'Two birds with one stone'...

Sorry but you are just wanting to argue and be right end of matter

 

I do have some sympathy with the predicament you're in though.

I called my GP for an appointment on Friday. It took 40 minutes to get my call answered (line was permanently engaged) and then 5 minutes on hold before being able to speak to the receptionist.

Eventually got my appointment for 7th Feb which was the earliest available. If I wanted to wait to see my preferred doctor it would be 11th Feb. My condition is serious, not A&E serious but not something that should ideally be left two weeks.

If your wife's condition is such that she cannot get get out of bed I would suggest either calling an ambulance or 111.

Sadly the NHS is stretched to breaking point. It's not a case of GPs being lazy or shirking their duties they're simply not able to maintain service levels in the face of ever increasing demands on their time.

 

I haven't said they are lazy as such. Just non existent when you try and get one but of course the do gooders take everything out of proportion

 

‘Its about time GPs got off their backside and did some work. They are the weak link in the NHS’

you said that at 10:58am today.

 

I am right.

 

Does it mention lazy know. Maybe i should phrase it show their faces a bit more

 

You are very clearly suggesting they are lazy (to suggest otherwise is not credible ) and now you’re trying to back peddle.

 

No i am not back peddling. If it wasn't right there wouldn't be queues in pharmacies asking for help. Join the real world. And see what is happening. I am proud of our country and the nhs but it is in trouble and every section of it has to pull together

 

I may be partly to blame..I mentioned 'pseudo triage' in the OP but I can see where teh confusion arises. That said I disagree that a receptionist can safely 'ask a few questions and take it to a doctor' as you state. A qualified nurse can ask questions over the phone and based on the response to each one can ask further relevant questions based on their medical knowledge. A lay person may not neccessarily pick up on a particular response, fail to ask an important follow up question and miss something important that would enable the doctor to determine the correct course of action. Sorry but IMO there is no way a non medically qualified person should be filtering phone callers and making judgement calls on who needs to see the doctor,

 

Wow you've tried over half the GPs in the country? That must have taken a while

 

Ha ha funny bugger. Just listen to people from different parts of the country

 

The thing is I completely agre that GP surgeries do not work. It's embarrassing and dangerous that people can't get an appointment and ion many cases can't even get through to the surgery to even try getting an appointment in the first place. But that means the system, the way it works, is broken. It doesn't mean that your doctor is lazy and telling them to get off their backsides IS saying they're lazy and that's why people are arguing with you because you're wrong. They aren't lazy, the individual doctors are not lazy, the surgeries they work for are ran badly and the whole system needs changing but that is a very different thing to the doctors being lazy and needing to get off their backsides.

I'd also argue that they aren't the weak link in the NHS. They're one of many, if not all, links that are weak. GP surgeries are weak as it's too hard to get an appointment, A&E is weak as ambulances queue in the carpark and people are sat in a&e all day, the wards are weak as there aren't enough beds, the care system is weak because there aren't enough nurses or carers.
And you know why they're all weak? Because the Tories have routinely cut finding year after year for well over a decade because they want to privatise the NHS to make them and their corrupt mates even richer

 

You’re conflating two issues.

1. that the NHS is in trouble (which is correct)
2. That ‘GPs need to get off their backsides and do some work’ (which is incorrect)

I live with a GP. I have done for 17 years. She owns her surgery with other GP partners, I read all the accounts. I have a good understanding of how surgeries are funded. I couldn’t be any closer to being in the ‘real world’ to which you refer. You are wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The government has dismantled primary care, it’s on its knees - is has absolutely nothing to do with work ethic of GPs, which is what you suggested in your post. Own it, take some responsibility for it, if that’s what you believe. Show me some evidence of them sitting on their backsides.

The reality is, you can’t, because you have none. They’re working very hard despite horrendous underfunding, as are the vast majority of the NHS.

It’s important that you understand this, and aim your vitriol in the right place.

 

I think many people, including myself, whilst not accusing GPs of 'sitting on their backsides' or being 'lazy' ask a valid question. Why do some surgeries still operate a system of face to face consultations with receptionists who book appointments, whilst, to varying degrees, others seem to operate systems whereby the receptionist do their best to discourage patients from attending and in extreme cases few, if any, can get a face to face appointment unless it is a sick child they are calling for?

The so-called 'postcode lottery' does exist and saying all GPs are the same and offer a high standard of service is a myth.

Like any profession, whilst the vast majority are very customer/service driven there are always a small number who are more attracted to the potential 'above average' remuneration and job security on offer (albeit it is far from an easy job and much training/experience is necessary before this is forthcoming). Over the years I and my family have experienced both ends of the spectrum with one GP who could not do enough to help, was very knowledgeable and went above and beyond in diagnosing a problem and chasing it up with the hospital consultant whilst another showed indifference and a genuinely worrying lack of knowledge (when my daughter challenged something he said regarding the potential cause of her baby's symptoms he actually Googled it and admitted 'she had taught him something new" !!)

 

And it’s a long way to come from Italy for a GP’s appointment

 

This is my last word on it. Yes i may have phrased it wrong saying for them to get off their backsides but i didn't mean that they were lazy as such. I maybe should have said they should make an appearance more. None of my neighbours nor my sons who live up north and another relative that lives in devon they or their neighbours can get appointments for love nor money. So if you think i am saying they are lazy,so be it. I don't know how else to say it only there is something wrong somewhere

 

Once again you’ve picked on a subject you know little about and draw some conclusions which are miles from the truth.
At least you’ve had the courtesy to respond to @Chef Tyke unlike when I’ve pulled the rug from under your incorrect assumptions in the past.

I’m not an expert in this matter. But I know it’s a fact that we’re critically short of GP’s, so to me the simple explanation for some surgeries offering a lower standard of service and preferring to use telephone appointments is obviously that Covid gave them a more efficient way of dealing with their caseload.

None of that takes more than the knowledge of the chronic staff problems in the NHS or lack of funding.

 

Thank you this is what i am trying to say doctors have to see people to make the hopefully correct diagnosis. They cannot do that over the phone the patient has to be examined. But when they won't see you we are being told not to go to hospital unless its serious/life threatening if we dial 111 we are waiting sometimes hours for someone to ring back and then they are not sure we are sometimes struggling to express properly our problems. If we go to pharmacies like i have done over the last couple of weeks for advice we are in another queue, my experience was nearly an hour both times and then they can only let you have certain things to try and ease your pain or condition then they tell you if no better to see a doctor, then the cycle starts again

 

As per a previous thread, I had an argument with a bacon slicer which won and nearly removed the top of one finger two days before coming to UK for a family Christmas. The 4 stitches I had, needed removing whilst I was here so my daughter arranged for me to attend her local surgery as an 'overseas visitor' for the nurse to inspect the wound remove them (between 8 and 10 days) hence my experience of her local surgery.

As an aside, the GPs in our region maintained business as usual during and post Pandemic except for the mandatory mask wearing. (still in force if attending hospital/clinic .

 

Instead of the feels, how about some facts:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-inf...ppointments-in-general-practice/november-2022

In November 2022, GPs offered 32.9 million appointments - 1.7m were vaccinations, so 31.2m appointments in one month. 41.6% were same-day appointments and 69% of all appointments were face-to-face - and 9.1% were missed. This was an extra ~700,000 over November 2021 where 30.5m were offered.

There aren't enough GPs, but those we have are working hard. Phone appointments as a form of triage can work to give quicker appointments for patients - and then prioritize those who need f2f for a surgery visit (or an ambulance, etc).

Some practices are struggling more than others. Places like London, Leeds, Manchester, etc are more attractive to new GPs or immigrants than Barnsley or Bradford.

And as for receptionists, there is a fair chance they use a booking system that does the triage for them using scripts - like 111 or 999 do. This doesn't need a trained medical professional and it would highlight if someone is more urgent.