GP's

[Geralous]

The narrative that general practice is closed is widely held but the facts don’t support this. There have been increasing number of appointments year on year with the highest rates this last 6 mths.

The guidelines say that GPs should see 28 patients a day to deliver good care. I know the majority are currently seeing between 60-100… how can this be good.
They also say there should be 1 GP per 1500 to provide good care. currently in England we have 1/2100

As Derek says think about who benefits!!!

If you want to privatise the NHS downgrade the service till the public think it isn’t working.

WARNING be careful what you wish for! Once gone the it will never return!

[MrFizz]

My wife had to call her GP Practice a couple of months ago. Got a callback from a GP within 3hrs, and after a 5min conversation was told to go in to the surgery that afternoon for examination. Had an examination and was sent for a scan, which took place 2 weeks later. Thankfully not a serious issue, but the service was excellent. 

Some Practices are much better than others it would seem.

[Cheshire East Baggie]

The narrative that general practice is closed is widely held but the facts don’t support this. There have been increasing number of appointments year on year with the highest rates this last 6 mths.

The guidelines say that GPs should see 28 patients a day to deliver good care. I know the majority are currently seeing between 60-100… how can this be good.
They also say there should be 1 GP per 1500 to provide good care. currently in England we have 1/2100

As Derek says think about who benefits!!!

If you want to privatise the NHS downgrade the service till the public think it isn’t working.

WARNING be careful what you wish for! Once gone the it will never return!

All these stats are fine, but there's no clarity as to who is working how many hours and seeing how many patients. Are we saying that an individual doctor should see 28 people per day? What about a practice with multiple doctors? Are the statistics adjusted on the basis of total number of patients registered to a practice?

Our practice has 5 doctors listed, but there are never more than two available on a given day. The website states the average earnings of the doctors as £81k. Now that's not the going rate for 40 hours per week of GP's time. So are these people working part time, or filling their week with more lucrative private work?

And another thing, our practice only contracts blood testing on two half days per week. It can take over four weeks for "non urgent" blood tests to be done. Or you can make your own way to the local hospital - if you're lucky enough to be able to make the 5 mile trip into the middle of nowhere and manage the parking chaos. Dr. ***** ******* could simply make more budget available, ask the local Phlebotomy Dept to turn up three mornings per week. But that would hit his profits, so it isn't going to happen.

General Practice has already been privatised, into the hands of GPs who mostly don't have a fucking clue how to run a business. Some bend over backwards to provide a decent service, others have cottoned on to the fundamentals of playing the system to improve income, maximising treatment of easily measured factors (obesity, cholesterol, smoking) and fending off difficult stuff like asthma and mental health.

Managers of GP surgeries (who are all qualified GPs) could employ more doctors. It's not clear whether the problem is lack of suitable candidates or unwillingness of practices to take on sufficient staff.

[baggiebloke]

I thought this was another Lewis Hamilton thread.

[Remi_Moses]

The very idea that GPs are protecting themselves and others from cross contamination is simply rubbish.
Patients in desperation go to hospitals where exactly the same cross contamination exists. They just moved the risk a couple of miles up the road. 
Obviously they have become call centres and will soon have funding reduced in line with the service they provide. Followed by closure IMO.

[Derek Hardballs]

The very idea that GPs are protecting themselves and others from cross contamination is simply rubbish.
Patients in desperation go to hospitals where exactly the same cross contamination exists. They just moved the risk a couple of miles up the road. 
Obviously they have become call centres and will soon have funding reduced in line with the service they provide. Followed by closure IMO.

Eh? They have been encouraged to do more online consultations by the government. They have had extra funding and equipment to do so!

[Remi_Moses]

The very idea that GPs are protecting themselves and others from cross contamination is simply rubbish.
Patients in desperation go to hospitals where exactly the same cross contamination exists. They just moved the risk a couple of miles up the road. 
Obviously they have become call centres and will soon have funding reduced in line with the service they provide. Followed by closure IMO.

Eh? They have been encouraged to do more online consultations by the government. They have had extra funding and equipment to do so!

Eh? Indeed I know exactly why I ignore you.
Why when the gov told them to increase patient face to face consultations did they said "NO" 
Buy more equipment it must be extra phones, because they don't need anything else. What they have got is gathering dust.
Please don't troll me.

[Derek Hardballs]

The very idea that GPs are protecting themselves and others from cross contamination is simply rubbish.
Patients in desperation go to hospitals where exactly the same cross contamination exists. They just moved the risk a couple of miles up the road. 
Obviously they have become call centres and will soon have funding reduced in line with the service they provide. Followed by closure IMO.

Eh? They have been encouraged to do more online consultations by the government. They have had extra funding and equipment to do so!

Eh? Indeed I know exactly why I ignore you.
Why when the gov told them to increase patient face to face consultations they said "NO" 
By more equipment it must be extra phones, because they don't need anything else. What they have got is gathering dust.
Please don't troll me.

What are you on about trolling you? I replied to a post you put up. The BMA sets out in its report that I linked to many of the reasons why GPs are struggling to meet targets. The government has put extra funding into online consultations and there has been for a decade a need for thousands of extra GPs.

[Cheshire East Baggie]

I think government sentiment is leaning towards face-to-face consultations. NHS England advice certainly does, as per the letter issued in May this year.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/w...-FINAL.pdf

I know for an absolute fact that our surgery is not aligned with this advice. When you (eventually) get through on the phone, you have to listen to almost 10 minutes of pre-recorded waffle, the main theme of which is "you will not be able to see a doctor in person". The Health Centre main entrance and the GP practice entrance are adorned with "do not enter without an appointment" signs. Doors are locked.

Of course the practice nurses are still seeing patients, they've never stopped. Difficult to imagine why it's different for them risk-wise. But you are welcomed in by the last surviving receptionist with a curt "sanitise your hands" - not even a please or a smile.

It's gone to shit, the staff (medical and support) don't seem to realise, or maybe they don't care. It's not just about funding, politicization of NHS services, Covid or anything else. Some of it is about public sector attitude and sense of entitlement. We patients are paying customers, not recipients of charity. But GP practices don't seem to see it that way.

[Birdman1811]

I think government sentiment is leaning towards face-to-face consultations. NHS England advice certainly does, as per the letter issued in May this year.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/w...-FINAL.pdf

I know for an absolute fact that our surgery is not aligned with this advice. When you (eventually) get through on the phone, you have to listen to almost 10 minutes of pre-recorded waffle, the main theme of which is "you will not be able to see a doctor in person". The Health Centre main entrance and the GP practice entrance are adorned with "do not enter without an appointment" signs. Doors are locked.

Of course the practice nurses are still seeing patients, they've never stopped. Difficult to imagine why it's different for them risk-wise. But you are welcomed in by the last surviving receptionist with a curt "sanitise your hands" - not even a please or a smile.

It's gone to shit, the staff (medical and support) don't seem to realise, or maybe they don't care. It's not just about funding, politicization of NHS services, Covid or anything else. Some of it is about public sector attitude and sense of entitlement. We patients are paying customers, not recipients of charity. But GP practices don't seem to see it that way.

We're having nightmares at our hospital.

People can't get through to speak to, let alone see their GP, or having to wait 3 days or more fir a call back, so turning up at A&E when it's not needed. So we're overwhelmed. That means actual emergencies are being forced to wait, causing more problems. We can't discharge into the community quick enough at all, most community care settings are overfilled, so we're basically fucked.