The Medical Thread

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Staines R's said:
Mate, and I mean mate, don’t get me wrong the system ain’t perfect and never will be but it’s always been the same with getting an appointment….ringing on the dot and hoping to get in the queue to speak to a stroppy receptionist who wants to know what’s wrong with you first before begrudgingly getting you in.
And why wouldn’t the practice nurse be able to take bloods ? Surely that’s part of her remit. I’ve seen the practice nurse on numerous occasions, BP, blood tests etc…isn’t that what they are there for…to take the load off a GP ?
The old days are gone from when we were kids…when the GP knew you and your family by name and would ask how you were getting on at the new job you started 5 years beforehand when you told him about it.

As I emphasised before, I’m not sticking up for all GP’s and saying what wonderful services they all give…….however I’m just pointing out that the Daily Mail narrative of “all GPs are lazy ****s who won’t meet you face to face” is also not correct.
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You appear to be missing the point mate.
Yes, it's always been a tad difficult to get an appointment, but now you simply aren't allowed a face to face appointment with the GP, apart from yours presumably.
That was never the case pre covid.
 
Steelmonkey said:
You're the lucky one then. Even when my wife was really ill, the GP never saw her face-to-face. All bloods taken were done by the nurses at the practice. Same with me when I was ill, everything was done over the.phone, and if you didn't ring at 8am on the dot, you'd not even get as far as them calling you back as all available "appointments" were taken.

I know of at least two people who have died of cancer which may have been caught early enough had a GP seen them when they called in.

The NHS has been run on a shoestring for years, and now is being brutally exposed due to the underfunding by successive governments. It is top heavy with beaurocrats, all more concerned with penny pinching and reaching unobtainable targets than patient welfare. It's not the nurses, doctors, paramedics and orderlies who are at blame for this crisis, but the GPs aren't doing their cause any good by refusing to see their patients in person.
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By 'successive governments', I assume you mean successive Tory governments. The performance of the NHS will always be dependent on the willingness of the government of the day to properly fund it. For all Blair's faults, his government did sink billions into the NHS, and performance was dramatically improved as a result. It has regressed since, of course.
 
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Staines R's said:
Mate, and I mean mate, don’t get me wrong the system ain’t perfect and never will be but it’s always been the same with getting an appointment….ringing on the dot and hoping to get in the queue to speak to a stroppy receptionist who wants to know what’s wrong with you first before begrudgingly getting you in.
And why wouldn’t the practice nurse be able to take bloods ? Surely that’s part of her remit. I’ve seen the practice nurse on numerous occasions, BP, blood tests etc…isn’t that what they are there for…to take the load off a GP ?
The old days are gone from when we were kids…when the GP knew you and your family by name and would ask how you were getting on at the new job you started 5 years beforehand when you told him about it.

As I emphasised before, I’m not sticking up for all GP’s and saying what wonderful services they all give…….however I’m just pointing out that the Daily Mail narrative of “all GPs are lazy ****s who won’t meet you face to face” is also not correct.
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The point is that the GPs at my practice won't see you unless you are exceptionally unwell, althougb they then tend to direct you to A&E as they did twice with my wife last summer. I've no issue with practice nurses doing bloods, BP etc, but the GPs are hardly overloaded if they aren't having direct consultations at the moment. I've a lot of time for the NHS, wife has worked for them for well over 20 years, but you should hear her and her nurse friends discuss GPs - not a pleasant listen.
 
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rangercol said:
Out of interest, what's the name of your GP practice?
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I’ve looked on their website (as I expect you are) and can’t find anything that says they are not doing face to face consultations, though if they aren’t then I’m sure with a bit of digging you’ll find it somewhere ;)
However, from my own experience, they still are……..and for me personally there was no difference in the service I was provided.
 
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Staines R's said:
I’ve looked on their website (as I expect you are) and can’t find anything that says they are not doing face to face consultations, though if they aren’t then I’m sure with a bit of digging you’ll find it somewhere ;)
However, from my own experience, they still are……..and for me personally there was no difference in the service I was provided.
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As you've said a couple of times mate, I think you're definitely in a lucky minority.
Mrs Rangercol's mum lives in the High Wycombe area and around 3 weeks ago we had concerns about her. She was acting a little confused and would go completely silent.
We rang her GP who wouldn't come out or allow her to go to them. Two different GPs just said that if we have more concerns we should take her to A&E.
This my partner's brother did and while she was there she had a massive stroke.
This was several days after our initial contact with the GP practice.
This kind of thing must be being replicated all over and obviously explains why I'm so wound up about it.

It's a scandal.
 
rangercol said:
As you've said a couple of times mate, I think you're definitely in a lucky minority.
Mrs Rangercol's mum lives in the High Wycombe area and around 3 weeks ago we had concerns about her. She was acting a little confused and would go completely silent.
We rang her GP who wouldn't come out or allow her to go to them. Two different GPs just said that if we have more concerns we should take her to A&E.
This my partner's brother did and while she was there she had a massive stroke.
This was several days after our initial contact with the GP practice.
This kind of thing must be being replicated all over and obviously explains why I'm so wound up about it.

It's a scandal.
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We seem to be going round in circles so might as well leave it here.
 
rangercol said:
As you've said a couple of times mate, I think you're definitely in a lucky minority.
Mrs Rangercol's mum lives in the High Wycombe area and around 3 weeks ago we had concerns about her. She was acting a little confused and would go completely silent.
We rang her GP who wouldn't come out or allow her to go to them. Two different GPs just said that if we have more concerns we should take her to A&E.
This my partner's brother did and while she was there she had a massive stroke.
This was several days after our initial contact with the GP practice.
This kind of thing must be being replicated all over and obviously explains why I'm so wound up about it.

It's a scandal.
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rangercol said:
???
I'm pissed off that people are having serious illnesses missed due to the ridiculous polices of many GPs.

Not sure what point you're trying to make.
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I’m pointing out the hypocrisy of the MSM that will do their best to find a scapegoat in any situation without looking at the whole picture….but I think you knew that
 
Staines R's said:
I’m pointing out the hypocrisy of the MSM that will do their best to find a scapegoat in any situation without looking at the whole picture….but I think you knew that
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There's undoubtedly a major issue here and I'd say the MSM are right to draw attention to it.

What part of the whole picture would you say we are missing?
 
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