GPs, Your Opinion?

[Neil ofthe nene]

My GP doesn't have a receptionist, or a nurse or an adminstrator or an office manager. She has two rooms, a waiting room and her office/clinical area. She shares a phone answering service with other doctors.
When I phone I will be asked if is urgent, if it is I will probably get an appointment same or next day, otherwise I may have to wait two days. Once I am in with her we can talk about as many problems as I like, my visits last on average 30-45mins.
If I need a blood test, she writes a request. When I leave I take the request around the corner to the laboratory where they take the blood If it is before lunch I will get the results online by 6pm that evening. My Dr will be copied in, but they are my results.
If I need a referral, etc., the Dr phones and makes the appointment.
Of course, all of this has to be paid for. Prices are set by the government and a GP consultation is €25, payable at the time. If you are registered on the system and carry a smart card, then €18 will be refunded directly into my bank account within 2-3 days. This is covered by my earnings based social security payments. If I wish I can take out voluntary private insurance to cover the difference between the cost and the refund. If I couldn't afford to pay the Dr would see and treat me just the same. It's the law.
I don't pay anything anyway, because I am diabetic.
It is a very complicated system, but not for the patient.

Talking with the guy I rent an apartment from in Mallorca he told me that when he wants to see his doctor he just rocks up at the cafe where gets his coffee and has a chat across the table. Yes a proper cconsultation costs you. But these informal chats are free and the doctor is OK with that.

Charging for a consultation might put off the perennial re-bookers. The Boss tells of patients who, if they don't get what they want from one GP comes out from the consultation and re-books with another. Eventually they see a GP who gives in and prescribes whatever the patient was wanting, usually antibiotics for a cold (they do nothing).

Am I right in thinking that in France you get your medical notes on disk so you can take them to any GP? My GP has not got round to allowing me to see my notes online as I am supposed to be able to do via the NHS app.

 

[Neil ofthe nene]

Very interesting thread this. It seems most don't get the service we think we should be but mention that the NHS may need reform and not just endless pots of cash then we get the leave our precious NHS alone cries. Maybe we should be open to other models and take on board the good bits other countries do

Yes, the NHS needs a root & branch overhaul. But any politician that tries it has to face resistance from trade unions, professional bodies, senior management and the public. The first three trying to keep the inefficient system we have now that provides a good living for little effort from many, by no means all, in the NHS.

 

[Sportsman]

If I wanted my notes I would just have to ask. The results of all lab tests, X rays, scans etc are my property, although they may be copied to the GP I am registered with.
Recently I had an MRI scan on my neck. After the procedure I was asked to wait and 20 minutes later I was called in to the consultant radiologist who explained his findings ( in English) and was presented with a folder containing a detailed report, a summary, prints of all the images and a DVD of all of the images. This is normal practice. Because this was not diabetes related I had to pay for. It came to €40 in total.

 

[Arry]

When I had private healthcare via my employer, an MRI in my back cost £250 of which I paid 15%

 

[RMNDIL]

Unfortunately I don’t think our GP – or surgery for that matter – is very good. We’ve used it (on the odd occasion we needed to) for 20+ years but getting someone to answer the phone is very hit & miss. If you ring at 08.30 when it opens and all appointments etc are, somehow, already taken you CANNOT make an appointment for the next day or so whilst you are talking to the receptionist as you’re instructed that you MUST call on the day you want/need the appointment !!! Trying to get any type of appointment (call back, video, in person) with ANY doctor is also hit & miss. But the thing which really does annoy me is that when we actually do get to talk or see our doctor she is very dismissive and uninterested.

Just before Xmas at end November my wife needed to talk to someone to get a referral so she could then get seen & treated on her private insurance. AXA won’t cover anything unless a DR or specialist has seen you or spoken to you first. Fair enough – they’re paying not the NHS. But try as she might my wife could not get our GP to accept that she really did have something wrong - she wasn't wasting anyone's time - and really did need an X-Ray or MRI scan or, at the very least, a one to one examination not just a conversation on the phone. She wasn’t bothering the NHS but was paying privately via insurance. GP told her to just go home and rest for a few weeks to which my wife replied that that’s what she had already been doing for a few weeks. She couldn’t walk and it was not getting any better at all. GP eventually referred my wife to a Physio which would take some weeks. It left my wife in tears of frustration and Richard ready to throttle the GP. The physio, upon examination of my wife’s foot, immediately & without hesitation referred her straight away for an MRI. This was more than good enough for AXA. The MRI showed that my wife had fractured a bone in her foot and torn a tendon (I think it was a tendon and not a ligament).

In my experience, I think the actual treatment on the NHS is utterly brilliant. I cannot fault the care I have had or that of my late father etc. But, the hoops you have to jump through at stage one at your own GP’s to get to see someone makes you mad. And, in some cases, by the time you get seen by a consultant, specialist or surgeon, it can be way too late to do anything anyway.

I fear with the effect of Covid and the backlog etc it can only get worse.

 

[Arry]

Now the government have instructed folks to return to their offices and workplaces that has got to apply to GP's, but they've had such an easy ride during the pandemic with hospitals picking up the load, the GP's are loath to return to the usual busy norms...

 

[Total]

Now the government have instructed folks to return to their offices and workplaces that has got to apply to GP's, but they've had such an easy ride during the pandemic with hospitals picking up the load, the GP's are loath to return to the usual busy norms...

In our area you can add local government offices to that too....Lots of services still via phone calls/consultations and the GP's, that is one cluster **** that needs blowing up and starting again....Like most of the NHS, too top heavy...

 

[Arry]

In our area you can add local government offices to that too....Lots of services still via phone calls/consultations and the GP's, that is one cluster **** that needs blowing up and starting again....Like most of the NHS, too top heavy...

Yup... everything now is online... no recourse to talk to anyone, its just an excuse to slim down staff and cut out complaints...

 

[Total]

Yup... everything now is online... no recourse to talk to anyone, its just an excuse to slim down staff and cut out complaints...

But you can bet your bottom dollar they won't reduce ones tax and national insurance contributions for a poorer general overall service....

 

[Arry]

But you can bet your bottom dollar they won't reduce ones tax and national insurance contributions for a poorer general overall service....

Damn right there...

 

[Alantherose]

Mine is brilliant.
I know that this will alienate some people, but the difference between the service I get from my French GP compared to the service I experienced from NHS GPs is like night and day.
In 2000, misdiagnosis and inaction from my GP practice resulted with me in a wheel chair for 4 months and very nearly permanently.
If that offends some people I am sorry, it is not my intent, it is just a simple fact.
Medical treatment was one of the major factors in my decision to leave the UK for France in 2010

Agree with you mate. Having spent a month in a French hospital in 2006 I can say they are brilliant.

 

[davylad]

Since I've been a pensioner I haven't been to the surgery, I maybe should have done once or twice, but I won't go until I think I have to.