Quote from: RedHand88 on January 11, 2022, 08:27:15 AMQuote from: Wildweasel74 on January 11, 2022, 12:29:33 AM
How's a gp supposed to diganose what's wrong with your chest over the phone or tell what's wrong with you, simple answer they can't. I was spitting up blood for 7 days, had ripped stomach lining in past and though it was a reoccurrence. It was 2 weeks before they see me face to face as it wasn't deemed a emergency, ended up it was early stages of tuberculosis. Point is if they seen me at the start I wouldn't had the problems I still have now. The service from the gp in my opinion went through the floor. Having to explain to the admin who not a doctor your medical issues not on either. They got 8 gp in my surgery, near all are part time, u can't see the same gp twice, how are they supposed to keep track of a patients well been when you don't see the same doctor L. Years ago you seen the same doctor all the time and they knew your history, but they worked full time not a 2/3 day week.
Ok few things. They usually have an admin day where they spend the day actioning letters, coding records etc. 4 days a week 8-6 is a typical working week for a GP (40hrs).
Admin staff are trained to determine what is/isn't an emergency. You need a filter there otherwise unfortunately the slots would fill up even quicker and be filled with absolute crap like I need help with the NIDIRECT covid passport website, I swallowed some mouthwash, I want to speak to Dr X to ask how his son is. You would not believe what people ring their GP for. This makes it harder for real problems to get through.
Also, any doctor will be sitting infront of your full history anytime you speak to them, so don't worry about different GPs.
As for your TB case, were you speaking to the GP at the start? Usually in a case like that you'd be asked to send in a sputum sample, did this not happen?
Like any industry or profession, there are good ones and bad ones. I feel the likes of dentists and hospitals get off lightly compared to GP surgeries. Tried seeing a dentist recently? Good luck. Waiting on a hospital consultant? Prepare for a long wait.
I think you replied to me before that they now see face to face an average of 5 patients a day. The rest are dealt with on the phone.
How does that differ with rhe numbers of face to face pre-covid?