NHS surgery just fobbing people off

[tescorank]

So early 60’s and lost 5lb in 5 days and phoned doctors up to be told the doc will return my call in 6 days ! I just said I want an mot/blood test, fast forward and got one in a week-so forced myself to eat in between time. Now 3 weeks later I have wait for “diabetic nurse to come back and discuss results” in early August!

Im at a loss, how much for private ?

[pavarotti1980]

tescorank said:

So early 60’s and lost 5lb in 5 days and phoned doctors up to be told the doc will return my call in 6 days ! I just said I want an mot/blood test, fast forward and got one in a week-so forced myself to eat in between time. Now 3 weeks later I have wait for “diabetic nurse to come back and discuss results” in early August!

Im at a loss, how much for private ?

Sudden weight loss can be caused by undiagnosed diabetes. The diabetes nurse wanting to discuss your result may be an indication it is related to that. I wouldn't say this is a consequence of fobbing people off but prioritising case load.

[mrsshpub]

tescorank said:

So early 60’s and lost 5lb in 5 days and phoned doctors up to be told the doc will return my call in 6 days ! I just said I want an mot/blood test, fast forward and got one in a week-so forced myself to eat in between time. Now 3 weeks later I have wait for “diabetic nurse to come back and discuss results” in early August!

Im at a loss, how much for private ?

Can you access your blood test results online?

[Jamescrs]

If you download the NHS app (Not the Covid tracking one) you can view all your medical records online and you may well find that there is additional information on there i.e test results and doctors review comments.

[selwonk]

Jamescrs said:

If you download the NHS app (Not the Covid tracking one) you can view all your medical records online

...if your GP has opted in to share the data. Which our local GP hasn't!

[K77 CTR]

tescorank said:

So early 60’s and lost 5lb in 5 days and phoned doctors up to be told the doc will return my call in 6 days ! I just said I want an mot/blood test, fast forward and got one in a week-so forced myself to eat in between time. Now 3 weeks later I have wait for “diabetic nurse to come back and discuss results” in early August!

Im at a loss, how much for private ?

Why are you having to force yourself to eat? Is the weightloss because you can't eat or vomiting or something? Or have you been eating and living as normal and suddenly lost 5lb?

[Armitage.Shanks]

Not sure what your issue is. You asked for a test and surprisingly got one. Your results will be on the NHS App for you to use Google Doctor whilst you wait for a discussion.

Sounds to me you’ve been triaged. If your results were showing immediate concerns they would have been in touch but obviously thought this can wait for the nurse to discuss with you. Hopefully your complaint is nothing serious.

[Riley Blue]

Armitage.Shanks said:

Not sure what your issue is. You asked for a test and surprisingly got one. Your results will be on the NHS App for you to use Google Doctor whilst you wait for a discussion.

Sounds to me you’ve been triaged. If your results were showing immediate concerns they would have been in touch but obviously thought this can wait for the nurse to discuss with you. Hopefully your complaint is nothing serious.

That's how it works at my surgery. You won't be contacted at all if there's nothing of concern yet some people still expect surgery staff to spend time phoning to tell them that.

[anonymous-user]

Riley Blue said:

Armitage.Shanks said:

Not sure what your issue is. You asked for a test and surprisingly got one. Your results will be on the NHS App for you to use Google Doctor whilst you wait for a discussion.

Sounds to me you’ve been triaged. If your results were showing immediate concerns they would have been in touch but obviously thought this can wait for the nurse to discuss with you. Hopefully your complaint is nothing serious.

That's how it works at my surgery. You won't be contacted at all if there's nothing of concern yet some people still expect surgery staff to spend time phoning to tell them that.

And so they damn well should given the amount of 'important stuff' they have missed.
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/cervical-cancer-di...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10230029/...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-56738440.amp

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/great...

https://www.brachers.co.uk/insights/400000-obtaine...

How many examples would you like ? You certainly don't have to look far.

[Douglas Quaid]

Riley Blue said:

Armitage.Shanks said:

Not sure what your issue is. You asked for a test and surprisingly got one. Your results will be on the NHS App for you to use Google Doctor whilst you wait for a discussion.

Sounds to me you’ve been triaged. If your results were showing immediate concerns they would have been in touch but obviously thought this can wait for the nurse to discuss with you. Hopefully your complaint is nothing serious.

That's how it works at my surgery. You won't be contacted at all if there's nothing of concern yet some people still expect surgery staff to spend time phoning to tell them that.

Yes, a 1 minute phone call to relieve someone’s worry is well worth the time spent. Otherwise you’re just left in limbo.

[anonymous-user]

Douglas Quaid said:

Yes, a 1 minute phone call to relieve someone’s worry is well worth the time spent. Otherwise you’re just left in limbo.

absolutely
You would think patients are an afterthought to the perks of the job.

[Bill]

Riley Blue said:

That's how it works at my surgery. You won't be contacted at all if there's nothing of concern yet some people still expect surgery staff to spend time phoning to tell them that.

Given the number of negative results they get they'd have to employ an extra member of staff just to do the calls.

[Riley Blue]

Bill said:

Riley Blue said:

That's how it works at my surgery. You won't be contacted at all if there's nothing of concern yet some people still expect surgery staff to spend time phoning to tell them that.

Given the number of negative results they get they'd have to employ an extra member of staff just to do the calls.

They'd need more than one extra, my practice has 44,000+ patients across eight surgeries. Patients already moan about phones not being answered quickly enough, imagine what it would be like if staff were busy making 'negative result' calls rather than answering those incoming.

[Bill]

Ah, my wife's practice is 1/4 that size!

[Armitage.Shanks]

speedyguy said:

Riley Blue said:

Armitage.Shanks said:

Not sure what your issue is. You asked for a test and surprisingly got one. Your results will be on the NHS App for you to use Google Doctor whilst you wait for a discussion.

Sounds to me you’ve been triaged. If your results were showing immediate concerns they would have been in touch but obviously thought this can wait for the nurse to discuss with you. Hopefully your complaint is nothing serious.

That's how it works at my surgery. You won't be contacted at all if there's nothing of concern yet some people still expect surgery staff to spend time phoning to tell them that.

And so they damn well should given the amount of 'important stuff' they have missed.
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/cervical-cancer-di...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10230029/...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-56738440.amp

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/great...

https://www.brachers.co.uk/insights/400000-obtaine...

How many examples would you like ? You certainly don't have to look far.

If you’re not happy with the NHS then you can pay and go private but don’t complain if you need emergency treatment and the only option is A&E given private health insurance doesn’t cover it.

Mistakes are made and make headline news but if you correlate it with those that aren’t then that percentage will be tiny.

As others have said given the size of GP practices these days the volume of calls they deal with it’s unrealistic to expect a courtesy call these days. At my practice they’d have to employ someone just for that given the number of patients and hence the use of NHS App record sharing that tells me the test has been analysed and results available the next day. That in itself is remarkable the amount of blood tests that must be taken each day, sent to the lab and results the next day.

A courtesy call would be good but I accept the service is under pressure and realistic in my expectations. Many people aren't. I’d like to see a doctor if needed in good time and I could give plenty of reasons why that’s not possible. Putting my thoughts on here will clearly aggravate those with ‘thin skin’ so I won’t in case somebody bursts a blood vessel and puts more load on the system.

[liam1986]

speedyguy said:

Douglas Quaid said:

Yes, a 1 minute phone call to relieve someone’s worry is well worth the time spent. Otherwise you’re just left in limbo.

absolutely
You would think patients are an afterthought to the perks of the job.

You realise the NHS isn't your mum?

This is part of the problem today, complaints about the service that should be filed in the bin are pandered too making people think the complaints are valid.

[Red9zero]

Good luck getting an appointment with a diabetic nurse. I had been waiting two months to see mine, only to get the appointment cancelled as she "wasn't trained". Now I'm back in the queue waiting for her to get trained.

[Panamax]

liam1986 said:

You realise the NHS isn't your mum?

This is part of the problem today, complaints about the service that should be filed in the bin are pandered too making people think the complaints are valid.

You're living in a dream world. The NHS is severely broken but if anybody dares to mention it they get shot down by that sort of response. Just call them all heroes, clap your hands on a Thursday evening and everything will be fine.

The biggest problem IMO with the NHS is it's completely free and therefore demand is completely unlimited. Until that changes it will never get fixed.

The government talks about a high skills economy and yet we don't train enough doctors and nurses despite having some of the world's leading educational facilities. Yet another sign of a broken system.

[vulture1]

I am starting to genuinely believe that a doctors surgery is the equivalent of a retired person taking a job on trollies at the local supermarket. Mon to friday what seems like worse and worse service/availability. Just a bunch of older doctors waiting out retirement? Is this true do toehrs feel the same?
I know my sister a nurse has nothing good to say about local GPs and a very clever friend of mine who works in a hospital is even frustrated at local gps.

[MesoForm]

vulture1 said:

I am starting to genuinely believe that a doctors surgery is the equivalent of a retired person taking a job on trollies at the local supermarket. Mon to friday what seems like worse and worse service/availability. Just a bunch of older doctors waiting out retirement? Is this true do toehrs feel the same?
I know my sister a nurse has nothing good to say about local GPs and a very clever friend of mine who works in a hospital is even frustrated at local gps.

It’s a bit of a lottery I’ve found, if you get an older GP they do seem to think it’s their job to get rid of you as quickly as possible, but a couple of the doctors at our local surgery genuinely want to help you and find out what’s wrong.