GPs in Scotland are so bad

[Fragmentedbrain]

I can't believe how long it takes to get an appointment

And then when you do you have to wait around for them to call (no timed appointments even if you have work to go to).

Feels so belittling and a bit scary. I really think this problem is behind the large numbers of people out of work for ill health. Why can't we be treated with some respect. Even my hairdresser treats me better (a lot better, there's an app).

Mine are quite good. In my job I have to deal with different ones quite regularly and how helpful or unhelpful they are in that context is extremely variable. I think some of it depends on the culture of the individual practice.

Pretty good service here and also NHS GGC area. At my GP it’s phone on the day for emergency appointments, some triage by phone but then followed up by in person if required. Also able to book in advance for less urgent issues, and practice do follow up on things, e.g a recent out of hours attendance led to a text asking to book in for a check, which was available within 3 days and led to two further appointment in the space of a week. They do occasionally run late but it’s never so late that I find myself annoyed by it - ultimately medical issues don’t always fit into nice 10 min slots! Enquire about moving practices if you don’t like how your current one is run!

I’m in Forth Valley - ours are fabulous!

I find it depends what you need them for - found a lesion on my breast and I was seen within hours and had two urgent referrals and a prescription for antibs

Wanted to discuss HRT it was a 6 week wait for a phone call, was called after another 6 weeks of 4hrs of broken sleep each night, was told that shouldn’t be discussed over phone and I needed to make an appointment with the women’s health dr, cried and told them I needed a sick note instead then as I was at breaking point and I couldn’t keeping working while waiting for another appointment, they took pity on me and said they’d come back to me, they called back a week later, asked what I wanted and prescribed it over phone.

The bits that is really hard with the 8am phone calls is if your trying to get kids ready you've zero privacy to make that call either.

I really wish they had a urgent and non-urgent system, instead of it all being rolled into one.
Or even let you email for non-urgent stuff

As I said, not everyone has the option of enquiring at another practice, there aren't any -which I'm sure is one of the contributing factors which allows patients to be treated like dirt. There is literally nothing you can do except go private.

Mine is great. In person or phone appts. You decide (but wait a bit longer for in person). However, the only reason it’s ok is they closed their list. So no new patients. It’s very unfair for people moving into the area. But at least existing patients have a reasonable service.

I’ve heard a lot of complaints re my Dr’s surgery. I’m lucky that neither I or the children have had to use it very often but when we have they have been excellent. I’m in Highland.

My GP is great. Fill in an online consultation. Send pictures if you want to. They reply with either an appointment that same day or in the future depending on triage.

One issue with the central belt is, actually trying to attract Doctors.
Doctors might see an attraction to Glasgow to Edinburgh or to some pretty parts of the Highlands. But Lanarkshire and West Lothian its lacks the draw power.

But really we as a nation shouldn't be trying to 'attract' Doctors. We should be producing our own.

Our GP practice in Edinburgh is excellent. On the day appointments if you phone at 8am or other appointments within 2 weeks. Always caring and polite, can’t praise them enough.

It’s not attracting doctors that’s the problem, it’s attracting the funding to recruit doctors. Speak to any GP and jobs are really, really hard to get in Scotland. Locum jobs have disappeared and permanent GP jobs are very scarce indeed. Look at Edinburgh South. Loads of new houses in Danderhall and Gilmerton with no access to GPs. GPS out of work due to no jobs. It’s madness.

That's mental!!!

I'm Lanarkshire my nearest practice seems to have a sting of locums and can't get permanent GPs.
I think there's one permanent in the practice with space for about 4.

I think it also depends on how middle class the area is, GPs get paid for how many patients they have on their lists. If you have a lot of patients who look after themselves well then you can operate effectively on a decent budget, but if your patients are the sort to need regular appointments as happens in areas of deprivation things are tougher.

I think a big issue here is that we don’t have the NHS app like England does. Lots of Trusts in England even have a text service where you can chat to a GP in the same why you’d chat to a company online. You can see your care summary on the app, make appointments, see your medication, reorder things…it seems great and I’ve got no idea why we don’t have it.

Well we have websites, it's basically the same just a different format.

I'm Forth Valley. I could phone my GP anytime today and get a non urgent appointment any day this week. Urgent I could see someone today. If I need bloods they will be done with 24 hours (and the local hospital has a drop in service for blood tests). Never have to wait in the waiting room longer than 10 minutes.
My GP is great - really listens and doesn't give up until she has a diagnosis. I'm lucky enough to have been very healthy until the past few years I've ran into a number of of issues - prolapse, odd assortment of symptoms that eventually led to a coeliac diagnosis, burst eardrums following Covid.

@OllyBJolly that sounds bliss!
I'm sure its down to area by area. And how good an area is at attracting doctors.

I think middle class areas maybe have a double benefit. Less sick people and areas where GPs actually want to live.
So more GPs.

I wouldn’t say this is a middle class area - Stirling has a very diverse demographic. I think one of the issues is that all the GPs in my practice are part time and younger and the re fire more likely to have families. I imagine it’s better for them to be part time than fund full time childcare.

My doctor is good too (Dunkeld). I’m not normally ill but I had Lyme disease a few years ago and was seen a lot! Then more recently had issues with my gallbladder and had several in person appointments/ blood tests/ scan referral. It’ll need to come out at some point but I feel like I’ve been listened to and given appropriate medication so I can soldier on at work in the meantime.

Well… I have an adult child in Birmingham. Because the GP there insists on patients calling at 8 am or 2 pm to get a GP to call them back I had to do this for them. I called every day at these times and had to wait over an hour in a huge queue before being cut off. Day after day. Eventually got through and then the GP had to call my child at work which didn’t work because… no phones allowed at work. She doesn’t even try to call her GP anymore just puts up with whatever is wrong with her. A severe UTI lasted weeks before she was finally able to get an appointment. I actually do believe that the govt wants the NHS to crash and burn so they can privatise everything. It’s an absolutely desperate situation.

When I manage to get an appointment these days invariably I find I know more than the doctor a lot of the time. They seem clueless about so much. It’s either refer on, dole out drugs (don’t know the side effects or contraindications) or decide whatever is wrong is a virus or something equally vague. The days of having a a reliable knowledgable doctor who actually gave advice and had some experience seem to be long gone. My OH had an operation and thought the wound might be infected. The GP (locum) wasn’t able to decide if it was infected or not so sent him to hospital . The nurse took one look and laughed derisively ‘doctors’!! Because she could see it clearly wasn’t infected.
On another occasion I had developed tracking up my arm from a wound becoming infected. After my third visit to the GP I looked up the symptoms online and diagnosed myself with blood poisoning. It’s terrifying .

I think it's a pity that Scottish domiciled medical students are training in Scotland (no tuition fees) and then disappearing off to Australia etc, without having worked in Scotland at all.
There should be some sort of agreement that, if you train here, you must commit to working here for a certain number of years.

And it would be good if Scottish students who trained in Scotland could be considered for jobs in Scotland first.

I’m lucky but always got next day appointments for myself and same day for my child (city centre practices)