Completely useless GP

Pollycat

dodger1 wrote: »

Have no experience about vets but it's certainly possible to make a successful complaint about the NHS.

I often think it's the way you complain that makes a difference.

I've seen many letters with so much irrelevant rubbish in it that it's impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff and actually understand what the complaint is really about.

Others just rant and don't say what they expect to be done about the complaint.

Others complain to the wrong place.

Given the OP's tendency to generalise and go off at a tangent (e.g. US health service), I wonder just how effective his complaint letters were.

Bella73

[quote=[Deleted User];64696844]I will. Better a health system we pay for than he shambles we have now. Poor would be no worse off because at the moment no-one gets good care.[/QUOTE]

We don't have a shambles now, yes there are areas that could be improved but when you consider how many people are treated successfully every hour of every day.

Yes there will be mistakes but that is because you have humans involved. Mistakes do happen in Private practice too again because of the human element.

It only appears "better" because the Private system has far far fewer patients to deal with, once we are all "private" it will revert to type, too many people, too little time and services, but you will be paying twice as much for the "privilege".

You don't honestly think that more Nurses would suddenly be employed because the public were paying at point if access do you? If anything, things could get much worse as the surgeries and hospitals would be out to make a profit, doesn't mean anything would actually improve for the patient.

dodger1

Anyone moaning about the NHS should read this

http://www.nhsconfed.org/priorities/political-engagement/Pages/NHS-statistics.aspx

10 million operations, 75 million outpatients, A&E attendances 21 million, all in 2012/2013. Patient experience rated as follows,

7/10 12%
8/10 24%
9/10 20%
10/10 25%

That's 81% of those surveyed rate the NHS as 7/10 or better. The NHS is still fit for purpose end of story.

mountainofdebt

The OP still hasn't explained why his wife left it so long to get in contact with the hospital in the first place......sounds as if its easy to blame someone else when you had a had in it yourself.

As for my GP, I'm pretty pleased.....recently I found a lesion on my breast and when I phoned up to see if I could make an appointment to see the nurse I got 'upgraded' to see a doctor 2 hrs later.

greenbee

mountainofdebt wrote: »

The OP still hasn't explained why his wife left it so long to get in contact with the hospital in the first place......sounds as if its easy to blame someone else when you had a had in it yourself.

As for my GP, I'm pretty pleased.....recently I found a lesion on my breast and when I phoned up to see if I could make an appointment to see the nurse I got 'upgraded' to see a doctor 2 hrs later.

Agree on both points. I saw my consultant in January who confirmed he wanted me in for an op in April. Regular appointment letters usually arrive within a week of the previous one, but scheduling the op takes longer. However, when I got stressed about it, I called them. The surgical dept had (and it has happened before...) read April as 'get the letter out of the file in April and book patient in'. Two days later they had corrected the error and the consultant's secretary had been in touch to confirm a letter was on its way and give me the date.

With the GP, I know I can get a call back from the triage nurse on the same day, and if I need to see the GP they will then make an appointment for me on the same day (if it's during the emergency appointment slot I know it is turn up and wait).

Generally appointments run late if there are complications - last time I had to wait at the GP it turned out that my next door neighbour had gone in feeling unwell and was being shipped off to hospital with a heart attack. I'm sure someone's had to wait when my GP called me when I was abroad for work to discuss whether I needed to fly home or go into hospital - we were on the phone for 30 minutes while she went through everything with me and came up with a solution.

Yes of course, there are bad GPs and problem staff, but generally if you treat people well they will do the same for you. And if you do encounter problems a reasoned and rational complaint, rather than a rant, can usually elicit an apology and a resolution.

LannieDuck

[quote=[Deleted User];64696844]I will. Better a health system we pay for than he shambles we have now. Poor would be no worse off because at the moment no-one gets good care.[/QUOTE]

That's a pretty ridiculous thing to say.

I've gone with private care recently for a non-urgent issue that would probably take months to resolve on the NHS. It was very good, but very, very expensive. £800 for a blood test (that required multiple diagnostic tests performed on it), £1000 for 5 x consultant appointments etc.

At the same time I'm currently pregnant with my second child. I've had 3 x blood tests, an anti-D injection, a physiotherapy referral (with an appointment that came through within 2 weeks of request), an ECG (one week after request), a breast-clinic referral (can't remember how fast - maybe 2 weeks since it was marked as 'probably non-urgent'), 3 x ultrasounds and 3-4? midwife appointments. All connected with one pregnancy. I can't imagine what all of that cost. I certainly feel that I've been receiving good care.

I went into an NHS walk-in centre with DD1 a year ago when she had an unusual rash. We were seen by a doctor within 15 mins. That was excellent care.

I'm not saying the NHS always gets things right. For non-urgent matters they can be very slow (hence my transferring to private care for an issue). And people will make mistakes, just like anywhere else - I recently spent 30 mins on the phone chasing up an appointment when I hadn't heard anything back from them for a month, and I've encountered poor GPs (I regularly switch if I'm not happy). Despite that I think the NHS is brilliant.

Incidentally, I was reading an article just the other day about a lady complaining that their Mum's private care had been terrible (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2531390/I-rescue-mum-PRIVATE-hospital-nurses-callous-Think-woeful-care-just-NHS-problem-HARRIET-SERGEANTS-bitter-experience-proves-otherwise.html).

[Deleted User]

greenbee wrote: »

Agree on both points. I saw my consultant in January who confirmed he wanted me in for an op in April. Regular appointment letters usually arrive within a week of the previous one, but scheduling the op takes longer. However, when I got stressed about it, I called them. The surgical dept had (and it has happened before...) read April as 'get the letter out of the file in April and book patient in'. Two days later they had corrected the error and the consultant's secretary had been in touch to confirm a letter was on its way and give me the date.

With the GP, I know I can get a call back from the triage nurse on the same day, and if I need to see the GP they will then make an appointment for me on the same day (if it's during the emergency appointment slot I know it is turn up and wait).

Generally appointments run late if there are complications - last time I had to wait at the GP it turned out that my next door neighbour had gone in feeling unwell and was being shipped off to hospital with a heart attack. I'm sure someone's had to wait when my GP called me when I was abroad for work to discuss whether I needed to fly home or go into hospital - we were on the phone for 30 minutes while she went through everything with me and came up with a solution.

Yes of course, there are bad GPs and problem staff, but generally if you treat people well they will do the same for you. And if you do encounter problems a reasoned and rational complaint, rather than a rant, can usually elicit an apology and a resolution.

I remember sitting in my GP surgery once for 9am appt. 9-30 came and went then GP rushed in through the front door with his coat on.

Fair enough there are reasons why he may have been delayed but it would have been for someone to let the patients know. Unfortuantely, no-one bothered. Its NHS, sit there and suck it up.

dodger1

[quote=[Deleted User];64724976]I remember sitting in my GP surgery once for 9am appt. 9-30 came and went then GP rushed in through the front door with his coat on.

Fair enough there are reasons why he may have been delayed but it would have been for someone to let the patients know. Unfortuantely, no-one bothered. Its NHS, sit there and suck it up.[/QUOTE]

At my surgery you are told when you arrive if your appointment is on time or how minutes you are likely to wait. Suggest you speak to your surgery manager to get a similar system up and running. So again for the vast majority we are happy with the service the NHS gives.

ERICS_MUM

As with many services private and public, it's down to the individual employee and/or management as to how well they handle things. Public perception is very important.

janiebquick

[quote=[Deleted User];64724976]I remember sitting in my GP surgery once for 9am appt. 9-30 came and went then GP rushed in through the front door with his coat on.[/QUOTE]

Private medical appointments invariably run late as these are often fitted in around NHS work. A few years ago I went private for a minor non-urgent op that I wanted out of the way. When his secretary phoned the appointmnet through, she advised me to take a book as he invariably over ran by quite a long time.