Are your local doctors this bad?

My doctors are excellent. Never had to wait more than a day for an appointment and they always take me seriously. I couldn't be happier with them :)
 
Some of the posts on here are quite discouraging as far as 1st line medical care goes in this country.
The problem when people have to wait a week to see a GP usually arises when you want to see a specific GP.
This sometimes cannot be avoided when waiting for test results and for the sake of continuity you want to see the same doctor.
There are NHS guidelines for this:
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2555.aspx?CategoryID=68&SubCategoryID=158

The vast majority of GP's do not churn out antibiotics for obviously viral or other infections.
As far as the GP who refused to send a members mother for x-ray for an undiagnosed pain, that sounds like frank negligence to me.
The sad eventual outcome may not have been avoided, just much pain.
 
I don't think doctors take people seriously enough any more especially younger ones. If you think there's something seriously wrong you're better just to go to A&E. At least you'll be treated with more urgency.

Despite having every symptom there is for bowel cancer my dad's doctor told him that it was all in his head and prescribed 'happy pills' for a year until dad really knew there was something wrong and pushed for more tests which he had to wait 3 or 4 months on. Within a few minutes of the camera test the specialist at the hospital told him that there was no doubt about it that he had cancer and it had been there for a few years. After this he had to wait a further 8 weeks for an MRI scan before they would operate. Just 2 days before he was due to go he was rushed in for emergency surgery because the cancer was so bad it blocked his bowel causing extreme pain which the previous day his doctor had told him not to worry about! The surgeon said if he had of waited an hour or so later he'd have been dead it was that bad.

Fast forward a few years to 2 weeks ago and the same doctor sent my next door neighbour home who was severely swolen all over with obvious problems and she died the next night in her sleep with a massive heart attack. Had the doctor have taken more action I believe this could have been avoided.

Thankfully I go to a different doctors surgery but could have to wait over a week to be seen.
 
Rich_L said:
It doesn't sound particularly serious, nor are you in a high-risk demographic

Also, how can you expect to be given treatment when clearly, by the fact they have put you in for further diagnostics, they don't know what, if anything, is wrong with you.
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Excellent summary.

I have spent 34 years (that's all of my life!) under the care of the NHS and only on a few occasions have they let me down. Most of the time I have been looked after by dedicated hardworking staff.

My GP is excellent but she cannot know everything. She even admits that I know more about my eczema than she does. Then again she is a general practitioner and knows a lot more about most medical conditions than I do.

For my eczema I see the head consultant here in Derby and she is also excellent.

The best part about both my GP and the consultant is they listen and care about my health issues.

Don't, however, get me started on how poor NHS Dentistry is.
 
matthew_o50 said:
Despite having every symptom there is for bowel cancer my dad's doctor told him that it was all in his head and prescribed 'happy pills' for a year until dad really knew there was something wrong and pushed for more tests which he had to wait 3 or 4 months on. Within a few minutes of the camera test the specialist at the hospital told him that there was no doubt about it that he had cancer and it had been there for a few years. After this he had to wait a further 8 weeks for an MRI scan before they would operate. Just 2 days before he was due to go he was rushed in for emergency surgery because the cancer was so bad it blocked his bowel causing extreme pain which the previous day his doctor had told him not to worry about! The surgeon said if he had of waited an hour or so later he'd have been dead it was that bad.
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The amount of time you have to wait to have tests carried out does annoy me. I had to wait 2 weeks for my GP to look at an xray and blood test. Surely they could have just printed the x-ray and I could have driven back to the surgery with them? I don't know how long blood tests take but 2 weeks?

Compare that with my house mate coming off his bike in France, walked out of the surgery with an x-ray in 30 mins and had had a cat scan within the hour.
 
Souness said:
OP should feel lucky. I just had to book an ultrasound scan and the earliest appointment was a month away.
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My ultrasound is probably going to be the same. But I don't mind this as I understand that people with suspected cancer should take priority.

But I still think 3 weeks for an xray is ridiculous.
 
burns said:
Compare that with my house mate coming off his bike in France, walked out of the surgery with an x-ray in 30 mins and had had a cat scan within the hour.
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The whole system in France is different and appears to work.
One problem here is that priority is often given to acute in-patients in hospitals who require on-going, sometimes daily, investigations.
The feeling is that requests from GP's are pushed to one side.
In France many GP surgeries can conduct their own x-rays, scan and blood tests.
Even if they lack these facilities there is often a private place in the same town which can do these tests almost as quickly.
 
Not easy to get an apppointment, but because I don't run to the doctor for every single little thing I normally tell the receptionist that I wouldn't be calling unless I needed an appointment. They see my history and fit me in, normally within a few hours.

I think some of the receptionists are to blame. Must be such a poor miserable job that they make things as difficult for you as possible.
 
My doctor is less than useless. I have slight Asthma, normally only in the summer. I went to see him about get a new inhaler as I hadn't really needed one for years. He listened to my chest and said I didn't have asthma, maybe tuberculosis and to come back if it got worse?? What the hell, I had a TB jab at school for a start and if he bothered to check my record he would know I do have Asthma.

I wouldn't trust him at all.
 
Local GPs seemed to be useless at times. I kind of stopped going there when I was ill in the end as I just didn't see the point. Suffering in silence sucks though. I still need to re-register with them but I just can't be bothered with the hassle. If anything really bad happens, I've got the hospital up the road! However, the GPs I had as a student at university were nothing short of excellent in my opinion. Although. oddly they did let me diagnose myself a couple of times. I suppose it was kind of like a quiz with some medication as the prize!

"What do you think it is?"
"AIDS"
"Incorrect! Let's have a look at what you could've won!"
 
mr_x_plosion said:
My doctor is less than useless. I have slight Asthma, normally only in the summer. I went to see him about get a new inhaler as I hadn't really needed one for years. He listened to my chest and said I didn't have asthma, maybe tuberculosis and to come back if it got worse?? What the hell, I had a TB jab at school for a start and if he bothered to check my record he would know I do have Asthma.

I wouldn't trust him at all.
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CHANGE DOCTOR.

It amazes me that people say "my doctor" is useless.

If you aren't happy with treatment, see a different GP, complain to the practice manager or change practice.

And to the OP - if you aren't in a life threatening situation - what do you expect? Should everyone else be shunted out the way because your need is somehow greater? If you really aren't happy with NHS care, go private.
 
My doctor couldn't even diagnose common conditions without seeing a specialist, yet it took about 10 seconds to diagnose it on the internet, I had to wait a month for the appointment too.

Bennie-Mac said:
My girlfriends brother has been waiting to get a CAT scan for 3 weeks...When on holiday in America my dad had a seizure in a shopping mall, they gave him a CAT scan on the same day, just as a precaution! Although the bill for all that was over $15000, holiday insurance for the win! Also a 4 mile ambulance ride costs $350 incase anyone cant get a taxi
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$15,000 for a CT scan!? You can get an MRI for ~ £300 in the uk.
 
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When I had a dodgy back I went to my doctors, within a week I had an appointment with a physio. If I had seen the other doctor I'm sure I'd still be in agony!
 
It took me over two years between seeing my GP and getting my knee operated on. They didn't do the right operation so it's got me nowhere and there was no follow up afterwards. I took the stitches out myself because it was less grief than getting to see a doctor or to the hospital in that borough. I haven't even tried to get it done properly because I know I'll waste so much of my time on it, so I'll just live with the pain.

My other half had her condition incorrectly diagnosed and it was only at the hospital when we were told she had two hours to live that they actually diagnosed it properly and luckily she lived through it.

No, I don't have any faith in our health system.

Freefaller said:
I've been very lucky in my life to have never had so much as a cold or illness *touches wood*. However rather recently I went to the docs just to have a checkup as I hadn't been to the docs in about 6 years I had to register at that GP as I had no record, anyway, he asked me what was wrong and I said, nothing, I just want an MOT, checkup etc... He said tht if I wasn't ill I shouldn't waste his time and other people's who need attention?! I then told him I had to book this appointment 3 weeks previous to be seen, I'm not wasting anyone's time. Anyway he didn't even so much as take my blood pressure or spend more than 1 minute with me. I actually felt I was disturbing him from doing nothing. There wasn't even anyone in the waiting room - it was empty! :/
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That I'm afraid is completely ridiculous because there can be all manner of things wrong with you that don't show on the surface. I'm not saying you needed a finger up the bum but a quick weight, height, blood pressure and colesterol test wouldn't have taken him long.
 
jamief said:
And to the OP - if you aren't in a life threatening situation - what do you expect? Should everyone else be shunted out the way because your need is somehow greater? If you really aren't happy with NHS care, go private.
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Well if they want to do an ultrasound scan it means it's likely they think there may be a possibility of cancer. I'm just suprised that something potentially serious is going to take so long to be diagnosed/treated, and in the meantime I'm out of work and sitting around twiddling my thumbs worrying and wondering whats wrong with me.
 
seek said:
Well if they want to do an ultrasound scan it means it's likely they think there may be a possibility of cancer.
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How do you figure that out? Ultrasound can be used for a myriad of purposes. Assuming they think it's cancer is somewhat silly and no good for your nerves.
 
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