Why So Hard To See Your Gp?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Issue being discussed on tonight's Sky "Press Previe".

Some obvious logical answers, although not necessarily equally likely ones, are:

1. Surgeries are closing.

2. People are getting sicker.

3. There are more people.

I wonder which way the Sky discussion will develop.

[Theland]

I agree with all three.
People living longer and increasing population in part due to immigration.
Not enough money going into the NHS for more GP's and staff generally.
As I write this, my daughter is in hospital with a suspected blood clot on the lung and needs a CT scan which has to be delayed until Monday due to staff shortage. Disgusting.

[vetuste_ennemi]

One journalist stated (can't vouch for the truth of it) that "demand" (i.e. number of people whom a surgery or GP practice serves) has risen by 30% in two years.

That's not a problem that can be solved by money unless the 30% rise in demand can be anticipated. Same with schools, housing and all that.

[tonyav]

Also a lot of GP's are retiring.

[Theland]

And less being trained?

[Buenchico]

Surgeries don't actually have to close for there to be a problem. There just needs to a fall in the number of GPs who have practices at any particular surgery.

Smaller surgeries can be inefficiently run. Our local surgery (serving a small town, of fewer than 5,000 people, plus some nearby villages) has 7 doctors working there, along with 5 nurses or nurse practitioners, 3 phlebotomists and 3 administrative staff. There are also 8 staff working in the dispensary which forms part of the centre itself, and an on-site (but separately run) pharmacy available (which always seems to have at least 6 staff present whenever I visit it). Surgeries with just one or two GPs, plus a receptionist, simply can't be as efficient.

Our surgery guarantees that same-day appointments will always be available as long as you don't mind which GP you get to see. (I arrived at 10am not long ago, seeking an appointment. The receptionist was extremely apologetic that there were no more morning slots left but she still found me an appointment at 4.50pm). Appointments can also be booked online.

Improvements in efficiency won't solve all of the problems that some people face when trying to see their GP but they'd certainly be a good start.

[woofgang]

One important point here is not just GP surgeries working more efficiently but getting ALL community services to work more efficiently and that includes social support....also possibly rethinking the concept that seems to have crept in that once someone, no matter how healthy, is past 65, they need to see a doctor for minor issues instead of self medicating. When my sis went to Boots recently to get something for a stomach upset, she was told by the pharmacist that she must see a doctor and he couldn't sell her anything..... I have been told a similar thing by a different pharmacist in a different part of the coutry and have also experienced it when buying non prescription medications online, so now I just buy online and lie about my age!

[Smowball]

It’s almost impossible to get to see my GP yet whenever I get an app and turn up the waiting room is absolutely empty. I’m normally the only person sat there!!

[teacake44]

Far to many hypercondriacs filling the waiting rooms.

[Ryzen]

Many Hypochondriacs too ...

[Bobbisox1]

I guess I'm quite lucky, almost 73 and no meds at all, I can't remember when I went to see my GP the last time, probably around 2.5 years ago when I had shingles

[dannyk13]

3. There are more people.
My surgery has 20 doctors to deal with 23,000 patients.

[Sqad]

GP service in the NHS has been deteriorating for many years now and is getting worse.
Many reasons and it is difficult to precis them for a social media website.

Too much money has been put into primary care, starving the hospital services of vital support.

G.Practice is no longer attractive to newly qualified doctors as it is saturated with bureaucracy.....not what Drs had been trained for and many went into a hospital career or emigrated, the voids filled with Drs from abroad.

GP's are retiring early....they have had enough.

Labour negotiated a new contract with GPs in 2004, when John Reid was health secretary. This was such a giveaway to GPs that they were stunned by its generosity. It took their average salary to more than £100,000 and removed their obligation to provide out of hours care. Labour just hadn’t thought it through. The population of Britain could no longer use their GPs outside of office hours, so they had to go to A&E instead. The hospitals were flooded and couldn’t cope. And the excessive money given to GPs came out of the NHS budget, which made less money available for other care and pushed up Gordon Brown’s excessive spending again.
FANTASTIC....more money for less work.....

There are indeed some very good efficient GP practices around, but unfortunately not enough and the standards of care vary from good,to unacceptable.

Just a taste of my feelings.

[ummmm]

I dunno. My doctors surgery phoned me last week for me to make an appointment.

[Smowball]

Like I said, there is literally NO other person waiting to be seen whenever I have an appointment, in a huge waiting room, it’s bizarre.

[Rockrose]

I can't really answer as I don't have an issue getting an appointment at all.
Phoned this morning and I have one tomorrow.

[maggiebee]

My practice has 8 doctors, 7 nurses, 2 healthcare assistants and the usual team of receptionists etc. There are approx 30,000 patients registered. Provided I do not request a specific doctor I can usually get an appointment within 2 days. Feel very lucky.

[ladybirder]

Never have a problem. Brilliantly run surgery, large and busy but you can always get to see a doctor the same day if necessary, or you can ask for a doctor to call you the same day if you wish. I consider myself to be very lucky as I have had experience of a most awful practice.

[KARL]

Our local surgery of several doctors has put out a notice to the effect that some doctors are retiring and others off ill but they cannot get replacements so the service will be poorer. Now it takes typically up to two weeks and sometimes more to get an appointment and the offer starts with a telephone conversation. My wife's appointment for this morning was cancelled because the doctor is stuck at an airport somewhere in the country. The population has increased a little, not radically, and none of that increase has anything to do with immigration - immigration is presumably involved where fewer foreigners (particularly from the EU) now want to come to settle in the UK, including doctors. As is already well known, the NHS compares poorly with other national health services and my suspicion is that in the next published comparison list will see it slipping in the rankings. Sqad's analysis is interesting.

[teacake44]

Maybe no one wants to become a doctor or a nurse any longer, when they have to deal with the growing number of druggies day after day, I know I wouldn't.

[Old_Geezer]

Seemed a decent enough precis to me.