Completely useless GP

LilElvis

[quote=[Deleted User];64675840]US system would be better. All well and good having a free health service in the UK but, to be honest, its not up to scratch any more.[/QUOTE]

Absolutely true!

I lived in the States in the late 90's and had employer provided cover with Kaiser Permanente. No rubbish about seeing a GP - you simply phoned a triage nurse, told them the problem and you got an appointment the same day to see a doctor in that specialty ie dermatologist, gynachologist at their hospital. The hospital itself was truly lovely - fully carpeted and looked more like a hotel. My co-pay, ie what I had to pay per visit, was $10 and $5 for prescriptions.

BUT!! To bring this back to reality - the premium for me was over $300 per month, and I was 30 at the time. For a family with the head of household over age 40 it was over $2,500 per month. Heaven knows how much it would be now, 15 years later.

Can you afford that OP? Would your employer pay that much money per month on your behalf? Most US employers don't - mine only did because the bulk of their staff were transferred from the UK. That's why over 50% of Californians don't have medical insurance, and the majority of those who do have to pay a very high proportion of their treatment costs themselves to keep the premiums down. Would you like to pay $800 to treat a broken arm? This is what my friend had to pay when her daughter broke her arm - her 20% of the bill.

Why do you think they are trying to push through 'Obamacare'? It's because, for the majority, health care is a luxury they can't afford, because the state-funded treatment is like something from the 3rd World ie far below the standards of the NHS.

The upside is that the Kaiser Permanente nurses wore very nice uniforms, so your wife would be happy.

Be careful what you wish for!

mountainofdebt

The other thing that strikes me about GP surgery's running late is that it could be me wanting / needing more than a 10 min consultation.....

Pollycat

[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]

It may have been that he knew he would be delayed and rang the surgery but the receptionists failed to advise waiting patients.

It sounds to me that most of the issues you've mentioned are down to admin-type employees.

Although I agree that they represent the GP and his surgery and errors/inconsideration such as you describe shouldn't happen, it is still in no way fair for you to tar the whole of the NHS in the way you have throughout this thread.

RosiPossum

I work in the blood service, where complaints are certainly dealt with.
They come to the manager of the centre, who will then take the individual aside to discuss what has happened and if further training was required. The donor probably gets told thank you for the comments and we will pass them on to the relevant person, but they really are taken seriously and people have had to undergo extra training before.
So it is possible to complain and have positive action in the NHS, but you're not always aware of precisely what has been done.

Edit to say I think I've put hachette's vet posts and the posts about complaining about the NHS into the same pot and come out with a reply based on that!