Why So Hard To Get To See A Gp?

[Fubsy]

Recently it has been so hard to get an appointment to see a GP at our surgery. You can get a telephone call from a doctor on the day you ring but you cannot make an appointment to see a doctor to discuss a routine, non urgent matter. The rules are that you ring on the day and a doctor calls you and if they deem it necessary to see you they will ask you to come to the surgery later that day. So it's almost as if everyone is assessed on an emergency basis. Sometimes you want to make an appointment about something that isn't an emergency but the ability to make a routine appointment is no longer available at our surgery. We've attended this surgery for many years and this is a big change.

Is this the way that things are nowadays? Are most GP surgeries run this way?

Another thing is that my hubby had an appointment with the pharmacist at the surgery to discuss the medication he was taking. He came home full of the good news that he no longer had to take Warfarin so we were happy about that. However, his cholesterol is high and the pharmacist has given him a statin to take and when I asked why this couldn't be managed through diet and lifestyle change hubby couldn't explain. I would have thought a change in diet would have been discussed but hubby says not. He is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids in both ears so it's possible explanations were given but that he didn't hear or grasp fully.

Having looked up the name of the medication the statin he's been given is classed as a high intensity statin. I'm feeling worried that he's taking this medication without having discussed anything with a doctor and we don't know the full reasons why he's taking it.

I've told hubby we'll talk to a doctor to get the information as I'm reluctant for him to just blindly take the pills especially if the condition can be managed through a lifestyle change rather than medication. Hubby was OK about taking the pills but that's a whole 'nother issue! It's only now that I've raised concerns that he's read the leaflet inside the box of pills. The leaflet states that Atorvastatin may not be suitable if you have an under-active thyroid - which hubby has and takes medication for.

Am I right to feel concerned about this? I'm seriously considering changing to another GP surgery but I'm wondering if I'll encounter this kind of thing at any GP surgery nowadays. Any input gratefully received, thank you!

[anneasquith]

Now call me old fashioned, many of you appear to be content with the " call back" service from your gp's. If I require a consultation with my gp, at the least I'd expect to talk to him face to face, ?

[ethandron]

Call back is great because the gp can make you a face to face appointment that day if they deem it necessary, so many face to face appointments are unnecessary. Call backs weed out the time wasters.

[Islay]

I must be lucky as I can get an appointment within a couple of days and if I need an urgent appointment the nurse will see me first then the doctor will squeeze me in if she thinks it is required.
I don't it has anything to do with immigrants as a couple of posters have suggested!

[yogi-bear]

Evening Anne

Think it's to stop the unnecessary face to face appointments that could have been avoided, as a phone call, at well under 5 mins, is better than a 10-15 min appointment, if he/she can diagnose your symptoms on the phone and offer advice and/or medication, if so required.
If urgent or odd at all, in Doc's opinion, they probably will make an appointment for you to be seen that day either by themselves, or another available GP.

[scooping]

Just a small contribution. The AVERAGE wage of a gp in the UK is a whacking £250,000 a year. The average wage of an NHS nurse is a fairly decent £38,000. Get a little bored that in programmes like Casualty or Holby young nurses are portrayed as so skint they a have to share a bedsit with 100 others. It simply is not true.

[DTCwordfan]

It's called triage - and I am in favour of it...my last genuine gout attack and the doc and I had a quick call, problem solved - I've had it before so why would I need to go in?

The recent one instigated by going over to Allopurinol to take out my uric acid and higher in the foot, I hobbled in at 2,5 hours notice and was straightened out, the drugs prescribed a little stronger - but it has worked.

[anneasquith]

Hi yogi, I hope you are still well and no more bleeding everywhere ?:-)

[anneasquith]

Have you had gout recently DT ? :-)

[Sqad]

scooping

"The AVERAGE wage of a gp in the UK is a whacking £250,000 a year."

With respect......NONSENSE.

[yogi-bear]

Still well, thanks for asking Anne...trust all ok with you...only bleeding a little when sometimes nick myself shaving every morning, so happy with that. :-)

[EcclesCake]

I value the telephone triage system with the GP. For pre existing conditions that are already recorded on the system it is a straight forward way of getting a script. When it is an issue that actually needs physical assessment I will get an appointment that day or the next.

My surgery is very busy yet runs efficiently and the triage system is an effective way of prioritising appts.

[scooping]

So Sqad, what is the average wage of a GP in the UK?

[EcclesCake]

With regard GP salaries I have copied this from my practices website.

The average pay for GPs working for six months or more in XXXXX Medical Practice in the last financial year was £76625 before Tax and National insurance. This is for 4 full time 3 part time and 3 locum GPs.

[Sqad]

scooping....roughly.......AVERAGE.......£110,000 per annum.

[Old_Geezer]

Knew I went into the wrong profession.

[jno]

shave in the evening when you're woken up, yogi.

I try to book on Patient Online too but my GPs are extremely lazy about putting their availability online.

[mikey4444]

My GP Surgery was a 3 Doctor practise for many years. The senior Doctor retired 5 years ago, and the practise has been totally unable to recruit a permanent replacement doctor ever since.

They have no trouble in gaining a Locum, at great cost to the practise, although its a different one very time I go in.

I have asked my Doctor why this situation has arisen and he tells me that they are just not able to attract new NHS GP's any more.

[237SJ]

^That's because they take their tax payer funder training elsewhere.

[Sqad]

mikey....correct.
Anybody who is remotely interested in practicing true medicine after 8 years of study and post grad attachments, is clearing off to the U.S and Australasia, rather than wasting time as a pen pusher in GP.

[237SJ]

*funding*