Doctors And Surgeries Getting Lazy.

[catmiss 12]

My GP surgery was quite good during the height of the pandemic, organising pre opening time appointments for my long standing respiratory health condition requiring shielding. 3 weeks ago I contacted the surgery and, after initially being told no telephone appointments were available and to ring back the next day, I was phoned by a GP and prescribed antibiotics. I rang back after the end of the treatment as symptoms persisted and again told to ring back the following day, I persisted and received a call back within the hour. I was referred for a chest X-ray which I had today ,8 days later, where I was the only patient waiting, and told to wait 10 days before contacting the GP for results. That’s 26 days of chest infection symptoms for someone with respiratory disease  is quite worrying albeit GP telling me to ring 999  if symptoms got worse. Also told, earlier this year, by receptionist that X-ray showed severe arthritis of the hip but no opportunity to discuss implications or treatment on offer. No wonder A &E departments and walk in centres  are overwhelmed

 

[Thirsty Relic 208]

Another thing to me that is shocking is that, with the vaccinations giving us the best chance of leading a normal life, GP's etc are still using the pandemic to avoid seeing patients in the flesh, and therfore are attempting to ration their work.  Plenty of places are using the "Covid" excuse to stop providing the services we expect, much of which to me is just an excuse.  Passing work to hospitals is just buck-passing at its worst.

 

Another excuse is that surgeries are moving towards video appointments.  Explaining that new technology allows for video chats assumes that a doctor can see as much in a 2D video link as she/he can in a 3D face to face meeting, which is just clearly wrong.  Also, many patients (customers remember) do not have video/computer setups.  Even if they did, the odds are they would behave differntly online than they would in person, which would bring another variable into play.

[Anna B 1,401]

Any good doctor would tell you that they start their diagnosis the minute you walk into their surgery, with observation; how you move, your posture, sit etc. A pone call can't do that. 

Incidently, Matt Handcock, the previous health minister during the pandemic, family business developed and runs the video app company that is used for doctor's video calls. So no conflict of interest there eh?  

Edited October 15, 2021 by Anna B

[Funky_Gibbon 42]

This thread is proof that propaganda works and the Government and their tabloid mouthpieces can get people to turn on absolutely anyone at the drop of a hat.

[Thirsty Relic 208]

This thread has people giving testimony to the fact that their Doctors are not seeing patients as often as before.

[Thirsty Relic 208]

Fine - ignore people on here and believe what you are told to believe then

[HumbleNarrator 286]

I've just rang up Stannington medical centre and the next face-to-face available is 10th November. As it's not a life threatening emergency I decided to leave it.

[HumbleNarrator 286]

44 minutes ago, dan_999uk said:

 

 

When was the next telephone consultation? If it's necessary you can be brought in for F2F the same or the following day. 

According to doctor Google I've had an episode of Angioedema!

[tinfoilhat 11]

On 15/10/2021 at 13:17, Funky_Gibbon said:

This thread is proof that propaganda works and the Government and their tabloid mouthpieces can get people to turn on absolutely anyone at the drop of a hat.

Correct.

 

If you were to ask any doctor how their job has been over the last 18 months, I doubt they'd call it easy.

 

Anyway,  the health secretary is now going to SHAME doctors who don't see enough people face to face. Great. You know that long wait some of you have for appointments ? Its now going to get much, much longer.

[HumbleNarrator 286]

My doctors surgery being completely closed Saturday and Sunday is ridiculous.

[dave_the_m 61]

The number of GPs in the UK has fallen by about 7% since 2015 (*). The remaining GPs are overworked, not even allowing for a pandemic.  This will manifest itself in many ways, such as difficulty getting quick appointments. GPs will of course seize upon things which allow them to use their time more efficiently, such as video/telephone consultations. A remote session like that will be perfectly fine for many consultations, and for the ones which aren't, the GP can always of course arrange a face-to-face meeting.

 

Turning to politics now: under Labour, the number of GPs per 100,000 of the English population increased from 55 in 1997 to 64 in 2000; then under Coalition and Tory, dropped to 58 by 2018.

 

(*) One has to be cautious with such statistics - there are many way of counting the number of GPs and population etc; but the overall trend is: up in the 2000's, then down in 2010's.

[tinfoilhat 11]

15 hours ago, LovePotion said:

It's a disgrace. How can you diagnose someone without seeing them in person? You are right, laziness has seeped in to GP surgeries. People with ailments like Diabetes need to be checked upclose for things like gangrene and sores. You can't do that over a telephone. 

But if you triage someone over the phone, you can bring them in for an appointment. I don't to see a dr for an asthma review - and I'd bet a fair few drs appointments are wasted. 

 

Lazy doctors - in a pandemic. I've seen it all.