Yes. Same with hospitals, residential homes, etc. We are running on Skeleton staff just fighting fires really. Then people make mistakes and loos jobs even tho they have been stretched beyond reasonable and safe.
record profits for banks, politicians, and drug/alcohol sales/food sales.
money has manipulated society into being worth more than life. society does not value what is important, it values what is profitable.
I’m sure the government will have an angle to beat up on GP’s as ever.
I am sure if you just keep pointing out how lazy they are, then they will just work harder /s
As a GP, this is not news. Even the 25 consultations per day can be a lot of patients are complex.
We work on numbers and the reality is that if we do mistakes due to this pattern, it’s on the professional. Nobody will check how overworked you are. Or mentally drained.
When you start the day with 25 consultations booked in you already know that you will be seeing an unsafe number of patients.
You will inevitably get the requests for home visits, the patient who believes their problem is urgent and must be seen today.
You check your lab reports and see that someone has an unexpectedly raised potassium or a positive FIT test and so add them in as extras at the end of your clinic.
You check your 30-40 letters and a few more required patient contacts fall out, the email from the council housing association telling you they are concerned about the mental health of one of their tenants who is known to have significant mental health issues already. With a sigh you add them as a call into your only break slot for the day, there goes my cup of coffee mid morning.
You start your clinic and for every patient you see you get 2-3 messages from reception regarding patients who have requested appointments but can’t believe that your next routine appointment is 6-8 weeks away and feel they need to be seen sooner. Some are easy to deal with, the 50 year old man who has smoked all his life and has phoned in because he has central crushing chest pain and feels unwell needs A&E and not me. Some you can kick the can down the alley to an extent, the 25 year old feeling tired all the time, you know from experience has a less than 1 in 100 chance of it being caused by anything medical and often a blood test will allay their fears. So message back to reception to book them in for a blood test and if they are very worried book them in for that routine appointment in 6-8 weeks time. Others messages you get though do require a more urgent GP appointment that 64 year old with Barrett’s oesophagus who has developed difficulty swallowing over the last month, without a doubt needs GP contact much quicker than my current wait times. I message reception back and ask them to add them to the end of my list.
By the end of the day 50+ patient contacts is not unusual. I hope I have not missed anything and shut my computer down. I feel tired, dehydrated and hungry. As usual I only managed to grab a glass of water and an apple at lunch.
A friend of mine is a Surgeon Commander in the Royal Navy and approaching the end of his time in the service.
Rather than the NHS and long, crushing days, he’s off to Nassau to practice on the cruise ships and drink cocktails at sundowners in the evening. Can’t say I blame him.
And it’s impossible to get an in-person appointment
8 comments
Yes. Same with hospitals, residential homes, etc. We are running on Skeleton staff just fighting fires really. Then people make mistakes and loos jobs even tho they have been stretched beyond reasonable and safe.
record profits for banks, politicians, and drug/alcohol sales/food sales.
money has manipulated society into being worth more than life. society does not value what is important, it values what is profitable.
I’m sure the government will have an angle to beat up on GP’s as ever.
I am sure if you just keep pointing out how lazy they are, then they will just work harder /s
As a GP, this is not news. Even the 25 consultations per day can be a lot of patients are complex.
We work on numbers and the reality is that if we do mistakes due to this pattern, it’s on the professional. Nobody will check how overworked you are. Or mentally drained.
When you start the day with 25 consultations booked in you already know that you will be seeing an unsafe number of patients.
You will inevitably get the requests for home visits, the patient who believes their problem is urgent and must be seen today.
You check your lab reports and see that someone has an unexpectedly raised potassium or a positive FIT test and so add them in as extras at the end of your clinic.
You check your 30-40 letters and a few more required patient contacts fall out, the email from the council housing association telling you they are concerned about the mental health of one of their tenants who is known to have significant mental health issues already. With a sigh you add them as a call into your only break slot for the day, there goes my cup of coffee mid morning.
You start your clinic and for every patient you see you get 2-3 messages from reception regarding patients who have requested appointments but can’t believe that your next routine appointment is 6-8 weeks away and feel they need to be seen sooner. Some are easy to deal with, the 50 year old man who has smoked all his life and has phoned in because he has central crushing chest pain and feels unwell needs A&E and not me. Some you can kick the can down the alley to an extent, the 25 year old feeling tired all the time, you know from experience has a less than 1 in 100 chance of it being caused by anything medical and often a blood test will allay their fears. So message back to reception to book them in for a blood test and if they are very worried book them in for that routine appointment in 6-8 weeks time. Others messages you get though do require a more urgent GP appointment that 64 year old with Barrett’s oesophagus who has developed difficulty swallowing over the last month, without a doubt needs GP contact much quicker than my current wait times. I message reception back and ask them to add them to the end of my list.
By the end of the day 50+ patient contacts is not unusual. I hope I have not missed anything and shut my computer down. I feel tired, dehydrated and hungry. As usual I only managed to grab a glass of water and an apple at lunch.
A friend of mine is a Surgeon Commander in the Royal Navy and approaching the end of his time in the service.
Rather than the NHS and long, crushing days, he’s off to Nassau to practice on the cruise ships and drink cocktails at sundowners in the evening. Can’t say I blame him.
And it’s impossible to get an in-person appointment