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[Nickbat]

I found this story very tragic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/7814506.stm

I remember when I was young we had a GP that knew the whole family and would happily come out at any time, day or night, to attend to us. He was also a trained surgeon and twice stitched my arm/hand.  Nowadays, it seems that GP surgeries are strictly 9-5, have no parking (save for the GPs' Porsches) and any illlness that does not occur during the working day is treated with contempt. In this case the poor girl had to put up with a phone diagnosis. She's dead now, and leaves behind a young child, not even a year old.

I have a dim view of GPs these days, as you can see.

[albitz]

And they earn over 100k a year. I suppose this is where you end up after years of idiotic politicians interfering in something that used to be the envy of the world.

[Darth Loo-knee]

This is a sad story and my heart goes out to her family.
But being fair we only ever hear the bad things, we never hear how many lives have being saved.

[Richie London]

surgery was always walk in,seen now, no appts like now where you have to wait 3 days to be seen.  

[Nickbat]

This is a sad story and my heart goes out to her family.
But being fair we only ever hear the bad things, we never hear how many lives have being saved.

Like my neighbour that kept going back to his GP complaining of severe stomach pain and was every time told he had an irritable bowel and to take paracetamol. Eventually, he was referred and was diagnosed with colon cancer. He had two tumours removed, but sadly died a couple of months ago. This, despite colon cancer running in his family. GPs are NOT as they used to be.

Medical practices these days are run as businesses. Despite being an economic capitalist at heart, there are parts of the nation's infrastructure that should NOT be run as a business.    

[Kevin Wood]

And they earn over 100k a year. I suppose this is where you end up after years of idiotic politicians interfering in something that used to be the envy of the world.

Exactly. To hell with what's best for the patient, but woe betide anyone whose targets are not met or whose boxes are not ticked.

Kevin

[Ken T]

Er, its funny you should say that, but I have asthma and need various medicines. I was told my normal GP was going to stop giving me medicines, and to register with a local GP in Belfast. As I stay in B&B I have no fixed address. So, I found a practise that looked good, had an asthma nurse etc, and phoned them up. When I told them where I usually stayed, the said "no you have to register with the closest practise, and there are practises closer to where you stay" . Now the place where I hope to stay is closed for a couple of weeks so I can't ask them for recomendations. How do you find a doctor close to an address ?. Google has lots of replies but most of them are useless.

Another time when I was due to go to hospital to see a consultant re breathing difficulties. I went to see the quack and showed him information I had got re how a certain medication was good for reducing the symptoms I have. No he said, the side effects are not good. Well they aren't that bad, i've had the stuff several times, and when I went eventually got to see the consultant he put me on a course of the drug I first asked for.  


Ken

[albitz]

My mates wife is a gp,she is so sick of all the meddling that she is retiring,she cant take any more of it.
My current gp is utterly useless.

[Darth Loo-knee]

I must be very lucky to have a good doctor then  :-?

[Kevin Wood]

It's hardly surprising that we hear of casualty departments overwhelmed by people with minor ailments. Seems like it's the only place you can get anything out of hours.

Whilst I'm actually very happy with the local GPs it's a pain in the @rse that, if I want a non-urgent appointment they refuse to let me book something a week or two in advance that I can organise my life around. It has to be the next day or two, or it goes down in their stats as me having waited too long for an appointment.

Kevin