GPs complaints regarding work life balance

[tom_nieto]

The regular checks could detect terminal things sooner. How many people with cancer dont find out till its too late? A guy at work died last year from pancreatic cancer in late 50s. he didnt know he had it and he'd been under the care of his gp for blood pressure for years.

Please tell me the nature of these regular checks that can detect terminal things (and cancer) sooner. We'll set up a practice and make millions.

EDIT: Also please look up what advanced nurse practitioners are.

 

[danlightbulb]

Please tell me the nature of these regular checks that can detect terminal things (and cancer) sooner. We'll set up a practice and make millions.

EDIT: Also please look up what advanced nurse practitioners are.

All i can list is the things that worry me getting older. For example:

* kidney function - blood tests?
* liver function - blood tests?
* cancer - blood tests / stools / hormone levels / markers?
* heart attack - cholesterol checks + blood tests?
* aneurysm - xray / ultrasound?
* vitamin levels - blood tests?
* hormone levels eg testosterone - blood test?
* bone deterioration eg osteoarthritis
* eye conditions eg glaucoma - already done via eye test

 

[tamzzy]

All i can list is the things that worry me getting older. For example:

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/mens-health/what-are-well-man-clinics/

more importantly. i think you're not quite understanding the difference between a screening test and a diagnostic test, and why one cannot replace the other at significant cost (monetary or otherwise).

 

[Dis86]

Again I would put that down to a bad school with bad management. Working in a school with bad management and a staff shortage is a nightmare and does create a situation with overworked staff. But as I said before not all schools are like that and that is not normal. I admit there are some really terrible schools to work for but it is not fair to blanket statement all schools and all Teachers like that just because you had a bad experience in one. Some school management teams do care about staff workload and do handle the budgets correctly so they have enough of the correct staff.

Can you explain then why if everything is as rosey in teaching as you claim it is that recruitment targets have been missed every year for the past decade and record numbers of teachers are leaving the profession?

 

[Pottsey]

Can you explain then why if everything is as rosey in teaching as you claim it is that recruitment targets have been missed every year for the past decade and record numbers of teachers are leaving the profession?

I never said everything is rosy. But its not all doom and gloom either like you are trying to make out. There are some really bad schools out there that put people off teaching but like wise there are good schools with good retention. Its not a cause like you are trying to make out that all Teachers work all the time in all holidays.

 

[SpeedFreak]

When you get to a level in your career going the extra mile is a given. Without doing this, doors will cease to open. I'm not sure if this applies to GPs as they are technically self employed so I understand their position to an extent.

 

[Werewolf]

The regular checks could detect terminal things sooner. How many people with cancer dont find out till its too late? A guy at work died last year from pancreatic cancer in late 50s. he didnt know he had it and he'd been under the care of his gp for blood pressure for years.

Erm IIRC blood pressure and pancreatice cancer monitoring are different things.
Unless he'd mentioned symptoms of the cancer to the GP (had he even thought about them himself), or was obviously showing them I suspect that the routine tests for blood pressure may not have much overlap with those for that cancer.

As for routine tests, there are from memory some that will catch certain cancers earlier, but the testing itself presents a risk and thus it can be a case of do you do test every year starting at say 40 knowing that there is a 1 in say 10,000 chance of something going wrong every time, or do the test every two years starting when the cancer typical starts at 50+ knowing there is a 1 in 100,000 chance you'll pick it up later than you might otherwise have done but it won't materially affect survival chances.
Most testing schemes are based on statistics balancing things like age at which it commonly becomes a problem (and earliest age), how common it is in the population, how risky the testing is (you don't want to give say chest of pelvic x-rays routinely unless you have to due to the radiation risks, and especially not to women of childbearing age), and an element of cost as do you spend the same to catch one case of X or 10 million to catch 100 cases of Y.

You also then need a huge increase in the number of people who can perform those tests, and do the diagnostic work, something that is a massive issue even with the current routine testing schemes, let alone adding it for a whole load of new things at a time when the average GP surgery is understaffed and underfunded and it can be hard to get in for a targeted test because the GP has spotted something.

 

[Werewolf]

When you get to a level in your career going the extra mile is a given. Without doing this, doors will cease to open. I'm not sure if this applies to GPs as they are technically self employed so I understand their position to an extent.

I think there is going the extra mile, and going the extra marathon every day.

It's like saying that people working at EA should be used to doing "crunch hours" because they knew they were a thing before they started in the job, whilst ignoring that the "crunch" is no longer the last few days/weeks of a project but 12-18 months if not the entire 3-5 years they're on the project.

 

[Rroff]

I think there is going the extra mile, and going the extra marathon every day.

It's like saying that people working at EA should be used to doing "crunch hours" because they knew they were a thing before they started in the job, whilst ignoring that the "crunch" is no longer the last few days/weeks of a project but 12-18 months if not the entire 3-5 years they're on the project.

Something I've found quite frustrating in a number of jobs - stuff hits the fan or whatever and you put in a load of crazy long shifts/up the pace to get more work done quicker and suddenly that is an expectation of you normally and higher ups can't seem to understand it isn't a sustainable pace! result being in the end they just lose good people who burn out.

 

[flibbage0]

Some of the comments on here are ridiculous, do any of you work in healthcare or have family members/friends who are doctors?

Let me put it to you this way:
Age 15-16, You HAVE to work your bottom off to get top GCSE's,
Age 16-18, You HAVE to get minimum 3 A's at A level, some places even A*AA MINIMUM, and not in poncy subjects

During this time you HAVE to do lots of extracurricular activities related to medicine and also non-related which makes it even harder because you have to balance everything.

You do one or more entrance exams (UKCAT/BMAT) which are very tough, you get a high score

You apply for Medical school, majority don't get in 1st time so you wait another year

You manage to get in, now you've got 5/6 years of university. I've done pharmacy school and trust me medical school is much more intense and harder.

In the final 2 or 3 years of the course you are spending most of your time on the wards being handed horrible tasks to test you, then you go home and have to do lectures yourself because their simply isn't enough time.

You're 25/26 congratulations you've passed medical school, you're now a junior doctor. You get placed at a random place in the country for 2 years. You earn £26-28k, have to work nights and regularly do 12-14 hour shifts and deal with stressful life and death situations on a regular basis.

Now you're 27/28, you can go on a GP training programme, minimum 3 more years of working in rotational wards including A+E and again doing night shifts, your salary is now around £35-37k.

Decide for yourselves if they deserve the pay they receive once they achieve a senior role

EDIT: forgot to mention that during this time of A levels and medical school you can't really have a part time job in fact some universities BAN you from taking a part time job during your degree.

Also you don't get typical summer holidays beyond 2nd year of university, max 3-4 weeks off

 

[Werewolf]

Something I've found quite frustrating in a number of jobs - stuff hits the fan or whatever and you put in a load of crazy long shifts/up the pace to get more work done quicker and suddenly that is an expectation of you normally and higher ups can't seem to understand it isn't a sustainable pace! result being in the end they just lose good people who burn out.

Aye .

i know a guy that effectively happened to, he was a senior at one company but ended up carrying much of the load, he ended up leaving it (and having to go on garden leave for something like 12 months because of a non compete), went to a different company at a lower position and salary and was far happier. He's now at the same position in the new company but with a better workload and a better work/life balance.

 

[FishFluff]

**** sake. How about we try and make it so everyone can work sensible hours rather than have this pointless race to the bottom so that everyone in the country is stressed and miserable no matter what their salary?

 

[Rroff]

**** sake. How about we try and make it so everyone can work sensible hours rather than have this pointless race to the bottom so that everyone in the country is stressed and miserable no matter what their salary?

One of the problems is competitiveness at a global level. It is interesting just how short sighted and stupid we are as a civilisation though.

 

[Combat squirrel]

**** sake. How about we try and make it so everyone can work sensible hours rather than have this pointless race to the bottom so that everyone in the country is stressed and miserable no matter what their salary?

This, we are becoming more and more and more and more backwards in this country - but our society is based on economics - inevitably money will be placed over human happiness.

I like NZ's recent announcment to build a happier society rather than an economically driven one, some countries are becoming really sensible, the UK is accelerating backwards.

 

[Roar87]

This, we are becoming more and more and more and more backwards in this country - but our society is based on economics - inevitably money will be placed over human happiness.

I like NZ's recent announcment to build a happier society rather than an economically driven one, some countries are becoming really sensible, the UK is accelerating backwards.

They're spending a bit more money on child support and giving more to mental health services, that's literally it. What happens when you give people too much money for having kids? They become professional full time mummys who don't work and live in nicer houses than people who are working full time. So I suppose it's a happier society unless you want to work and better yourself

 

[Combat squirrel]

They're spending a bit more money on child support and giving more to mental health services, that's literally it. What happens when you give people too much money for having kids? They become professional full time mummys who don't work and live in nicer houses than people who are working full time. So I suppose it's a happier society unless you want to work and better yourself

Spoken like a tory

Some people want to better themselves as a person, not their bank account digits, I assume you mean by 'want to work and better yourself' to mean get more money - news flash, quality of life isn't directly linked to money.

If you have beef with people working full time getting less money than people on child support - who by the way don't get millions, just enough to support the child - then all your saying is wages are hilariously low in the western world - UK's minimum wage is laughable, USA's is worse, we need a minimum £20 an hour for people, so they can live with some quality of life - yes even those stocking shelves - leave child support where it is - bobs your uncle you work you get more.

If you have issue with that, your also trained to follow profit.

And yes the companies making billions in profit SHOULD fit the bill - why ? Because ONE guy getting massive cuts of billions doesnt NEED that money, he would STILL get billions !!

 

[Dis86]

Spoken like a tory

Some people want to better themselves as a person, not their bank account digits, I assume you mean by 'want to work and better yourself' to mean get more money - news flash, quality of life isn't directly linked to money.

If you have beef with people working full time getting less money than people on child support - who by the way don't get millions, just enough to support the child - then all your saying is wages are hilariously low in the western world - UK's minimum wage is laughable, USA's is worse, we need a minimum £20 an hour for people, so they can live with some quality of life - yes even those stocking shelves - leave child support where it is - bobs your uncle you work you get more.

If you have issue with that, your also trained to follow profit.

And yes the companies making billions in profit SHOULD fit the bill - why ? Because ONE guy getting massive cuts of billions doesnt NEED that money, he would STILL get billions !!

OT what about the companies that aren't making big/any profits?

Should I have to pay someone £20 per hour to put fruit from a conveyor and in to a box? Helllllllll no. Not unless you want to pay £6 for an apple. In which case your £20 per hour aint gonna go far...

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

@Buddy Nice post mate, and thanks for choosing the career you do

 

[Buddy]

props to you mate. as a fellow colleague (in intensive care), i couldn't work in primary care and deal with 99.9% of the crap you deal with day in, day out.
(sitting on your arse all day, drinking tea, and shooing patients out of the door after 10 mins...lol )

@Buddy - Great post, thank you for taking the time to write it. Being a good GP is incredibly challenging and there aren’t enough GPs. I certainly couldn’t do it!

@Buddy Nice post mate, and thanks for choosing the career you do

Unfortunately, Joe Public doesn't know how good they have it - currently with a £80/annum all you can eat buffet.

An excellent post. Thanks for sharing your first hand experience of life as a GP. As GP registrar in my last few weeks I couldn't disagree with a single word there.

There are so many inaccuracies in this threat I really can't be bothered to respond to them individually and Buddy's post is a very honest and true reflection of the experiences of most GP's. Everybody entering medicine knows the demands of the career and I've not met a single GP who has ever complained about the pay.

Good luck. Fortunately, the new contract seems to say all the right things. Hope it follows through.

 

[tamzzy]

Unfortunately, Joe Public doesn't know how good they have it - currently with a £80/annual all you can eat buffet.

Privatisation is good for the soul
Can't wait till UK privatises the NHS making it like the USA. #1 cause of bankruptcy = healthcare.
Good for us though lol. My friend is an internal medicine attending there...basic pay = $350,000 pa.



Then people can really start to complain.