Are our Doctors competent?

aliasojo

CompBunny wrote: »

I do not believe that 99.99% of doctors would purposefully misdiagnose or overlook something serious though.

I don't think anyone is suggesting they are, to be fair.

collywollys

Toothsmith wrote: »

In general, they have 10 mins to assess what is in front of them and to make a judgement.

Access to secondary diagnostic and screening services is patchy at best, and there are bean-counters breathing down their necks if they send too many patients for these services.

In the vast majority of cases, the person in front of them will get better in a few days anyway.

So who do they send for these extra tests and who do they not? Based on a 10 min (at best) check in stressfull surroundings?

It's a system based on Russian Roulette!

And the new 'competition' being introduced in the NHS reforms will make it worse.

I have been told by 2 different Doctors that the time limit is 5 minutes and if I want any more time I will have to make another appointment :eek: It's just ridiculous one of them was when I had taken my 5 month old son with breathing problems I just don't think Doctors care anymore. I remember when you could go to your Doctor about anything even if it was a personal problem not just medical.

aliasojo

It's 5 minutes here too. If we need to discuss anything in depth we need to make it clear at time of booking the appointment and ask for a double appointment. If we're lucky there will be two appointments together, if not it could take anything up to 3 weeks.

Errata

There may be a few less than adequate doctors in some districts, but if a patient is dissatisfied they can take responsibility for their own wellbeing and move to another practice.

Red_Doe

Errata wrote: »

I hope everyone who has a tale of woe about a doctor's incompetence reports the doctor through the appropriate channels. I hope, but I have no expectation whatsoever of that hope being met.

I did (as I`ve written about in this thread) and got as far as the Medical Ombudsman. The complaint was not upheld and I was told basically, "deal with it".
There are also others in this area alone who have made official complaints about the same doctor, yet she`s still practicing. Anyone want to suggest we`re all making it up about her?

Also, I live in a remote area with no other doctor or surgery available. When I asked to be referred to another GP she said "I`m the only one around here for miles" and refused.
Would be great if official patient complaints were taken seriously but experience shows otherwise.

Aless

mr_rush wrote: »

one being that the GMC is the strongest trade union in the country that protects it members above other concerns. One of my friends used to do legal work for the GMC and the stories he could tell are shocking.

Are you stupid? The GMC is not a union, it is the regulatory body.

Mr Rush I am very far from stupid but I do have an inability to re-read my posts properly. I did mean the BMA.

faithcecilia

collywollys wrote: »

I have been told by 2 different Doctors that the time limit is 5 minutes and if I want any more time I will have to make another appointment :eek: It's just ridiculous one of them was when I had taken my 5 month old son with breathing problems I just don't think Doctors care anymore. I remember when you could go to your Doctor about anything even if it was a personal problem not just medical.

I'm quite lucky where I am at the moment, prebooked appointments are 10mins and on the day emergency ones are 5. I need to discuss something in detail and have booked a 15min appointment at a weeks notice and provisionally booked a 30min one in 3 weeks time in case the 15mins prooves to be too short. The only reason it is so far ahead is that the GP I want to see has holiday booked.

I don't think its that doctors don't care, just that people expect to see the doctor instantly - most of us have experienced the chaos of trying to get an emergency appointment at 8am when the reception opens. If they decided to double the length of those appointments it would of course mean there were half as many available. I am sure no doctor would rush a seriously ill patient out after 5 minutes if they genuinely needed longer to give them the emergency consultation/treatment that they needed at that very moment - otherwise they would never run late!! If they consider that emergency treatment isn't necessary at that very moment then I think it is fair enough they ask you to rebook a longer appointment. Eg, someone presents with severe acute abdominal pains, high temp, diarrhea etc and dr suspects appendicitis, it may well take longer than 5mins to arrange hospital admission and necessary for gp to over run. Someone else presents with ongoing abdominal pains, no temp, frequent but not continuous upset tummy, dr suspects something like IBS but needs a lot more detail, tests etc, makes far more sense to rebook a longer appointment when he can obtain more information, arrange tests, etc and give patient the care they need.

Oldernotwiser

Errata wrote: »

There may be a few less than adequate doctors in some districts, but if a patient is dissatisfied they can take responsibility for their own wellbeing and move to another practice.

I've done this a couple of times but, unfortunately, not all doctors at a practice are equally competent. There's a doctor at my practice that I would have to be dying before I'd let him near me and I won't accept an appointment with him on a normal basis
.
I think that it's often the case that to get good service from the NHS you have to do the research yourself first. I've frequently worked out what my or my husband's problem is before we get into the doctor's ( obviously I don't tell them this) and find that it enables me to add extra pieces of information that often aren't asked.

You really have to be proactive as far as your health is concerned, particularly if you're older and have a chronic condition. If you have a doctor who thinks he knows it all - run for the hills!

shandyclover

I think most of them do their best, but in this day and age when they don't have time to really talk to you, I think its up to us to be informed and ask the right questions and go back again and again if we don't feel satisfied.

Writing down the questions, and taking notes at the appointment helps me - and seems to also help the dr. take me a bit more seriously!

I have a DD with a longterm serious health problem that was misdiagnosed thrice, it was finally an older doctor who got it right. I've noticed alot of younger doctors haven't seen childhood diseases for example. Another DD got scarlet fever a few years ago and we were sent home 3 times and told it was a cold - finally an emergency hours dr told us its not so common anymore so alot of drs. don't recognise it. Another DD we had to take to A&E with agonising stomach pain, to have the dr. tell us they must be period cramps, she had an emergency appendectomy that night.

I've learnt to be polite but assertive, after all we know our loved ones and the way they behave, we know our bodies and I think we get a sense or instinct when all is not right. It's up to us to firmly convey that.

GlasweJen

My appendicitis was a pulled muscle, then a kidney infection.

The doctor who did the house visit is a friend of mums and popped in to see how I was after work when he saw that i'd been in twice in the space of 2 days, stuck a stethoscope on my stomach and promptly called an ambulance.

It annoys me that his casual diagnosis was ignored for a further year and a half and an entire team of doctors who were dedicated to investigating mystery illnesses never bothered to test for anything other than epilepsy, munchausens by proxy and hypochondria.