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The French or Germans wouldn't stand for this, but we the British will.

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perhaps if people did not have to wait two weeks to see their GP then they would not have to visit A&E for non-urgent cases

 

Two weeks? you are a lucky patient if you only have to wait two weeks to see a doc on a non urgent appt.

 

Receptionist " do you need an urgent appointment?" Patient " Well I don't think so otherwise I would go to A&E" Receptionist the first non urgent appointment I have is February 15th. Patient "I could be dead by then" Receptionist " I will put you on Triage then the doctor will call you later and decide if you need to be seen urgently."

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perhaps if people did not have to wait two weeks to see their GP then they would not have to visit A&E for non-urgent cases

 

Probably shouldn't have introduced that ridiculous new contract for GPs in 2004 then?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10099044/The-graph-that-shows-Labour-is-to-blame-for-the-pressures-on-AandE.html

 

My old GP surgery used to have late night Wednesdays, was open Saturday morning and would have a GP available every weekday morning for 'turn up and wait' cases. Then the contract changes came in 2004 and that all went.

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Probably shouldn't have introduced that ridiculous new contract for GPs in 2004 then?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10099044/The-graph-that-shows-Labour-is-to-blame-for-the-pressures-on-AandE.html

 

My old GP surgery used to have late night Wednesdays, was open Saturday morning and would have a GP available every weekday morning for 'turn up and wait' cases. Then the contract changes came in 2004 and that all went.

 

Yes I agree. That was a disastrous contract that benefited nobody except GPs.

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I don't respect Hunt for the way he went after the Junior Doctors, but in general he is on the right track. The NHS can only function as a legit emergency service.

 

It is about time that GP services got branched off and covered by a social security insurance that will also cover dentistry and non-emergency mental and occupational health services. It won't be long before that comes. The NHS leads to people thinking healthcare is cheap, so they get a cheap service, I can't wait for the day it becomes a proper health service.

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The latest study (March 2014) into the 'appropriateness' of self referrals to A&E said that 85% were appropriate.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27512613

 

To be honest, I expected that figure to be higher. But it does beg the question what is & what isn't appropriate, not everyone has a medical qualification, and if you're genuinely poorly logic is the first thing to go out the window.

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I'm not sure why the people with trivial issues aren't just immediately turned away. I'm fortunate that I have never been to A&E, so I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I imagine there is some kind of reception/sign in desk?

 

If that is the case, why don't when people say 'I'm here because I have a sore throat' or 'I'm here to get my hair extensions removed' they are told to make an appointment with their GP instead (or in the hair extensions example, told to p*** off). That then wouldn't take up the time of any staff other than the receptionist.

 

I find it very hard to believe such a filter algorithm is not already in usage. Does anyone know?

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The latest study (March 2014) into the 'appropriateness' of self referrals to A&E said that 85% were appropriate.

 

 

 

To be honest, I expected that figure to be higher. But it does beg the question what is & what isn't appropriate, not everyone has a medical qualification, and if you're genuinely poorly logic is the first thing to go out the window.

 

I would say someone visiting A&E to get their false nails removed could be classed as trivial.

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Last time I went to A&E, I went to Northern General after twisting my ankle so badly I thought it was broken. The initial diagnosis was that I had broken it, and the Dr was surprised it wasn't when he looked at the X-Ray. That was a Saturday.

 

Anyway, in the bay next to me was a man who had come to A&E, seen the receptionist, been triaged and had made it to a consultant because he had missed his routine GP appointment the day before. All he wanted was a repeat prescription, and he wasn't even low on medication. He'd been there for 5 hours. I overheard this because the consultant was rather irate and vocal about him wasting everyone's time.

 

Yet the stupid system still processed him instead of sending him away.

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I find it very hard to believe such a filter algorithm is not already in usage. Does anyone know?

 

I don't find it that hard to believe. I would imagine that the receptionist has low levels (if any) of medical training. What if they made a mistake and sent someone away who had say a headache, but that person later died. The NHS would be sued.

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The French or Germans wouldn't stand for this, but we the British will.

 

Stand for what exactly?

 

---------- Post added 10-01-2017 at 08:54 ----------

 

The latest study (March 2014) into the 'appropriateness' of self referrals to A&E said that 85% were appropriate.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27512613

 

To be honest, I expected that figure to be higher. But it does beg the question what is & what isn't appropriate, not everyone has a medical qualification, and if you're genuinely poorly logic is the first thing to go out the window.

 

The 85% sounds very high to me based on my experiences but I only have anecdotal evidence, also the sample size looks very small.

 

A&E is for Major or Life Threatening Illness or Injury only.

There is a minor injuries unit for sprains, or small broken bone injuries. A GP for bugs and for those who are saying they can't get a GP appointment there is a walk in service.

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Stand for what exactly?

 

---------- Post added 10-01-2017 at 08:54 ----------

 

 

The 85% sounds very high to me based on my experiences but I only have anecdotal evidence, also the sample size looks very small.

 

A&E is for Major or Life Threatening Illness or Injury only.

There is a minor injuries unit for sprains, or small broken bone injuries. A GP for bugs and for those who are saying they can't get a GP appointment there is a walk in service.

 

The NHS England's own figure is that 30% of people going to A&E do not need to, which I imagine would be based on a much larger sample size, as presumably they have access to the records of why people have turned up and so could give an actual figure, not an estimate (although I'm not sure if that is what they have done).

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