Getting a GP appointment

m7mcfc said:
I was in a pub near me and saw all the reception staff from the local doctors. All giggling away and one of their phones rang. She answered it pronto. I walked up to her and said you can answer your phone in the pub try answering at the surgery are you fucking deaf to the phone ringing there.
That goes for the fucking lot of you I said.
I got no response.
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Cool story. Makes you sound like an utter **** but you go right ahead.
 
KS55 said:
Not pushing any agenda, but the case against privatisation has not been made. It is merely asserted as a bad thing, Yet both parties accept it is necessary. They disagree on the scale and on which parts. The NHS’s own campaign is pants, I have never seen any research which backs it up. If you think part privatisation is a bad thing, tell me why. (Personal example: the nhs does not provide dermatology services in my area due to small numbers so when I needed an operation for a cancerous growth, I was operated on by a private surgeon and the nhs paid the bill. Seems reasonable to me)
As for underfunding any public service feels it is underfunded, it is a way of life, but fine words butter no parsnips, they have to show how increased funding would improve matters.
Some examples:
why are many elective nhs services not available at weekends?.That effectively wastes 28% of capital investment.
Why do many imaging departments close at 4pm?
Why has so little progress been made in the establishment of hubs Of specialist excellence? Compare uk cardiac surgery costs with India.
How do trusts allocate budgets to departments? Is there a protocol?
What has been done to relieve the problem of bed blockers where no care is available on discharge?
There are hundreds of these structural budgetary issues which never seem to get resolved.
I worked for a major west London trust about 20 years ago. Recently the wife of an old friend‘s son became a nurse there. Questioning revealed that structural problems I encountered then are just as bad today.
So, while it would be great to increase funding, the nhs must tackle long standing problems first.
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Have you worked in the NHS?
 
Marklr said:
I could do a GPs job...I'd just google the symptoms....the most common answer wins.
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Pretty much most of the crap people go to GP’s or walk ins with would be answered by a simple google search. Honestly. We’ve been spoiled in this country with our access to services. For some folk every single symptom must be diagnosed. I see people with snapped nails, splinters, sore throats for 3hrs. Kids with rashes that starts 30mins ago after playing in the park. These things should be common sense but the free and easy access to services has made folk lazy when it comes to self care.
 
Not here to derail the thread… but in the last 10 years every single GP left the surgery we’re at.

At first there was a stream of locum GPS who you could get an appointment with if you really, really forced the issue. Then we had periods of 2-3 weeks where no appointments could be issued because they couldn’t even get locum staff, so we had to go to A&E or out of hours if any medical attention was needed.

To cut a long story short, I took out Bupa cover for the mrs and I, and our three kids. It works out at around £100/month on a fairly high end/covers everything policy. Really doesn’t sit well having to pay that and I know I am lucky to be able to pay that, but there we are.

On the occasions we’ve needed medical attention we’ve been able to get a Babylon video GP appointment at an hour’s notice (Babylon comes free with Bupa membership). And quick Bupa referrals have been made, where required.

We decided we had to do something because there were multiple occasions we needed the kids to see a GP and the only option was an 8 hour wait in A&E.

I suppose if anyone on here is as desperate as we were, this might be helpful to know.

Forgot to add, all the NHS GPs you can’t get an appointment with are usually busy hanging out on Babylon where they get paid per appointment.
 
Lad I work with, 61 has been Ill for several months. GP refuses to see him basically and fobbed him off saying his persistent cough was a chest infection probably and prescribed antibiotics. Got no better, finally saw him and again, just prescribed antibiotics telling him not to worry. Weeks later, couldn’t eat or keep anything down, blood in stool they book him a colonoscopy. That was last week. They found a polyp and growth which resulted in a CT scan. Today he got told cancer is everywhere and all they can do now is palliative care.

Could and would it have been a different outcome had he been seen immediately and proper investigations happened? No idea, I’m no doctor but personally I think his care has been an utter fucking scandal.
 
Pedestrian said:
Pretty much most of the crap people go to GP’s or walk ins with would be answered by a simple google search. Honestly. We’ve been spoiled in this country with our access to services. For some folk every single symptom must be diagnosed. I see people with snapped nails, splinters, sore throats for 3hrs. Kids with rashes that starts 30mins ago after playing in the park. These things should be common sense but the free and easy access to services has made folk lazy when it comes to self care.
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Yeah...some things will have changed for the better, I'm sure. All those little niggles are dealt with by the local pharmacists now.
It's just how slow it all is. My daughter called the GP over 2 months ago with a lump in her neck,,,it's still not been referred to a specialist. I complained about feeling ill about 3 months ago and I'm just getting an appointment at the Long COVID clinic.....sometime soon, I hope.
 
m7mcfc said:
I was in a pub near me and saw all the reception staff from the local doctors. All giggling away and one of their phones rang. She answered it pronto. I walked up to her and said you can answer your phone in the pub try answering at the surgery are you fucking deaf to the phone ringing there.
That goes for the fucking lot of you I said.
I got no response.
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Not even the landlord sending you out the door on your arse?
 
blueinsa said:
Lad I work with, 61 has been Ill for several months. GP refuses to see him basically and fobbed him off saying his persistent cough was a chest infection probably and prescribed antibiotics. Got no better, finally saw him and again, just prescribed antibiotics telling him not to worry. Weeks later, couldn’t eat or keep anything down, blood in stool they book him a colonoscopy. That was last week. They found a polyp and growth which resulted in a CT scan. Today he got told cancer is everywhere and all they can do now is palliative care.

Could and would it have been a different outcome had he been seen immediately and proper investigations happened? No idea, I’m no doctor but personally I think his care has been an utter fucking scandal.
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Shocking. I hope he takes it further
 
blueinsa said:
Lad I work with, 61 has been Ill for several months. GP refuses to see him basically and fobbed him off saying his persistent cough was a chest infection probably and prescribed antibiotics. Got no better, finally saw him and again, just prescribed antibiotics telling him not to worry. Weeks later, couldn’t eat or keep anything down, blood in stool they book him a colonoscopy. That was last week. They found a polyp and growth which resulted in a CT scan. Today he got told cancer is everywhere and all they can do now is palliative care.

Could and would it have been a different outcome had he been seen immediately and proper investigations happened? No idea, I’m no doctor but personally I think his care has been an utter fucking scandal.
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My cousins daughter who is 31 had back pain during covid 2020. She kept asking for appt, but was never seen, just fobbed off with antibiotics. She then developed a persistent cough again given antibiotics. All this time her back pain was getting worse. After complaining to her gp practice they eventually sent her for a mri scan. Turns out she has breast cancer that has spread to her spine and lungs. Long term prognosis is very bleak. Her youngest child is 5 years old. She know has to come to terms with the fact she will never see her little girl grow up. Absolutely tragic.
 
I’m a, don’t go to the doctors unless absolutely necessary, kind of person. It must be at least 10, probably nearer to 15 years since I last went until recently. Having read countless stories over recent years like the ones on here, my hopes weren’t particularly high. But I have to say to give a bit of balance, that the service was superb.

I rang up at 8 O Clock one morning. Got through to a receptionist after about 10/15 minutes. Briefly told her what the problem was, presumably so the doctor could prioritise. As promised the doctor phoned me back about two hours later and after a short chat asked me if I could pop down to her surgery in about half an hours time, which I did. The whole thing from first phoning up to seeing the doctor was done and dusted in about three hours.

I don’t know if I was just incredibly lucky and caught them on a rare quiet day or what. But I can only go off my experience and I was surprisingly impressed.
 
Pedestrian said:
Have you worked in the NHS?
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Yup, on contract. The trust I worked for had a problem with budgeting. Put simply, the clinical head who made the most noise got the most money! I developed a hierarchy of treatments for them to enable the chief exec to allocate funds according to the needs of the population served. It was successful and adopted by other trusts.
This hierarchy was the first time that trust had ever thought to put the patient first in budgeting matters. Failure to put the patient first is the key NHS issue.
Look back at their campaigns on privatisation: where do they ever mention patient benefit rather than what they perceive as in their own interests?
btw, I am not arguing in favour of privatisation, but rather for the creation of a data set which guides decisions in favour of the patient.
 
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blueinsa said:
Lad I work with, 61 has been Ill for several months. GP refuses to see him basically and fobbed him off saying his persistent cough was a chest infection probably and prescribed antibiotics. Got no better, finally saw him and again, just prescribed antibiotics telling him not to worry. Weeks later, couldn’t eat or keep anything down, blood in stool they book him a colonoscopy. That was last week. They found a polyp and growth which resulted in a CT scan. Today he got told cancer is everywhere and all they can do now is palliative care.

Could and would it have been a different outcome had he been seen immediately and proper investigations happened? No idea, I’m no doctor but personally I think his care has been an utter fucking scandal.
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I would immediately be suspicious of a GP that prescribed antibiotics for a cough.
 
I've got my referral to the LONG COVID clinic. Hopefully there are no delays now, and I can get some positive treatment. I'll be back on my bike soon! And paying my guitar again...haha...fck off neighbours...I'll be back.
 
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