Well, if it wasn’t for the patients. Maybe just put them off coming at all.
Patients are being told they can no longer visit or even phone their GP to book an appointment in a move that has sparked fears over access to vital healthcare – and which appears to break NHS rules.
Surgeries are abandoning traditional ways of getting in touch with the doctor, telling patients they must go online instead.
Even anyone with an urgent problem – or parents worried about a sick child – must submit a detailed request form then wait up to 24 hours for a reply. Doctors who back the change say they are dealing with more patients than ever and insist digital systems make it easier to identify and prioritise the most important cases.
How do you know if it is important if people can’t get hold of you? What if they peg out in that 24 hours? The last few times I’ve tried to see a doctor it’s been a nightmare. Not that they have managed to solve the issue anyway, so it was all a waste of time.
Still, nice work if you can get it, and the NHS must be worshipped no matter what.
To be fair, our GP surgery uses a system like this.
Fill in a e-consult and they look at it, getting back to you with varying degrees of rapidity. More urgent stuff and they get back to you quickly.
So far, they get back pretty quick when we’ve had to ask about the kids. But then kids always get prioritised.
I can’t say about if it was myself since I used the tried and tested method of not getting sick and not going to the doctors anyway because every time I’ve been I’ve just been fobbed off by incompetent idiots who just fucking Google the symptoms.
I usually know more about it than they do.
My experience exactly. Was told to stop taking a medication with immediate effect, I was under the impression (having read the little leaflet that came with) and queried it.
Useless GP googled it in front of me.
Dr Google and Dr Youtube are more available and more reliable.
I have used Push Doctor on occasion.
Fine, give me control over the money paid to the GP to have me on their list and I’ll choose one that suits my needs.
Oh, no, can’t do that. Might actually have to provide a service the end user wants.
A simple solution… pay doctors for the people they see, not the numbers of people on their list.
Otherwise people will get fed up with GPs and go private… as has (mostly) happened with spectacles, dentistry, hearing aids. And cut down the NHS funding and staffing as private use increases proportionately.
Other countries seem to manage their healthcare better… perhaps we should change the NHS to match? (Heresy? I know, but once the faith weakens criticism strengthens.)
You mean like this?
https://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=1254
The next one in the series is a revelation too.
Oh for the good old days when, if you weren’t feeling well, you went to the doctor, made an appointment and sat in the waiting room until they could see you.
Our local surgery is pretty good. I suspect that these pockets of decent service keep many people on the side of the NHS because they aren’t aware of the truly awful parts.
“Oh for the good old days when, if you weren’t feeling well, you went to the doctor, made an appointment and sat in the waiting room until they could see you.”
I’m old enough to have forgotten when they brought in the ‘make an appointment’ bit.
You mean that the surgery was in a converted room in his house in a residential area?
“Turn up and see the Doctor”?
Yes, I can remember having a ration book as well, even if it was only for sweets, but maybe Mum kept the important one!