a classroom with 30 children at a time for months.

I asked the receptionist today at my GP surgery when they would be back to normal and she looked at me like I'd grown two heads and said "Not any time soon. We still have the Covid". Is it just me or are GPs being protected to a ridiculous extent?

For my surgery, once you get past the receptionists, the doctor will actually see you. Many a time throughout the pandemic I've called and the receptionist has been reluctant/arrogant spouting covid and no f2f appointments, but eventually said a doctor will call back, who then told me/dc to come into surgery.

Telephone triage seems to be weeding out a lot do the easy to deal with/time wasting patients so I don’t see any reason for changing that, covid or no covid.

GPS are seeing people face to face so not sure what your point is. Lots of people want remote appointments. Of course they are here to stay.

Is GP bashing the new teacher bashing?

I'm not GP bashing. I'm asking a question. At my GP surgery, it is still not possible to see a GP face to face and I don't understand why. Maybe I am just unlucky with my GP.

Not had a problem seeing GPs face to face if needed, sometimes over the phone has been all that’s needed. Dentists are still running a very limited service here, unless you’re paying privately, they only deal with emergencies. Dds haven’t had a check up since pre Covid.

Sounds like everyone's experience is different - which maybe answers my question. My DD had an NHS check up with the dentist yesterday which is partly what prompted me to ask our surgery about seeing the GP.

I actually don’t think this is the case although it varies massively from practice to practice. I work in mental health and we are still very much doing appointments over the phone or by video where possible. If face to face is required it will go ahead which I believe is the same for a lot of GP surgeries. My own GP surgery have had telephone appointments and f2f appointments throughout the pandemic. Covid is still around and better safe than sorry. Patient and staff safety abso needs to be priority !

We have not even been able to get through to reception on hold for over an hour with no answer. Have had the same problems with things like house repairs. I have been without hot water for 2 weeks. Again on hold for 90 mons with no answer. I do think (sometimes) covid is used for an excuse.

There are plenty of threads on here where posters all over England in particular cannot access GP appointments of any description.

Some surgeries are fine; some are dreadful.

The disparity is very startling and unfair on those patients who are unlucky enough to registered with a crap GP practice, especially if the practice is the only one available.

Crap GP practices also put a lot of pressure on the NHS elsewhere, e.g. A&E, while the GPs still trouser their per-patient fees and other incomes from the NHS.

Seeing my GP tomorrow. Have only seen her once since January 2020. I guess we just don’t have a legion of Temp GP’s waiting in the wings to step in if GP’s were to become ill with COVID-19.
My practice has 2 female GP’s on maternity without replacements so if a few more were off work with COVID-19 it would really impact the patients.
The protection of GP’s will probably have to continue to some extent or the entire community NHS operation could be compromised.

I also think people forget that we do still have Covid in the surgery. I can't speak for all surgeries, but we do have Covid positive patients coming in for assessment although we are seeing them in a different part of the building. Also, people are coming in with other respiratory infections and symptoms so we're trying to infect fewer people and keep the waiting rooms from being packed. If someone gives you another cough/ chest infection, it might not be Covid but you'll have to isolate until you get a negative test. If you don't have to come in for face to face, it's best not to.

Dentists are unlikely to have the same proportion of unwell people in the building, as are supermarkets to answer the frequent question of 'how come I can walk round Morrisons but the GP is not back to normal'.

Mine are seeing patients, I have been in a few times during covid. As has my husband. The only time it wasn't when it was the national lockdown right at the start. We're in Scotland though?

I don't get it either ! The last time I went to collect a prescription from mine it was like Fort Knox with everyone looking worried to death !

Most GPS are seeing patients or at least some patients face to face. We have a shortage of GPS so an outbreak in a surgery would be very problematic. GP will disproportionately see large numbers of people who are extremely vulnerable to covid and they need to protect their patients.

It's not the GPs who are being protected, it's the patients. The people most likely to be at risk from complications from COVID are those that visit the GP most often - the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. Plus if someone has COVID but doesn't recognise the symptoms (the delta variant symptoms of a runny nose and D&V are nothing like the "official" COVID symptoms that require a PCR test) where are they going to head? Not the dentist.

The NHS was trialling moving towards more remote GP medicine anyway before COVID as it is more efficient. Not everyone needs to be seen face to face. Dentists and opticians can't work remotely.

There are loads of threads on the subject of bashing GP’s.

DH is a GP - their surgery along with hundreds of others has never been shut and in the past 18 months has treated more patients than ever together with vaccinations at care homes and the clinically vulnerable.

If you don’t like the service you are receiving from your surgery you can complain or transfer to another practice.

There is a significant shortage of GP’s but more patients wanting more appointments. If you can’t get an appointment, it is because the appointment has been given to another patient. If you can’t get through on the phone it’s because they are talking to someone else.

Part of the problem seems to be that doctor’s and patients disagree on when a f2f appointment is necessary. I appreciate that GPs have probably saved themselves a lot of time by telephone triage and not seeing patients when it’s not necessary, and this has worked well for me personally, but I think elderly people especially are not having their needs met by this new system. An appointment with a GP can mean so much more than just a simple prescription or bit of advice for some people who need the interaction.

My GP has been offering mainly telephone consultations for the past 5 years or so. You're only offered an in-person appointment if the GP deems it necessary after having had the telephone consultation.

I think it is a cost-saving and time-saving exercise. Unfortunately, they were experiencing too many people booking appointments for trivial reasons and too many people booking appointments and then not bothering to turn up.
The telephone triage system weeds out the time wasters.

My surgery does a mixture of online and face to face. I think the mygp is actually a good way to triage patients.
Telephone appointments save both patients and doctors time however there are some things that need a face to face and patients should have the choice.

I have a friend who is a GP and she’s exhausted. She’s been working Monday - Friday, 8am-8pm most days, then spending Saturday in a vaccination centre. She’s the senior partner at her practice and had to do it because her colleagues refused (GPs were told they had to provide staff).

She only stopped the vaccination centre recently because another company has taken over. She can’t book any time off because she has colleagues off with Covid and others self isolating. She’s at breaking point.

why GPs still aren't seeing patients face to face?

Try not to extrapolate from your GP to all GPs. We have never stopped seeing patients face to face for one working day in 2020 nor 021, nor have the surgeries for which I am a patient and my DD is a patient.

And that while delivering a vaccination programme for the PCN until the English administration sabotaged it and now planning for a 'flu and COVID vaccination booster programme, well with COVID if the administration make up their mind instead of asking us to plan two programmes separately, one just 'flu and one 'flu and COVID.

And by seeing patients face to face, we've saved lives, for example when HV went remote with a newborn who would have been caught by them though am not trying to throw them under a bus.

Mine are seeing patients face to face. Ok there is a triage system and they phone first, see if you can send photos etc but if required they see you

You can now also go inside to say you are there and wait in the waiting room if you wish

Ours has been seeing patients face to face for a few months now. I book appointments online, no need to have a telephone consultation first, and get to see my GP.

I think the politicians in England knew what they were doing in the health reforms of 2011? To under-fund and break primary care, focusing on what their research said what was the most trusted and valued element of the system.

My experience is that it has been easier for me to get a telephone appointment lately than it was to get a f2f appointment before covid. I understand the situation varies massively, but for me it's an improvement.