Are GPs useless?

I work in a large health centre and I pity the GPs there.

They're always - always - understaffed and overworked and receiving daily abuse from patients.

Horrible work. Working in the NHS is hard. A sense of humour goes a long way.
 
Edrof said:
I think the point is that people wouldn't mind how high their salaries went, if the majority of GPs actually gave a flying **** about their patients or they didn't use Google. My personal experience echoes many others' in that I've had a small minority of excellent doctors and a large majority of practitioners that haven't been worth a damn.
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Most qualify from Med sch "giving a flying ****". Then that is slowly sucked out of them in internship, and then GP training.

The "system" just isnt resourced enough for anyone to deliver the care that you and most of the public expect. Sure it would be fine and dandy to spend more time with the patient, but when the queues are out the door then you dont have much of a choice but to limit to 10min appointments, and the "give a damn" factor drops significantly.

Those who continue to try their best often burn out after 5 years or so. It just is too draining for anyone to be able to keep going at the expectations of the public, with the lack of access to adequate resources. ie Referral for specialist help, referral for investigation, referral for allied health assistance (physio/OT etc)

Sure anyone can use google. I'd rather trust someone who DOES use google, since that already defines that they know their limitations, rather than someone taking a punt. Not to mention that their training will make sense of the stuff google throws back at them, and they can filter accordingly.

If you look at Australia, their GPs earn far more. Their public moans far less. The level of care is higher. The public are more "satisfied". Many GPs there were from the UK.
 
Yep Gp's are ****, I've had bad stomach probs for years to the point I couldn't take it anymore when at work I was just not able to focuses on the job.. anyway after been given many different pills that I never take as I always get bad side effects I gave up and have taken time out from work of my own back.. 3 months with no pay but I had managed to save over the last 2 yrs incase this was the end result etc.. More to the point I've seen over 5gp's and they never send me to a specialist.. :s

My mother had to leave her job as she damaged her neck, the gps/nhs wouldn't pay for treatment that was needed to sort her, she was on a waiting list for the pain clinic for years but still never got in.. Now that she has spent well over 5k on very tuff treatment on her neck muscles ( prob fixing what damage the NHS chiropractors did aswell ) She is much better and able to lead a semi normal life.. I called her doc one day saying how much pain she was in, and she can cope with a lot but on this dy she was shacking with pain etc and the doc said tell her to take 2 more pain killers and ring me back later if no better limo.. What a joke. Sorry to go on..
 
Crezzlin said:
Yep Gp's are ****, I've had bad stomach probs for years to the point I couldn't take it anymore when at work I was just not able to focuses on the job.. anyway after been given many different pills that I never take as I always get bad side effects I gave up and have taken time out from work of my own back.. 3 months with no pay but I had managed to save over the last 2 yrs incase this was the end result etc.. More to the point I've seen over 5gp's and they never send me to a specialist.. :s

My mother had to leave her job as she damaged her neck, the gps/nhs wouldn't pay for treatment that was needed to sort her, she was on a waiting list for the pain clinic for years but still never got in.. Now that she has spent well over 5k on very tuff treatment on her neck muscles ( prob fixing what damage the NHS chiropractors did aswell ) She is much better and able to lead a semi normal life.. I called her doc one day saying how much pain she was in, and she can cope with a lot but on this dy she was shacking with pain etc and the doc said tell her to take 2 more pain killers and ring me back later if no better limo.. What a joke. Sorry to go on..
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I'm really interseted in what damage your mother had to her neck. Unfortunately even surgery for many neck and problems will give no relief whatsoever for the actual neck or back pain. It is only beneficail for the relief of the peripheral (arm and leg symtoms) or if there is signs of motor loss from nerve compression in virtually all cases. If she didn't have these then there would be no point sending to a neurosurgeon (specialist) as they would not be able to offer anything and the best plan of action would be regular analgesia, perhaps physiotherapy or some other manual therapist for symptomatic relief and advice, or trip(s) to the pain clinic to look at simply trying to manage the pain or coming to terms with it.

Unfortunately, as it is quite obvious in this thread, a lot of people forget that medical science is not perfect and there are still thousands of conditions which can't be cured. There is often no point in sending patients on to secondary care and when there is GP's are bound be financial restrictions and pressures regarding waiting lists. The other problem, which I see extremelty frequently is that people think they have an idea of what they think is best for them when in fact they don't. The amount of times I hear "and the doctor didn't even send me for an X-ray/scan!!!!" when an xray or scan would offer absolutely zero benefit is untrue. They are not going to send you for a (costly) investigation when it will yield no more information than they currently have.
Again, if you are not happy then pay to go private and pay for whatever investigations or specialists you want (rather than what you need). Chances are you will see the same doctor that you would on the NHS anyway. My opinion is that YES, some GP's are rubbish but unfortunately the vast majority of the dissatisfaction is due to the government and current management structure crippling the NHS and the publics unrealistic expectation that the NHS has unlimited financial resources and their ignorance of the system and boundaries that GP's work in.

Edit: and as for using google, why do people object so strongly to it? There are now online medical resourses which are regularly updated giving the current NICE guidlines, up to date research, best evidence treatment, current surgical techniques, new medications etc. and a great resource for images and information to show to the patient. Why you would rather they would not use the most up to date accurate information and technology I really have no idea. Those that expect GP's to somehow know EVERYTHING [current] about EVERY medical condition, again it simply shows your ignorance and lack of understanding.
 
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wow this thread's still going on?

you're always going to have dissatisfied people, but the truth is the GP service is excellent value for money in this country

One of the most respected annual surveys, the Ipsos-MORI poll has consistently, year after year, shown that UK doctors are the most trusted profession, for almost 20 years now.
Some people in this thread need to pick their battles more carefully.

Also, the mods ought to consider closing this thread. A number "diagnoses" have been thrown at the OP, including things like Coeliac disease. He might be tempted to try dramatic and expensive changes to his diet, and that's not right!
 
Useless? Not really. Last time I went in, I had my genitals inspected by a hot blond lady Doc, lol. Then I had a free scan, where I also had my kidneys scanned as well which gave me confidence for a forth coming medical.

I think the issues arise in that they probably think that most people come in for next to nothing (bad cold etc, feeling a bit cack), sometimes the geniune ill peeps get taken as hypo's.
 
Energize said:
GP whined at me for wanting a paracetamol prescription after being injured in a car crash. "Oh noes think of the cost to the nhs", maybe if they didn't charge double the price of the medication for prescriptions normally, I wouldn't have had to buy a ppc, condescending *****.
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Your GP was 100% right; frankly, he should have taken you outside and pushed you under a bus - next time, drive faster and don't wear a seat-belt.

I believe that Paracetamol tablets cost about 1p each from Tesco. What penny-pinching, benefit scrounging mentality convinced you that you simply had to go and waste a GP's time to save yourself a few quid :confused:

It is thoughtless, inconsiderate, selfish morons just like you that are destroying the NHS :mad:
 
How many paracetamol did you need exactly? A pack of 16 costs about 19p, so for the price of a prescription (about £7) you'd need over 576 tablets to make it worthwhile - even by just a few pence! That's months at full dosage every single day.
 
stockhausen said:
Your GP was 100% right; frankly, he should have taken you outside and pushed you under a bus - next time, drive faster and don't wear a seat-belt.

I believe that Paracetamol tablets cost about 1p each from Tesco. What penny-pinching, benefit scrounging mentality convinced you that you simply had to go and waste a GP's time to save yourself a few quid :confused:

It is thoughtless, inconsiderate, selfish morons just like you that are destroying the NHS :mad:
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It is ignorant people like you that are ruining the forum. Your comments are disgusting.
 
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Do you get free prescriptions?
I don't understand how else you could get them cheaper than buying them directly?
They can't write a script for thousands of them anymore.
Its a liquid calpol form of paracetamol or something?
 
Get your doctor to write a pvt prescription then, he is perfectly capable of doing so.
I can understand the gripe if you have a prepay card, paracetamol won't break the bank, in fact it'll barely contribute at generic rates.
 
Energize, inflated prescription prices er, would you rather pay normal market value for everything you need?

so 19p for a pack of generic paracetamol costs you 7 pounds on the NSH or nothing if you have a pre paid card which only costs 100 pounds per year.

or so say you have Hepatitis C and you want pegylated interferon-α and some Ribavirine that will set you back a cool 30k per QUALY!

Or need some Lipitor, that will be 30 pounds for a pack of 28 for the rest of your life.

You took the time to travel to your GP to save what 50p? but you took up a 10 min slot that someone who actually needs medical help could have used. Do you know that a 10 min visit to the GP cost the NHS about 27 to 31.5 pounds?
 
Hikari Kisugi said:
Get your doctor to write a pvt prescription then, he is perfectly capable of doing so. ...
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His GP would be perfectly entitled to charge for a private prescription. In view of his apparent hostile attitude to GPs, I would be very surprised if he didn't do so.

Hikari Kisugi said:
... I can understand the gripe if you have a prepay card, paracetamol won't break the bank, in fact it'll barely contribute at generic rates.
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I have just returned from Tesco - 15p for 16 Paracetamol tablets :rolleyes:
 
NinetyOne said:
Sadly I have to agree. GP's are getting more and more clueless and unwilling to help.
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Because people in this country go for every bump or cough they have. No wonder GPs get fed up. Try dealing with moaning hypochondriacs every day and see how you feel.
 
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