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Original poster

Can we have a thread on ridiculous things GP's have said?

287 replies

Butmummysnotanearlybird · 25/05/2022 08:16

My contribution was "Oh well baby needs to know what sick tastes like" when they actually had CMPA and reflux. I'm sure there's worse out there 🙃

OP posts:
Silverplatedchocolatehobnob · 25/05/2022 08:23

Only if we can one a thread on ridiculous things patients have said?

No?
Thought not.

(Sorry to hear about your little one but come on)

Suzyinthesummertime · 25/05/2022 08:31

Patients are entitled to say ridiculous things though, they aren't the ones who spent 6 years at uni to gain all this supposed medical knowledge...here's mine:
'Headaches are normal in pregnancy, it's just pregnancy migraines'- when i was trying to explain (over the phone 🙄) that codeine wasn't touching it. Turned out I had a blood clot on my brain.

TheDoveFromAboveCooCoo · 25/05/2022 08:37

I was told to take up running to help with pain relief.

I'm in a wheelchair...

Prestissimo · 25/05/2022 08:39

Honestly? I'm sorry if you've had a bad experience and clearly poor practice should be improved. But GPs are human, sometimes we say things and think it didn't come out quite the right way, sometimes things we say are misinterpreted by patients in often stressful situations. Sometimes we just get it wrong.

There is a massive recruitment and retention crisis of GPs in this country. Very soon we will be an even rarer resource than we are currently. I'm about to do an appraisal this morning on a very talented, very committed young doctor who is now planning to move abroad to practice, in part because of the pressure of the job and significantly because of the attitude of the great British public, of which threads like this are an example.

Pull us up if we get things wrong. But a spiteful, sneering thread just for the sake of it? Give us a break.

KimWexlersPonyTail · 25/05/2022 08:40

Of course you dont have MS, ha, ha, ha! No you dont need an MRI.....

Worldgonecrazy · 25/05/2022 08:41

Your baby WILL DIE if it doesn’t have the whooping cough vaccine (at the exact timing set by the NHS rather than the perfectly rational different timing suggested by a child immunisation specialist).

CosmopolitanPlease · 25/05/2022 08:43

Oh I don't know why you keep getting pins and needles, what a mystery. Maybe you're going mad hahaha!

Eventually diagnosed with MS.

OldTinHat · 25/05/2022 08:44

Being told I wouldn't be allowed my repeat prescription anymore and if I wanted it (diazepam), I could find myself a drug dealer like everyone else.

Also, read my notes on the computer when they'd left the room. I have chronic back pain and had mentioned to the GP that I'd tried reiki out of desperation - I was trying everything at that stage. He'd written 'silly cow has gone to a witch doctor and wondered why it didn't work'.

Silverplatedchocolatehobnob · 25/05/2022 08:46

Exactly @Prestissimo.

squeezedin · 25/05/2022 08:46
  1. Cure for back pain is to get a dog. Even though I have a severe allergy to animal fur for which he has prescribed medication for about 25 years. Oh and it was a kidney stone.
  1. Asked about possibility of pregnancy. Couldn't get a word in. Long lecture about how all contraception fails. Says he'll do a test. Eventually I manage to explain that I've had a hysterectomy. Which he arranged.
francesfrankenfurter · 25/05/2022 08:47

My GP is bloody brilliant.

Woolandwonder · 25/05/2022 08:48

Prestissimo · 25/05/2022 08:39

Honestly? I'm sorry if you've had a bad experience and clearly poor practice should be improved. But GPs are human, sometimes we say things and think it didn't come out quite the right way, sometimes things we say are misinterpreted by patients in often stressful situations. Sometimes we just get it wrong.

There is a massive recruitment and retention crisis of GPs in this country. Very soon we will be an even rarer resource than we are currently. I'm about to do an appraisal this morning on a very talented, very committed young doctor who is now planning to move abroad to practice, in part because of the pressure of the job and significantly because of the attitude of the great British public, of which threads like this are an example.

Pull us up if we get things wrong. But a spiteful, sneering thread just for the sake of it? Give us a break.

This.
There's some not great GPs like in any profession, but mostly they are working incredibly hard everyday to do the best they can in awful situations.

romdowa · 25/05/2022 08:49

I suffer with a lot of health issues and I was told by one (male) doctor that there wasn't anything wrong with me that a good man couldn't fix 🙄
I was also told by another Dr that it was perfectly normal for me to be fainting several times a day and that it happens to every woman.
Tbh I've heard so many ridiculous things from drs but those two have been the craziest.

summerlovinvibes · 25/05/2022 08:51

This is a great thread for stressed and stretched doctors to read 🙄 Give them a break! There is literally hundreds of jobs in the world where people who are experienced at their work say stuff they shouldn't - including people who have spent years training.

If you have an issue with what a GP has said to you, be a grown up and raise it with them. Don't create even more negativity towards the profession than there already is.

Morasssassafras · 25/05/2022 08:52

"Do you think it could be your anxiety? ... It's definitely not your heart"

Turns out it was heart failure 😬

Crazycatlady83 · 25/05/2022 08:53

Baby had a CMPA. I asked for allergy testing myself (given up dairy to continue breastfeeding and my symptoms of asthma improved markedly) Dr asked what dairy was. I said cows milk, etc. She then went on to ask if I was avoiding cheese and eggs. Well I wasn't avoiding eggs because eggs aren't dairy cos, you know, they come from chickens, not cows. She was very confused and said she would have to go look it up ....... If only this wasn't true .......Confused

itbemay · 25/05/2022 08:53

Prestissimo · 25/05/2022 08:39

Honestly? I'm sorry if you've had a bad experience and clearly poor practice should be improved. But GPs are human, sometimes we say things and think it didn't come out quite the right way, sometimes things we say are misinterpreted by patients in often stressful situations. Sometimes we just get it wrong.

There is a massive recruitment and retention crisis of GPs in this country. Very soon we will be an even rarer resource than we are currently. I'm about to do an appraisal this morning on a very talented, very committed young doctor who is now planning to move abroad to practice, in part because of the pressure of the job and significantly because of the attitude of the great British public, of which threads like this are an example.

Pull us up if we get things wrong. But a spiteful, sneering thread just for the sake of it? Give us a break.

This x 100

failing40s · 25/05/2022 08:54

Prestissimo · 25/05/2022 08:39

Honestly? I'm sorry if you've had a bad experience and clearly poor practice should be improved. But GPs are human, sometimes we say things and think it didn't come out quite the right way, sometimes things we say are misinterpreted by patients in often stressful situations. Sometimes we just get it wrong.

There is a massive recruitment and retention crisis of GPs in this country. Very soon we will be an even rarer resource than we are currently. I'm about to do an appraisal this morning on a very talented, very committed young doctor who is now planning to move abroad to practice, in part because of the pressure of the job and significantly because of the attitude of the great British public, of which threads like this are an example.

Pull us up if we get things wrong. But a spiteful, sneering thread just for the sake of it? Give us a break.

100% this ☝️

I've worked with drs my whole career, of course there are shit ones, but the vast, vast majority are simply trying to do the very best for their patients.

Parkperson00 · 25/05/2022 08:55

And the same posters who come on here to complain will be the ones who are incensed because they cannot get a GP appointment.
It is an unimaginably difficult job being a medic in general practice but these kind of threads make recruitment so much harder.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 25/05/2022 08:56

Oh God! I love my GP more than the world. She’s just amazing, and has done so much for me. I’ve bought her flowers, biscuits and all sorts.

Horrible thread. I don’t know where I’d be without her.

Phrenologistsfinger · 25/05/2022 08:58

Talking about the issues my elderly mum had with suspected dementia and referred to her hoarding disorder having massively escalated so she was even keeping used tissues and mouldy bread.

English speaking GP says: “What's hoarding?”. I mean, come on, even the ordinary meaning of the word gets you there!

mumda · 25/05/2022 09:00

Can we train more of them please?

Isaidnoalready · 25/05/2022 09:01

My GP is wonderful she also says stupid things sometimes NGL

Blue4YOU · 25/05/2022 09:03

@Parkperson00
Cone on - it’s not threads like this that cause retention or recruitment issues.
Its the difficulties in the NHS and possibly now pandemic fatigue.

The reality is that you can say something “back” to your GP, if you are brave enough, but we all know that the NHS can exclude people from their practice or altogether if it’s decided you are “vexatious” etc etc.

Personally, I don’t think it’s a matter of people saying silly things at times:
Ive had a GP say “And..?” In a very aggressive manner when I asked for antidepressants or help after my daughter died.

I’ve also had a lecture on how many people have back pain and take time off work and to go away and come back in 3 weeks if I still had pain. I was back in 48 hours unable to walk with a herniated disc.

I’ve also been assaulted by a hospital consultant who used the excuse of some of the nasty things he’d said to me as being “clumsy”. And got away with the assault and the blatant rudeness.

None if this is jeering at doctors - on the other hand, it’s a thread about how doctors jeer at their customers

Hbh17 · 25/05/2022 09:05

How can it be OK to come on here to trash hard-working, highly trained professionals who have far more medical knowledge then any of us will ever have? Yes, GPs are human so there will be occasional mistakes, but this is an awful thread. Is it any wonder that GPs are looking to retire early?