I'm done with my gp surgery.  Turns out they are ranked in the bottom 1% of all gp's in the UK and I can see why.  It is impossible to get an appointment over the phone or in person and they ask you to fill out their online form.  When you do fill in the online form it appears to be policy for them to ring you, hang up as soon as you answer, and then mark the request as completed.

I have a weird health issue that flares up rarely.  When it does, it requires immediate medical intervention otherwise I'm out of action for weeks.  There's a medication which does the job but they won't put it down as a repeat prescription so I have to ask for it as and when required.  A couple of years ago I had a long meeting with the specialist about how to manage this issue and they wrote to my gp.  I then had a long meeting with a nurse practitioner at the surgery.  We went through the specialist letter and created an action plan about how to instigate the medication request when its required.  Brilliant.  Except it isn't because it all gets ignored.

It flared up over the Easter weekend.  Great timing but I knew it would be ok as I could get things sorted on Tuesday morning.  I rang up first thing dozens of times before I finally got through and was offered an appointment in 2 weeks.  I explained the situation to the practice triage nurse and was told there is nothing they can do.  She saw the letter, saw the action plan and still would not instigate the medication request until a dr has seen me.  I've managed to get an appointment with the specialist for next week and they will likely prescribe me the required meds from the hospital pharmacist but I'm at a loss as to why my own gp won't follow the process they set up.  I am going to get worse and the recovery period is going to be longer.  This is beyond frustrating and I'm going to have unneccesary physical pain for days.

Apologies for the rant, I'm hurting and angry.  When all this is sorted, I'm going to find a new gp.

Can’t do a long reply right now but…. That does indeed sound shit. To be fair, there are bits in there which are rapidly becoming national policy, but plenty that isn’t.

Some possible solutions…

Sounds like registering with another GP would be a good idea. It’s usually fairly easy to do - just depends on whether there’s others nearby. (My patients are stuck with me…). Can take time for records to come through, though mostly digital these days, so if it’s the same IT system it’s usually there. (If you can access your records on the NHS App better still…)

Be warned we’re all a bit shitter than we used to be. Other GP may well insist on seeing you to prescribe.

The other option, which may sound daft, is to try 111. In England at least, GP surgeries have to offer a certain number of slots to 111 to book into directly. This can therefore be a way in if there’s an urgent - but not A&E need. Which it sounds like this might be?

If you stay with them, ask to speak to the practice manager to understand why it’s not working and what can be done about it.

Hope you get it sorted.

poprock wrote:

This might be a stupid suggestion (and Tin, please tell me if it is), but might a local pharmacist be able to help you instead of your GP? They can prescribe some things and supply immediately - but I suppose it depends what the medication is and whether it’s within a pharmacist’s purview.

You’ve pretty much answered your own question! Generally speaking you have to see a GP to access NHS prescriptions. There are some exceptions- the Govt introduced “Pharmacy First” about a year ago which allows trained chemists to prescribe for earache, sore throats, urine infections, sinusitis, impetigo, insect bites and shingles. I’m guessing that doesn’t help though. (And it’s been very controversial- with one region suspending it already…)

tin_robot wrote:

poprock wrote:

This might be a stupid suggestion (and Tin, please tell me if it is), but might a local pharmacist be able to help you instead of your GP? They can prescribe some things and supply immediately - but I suppose it depends what the medication is and whether it’s within a pharmacist’s purview.

You’ve pretty much answered your own question! Generally speaking you have to see a GP to access NHS prescriptions. There are some exceptions- the Govt introduced “Pharmacy First” about a year ago which allows trained chemists to prescribe for earache, sore throats, urine infections, sinusitis, impetigo, insect bites and shingles. I’m guessing that doesn’t help though. (And it’s been very controversial- with one region suspending it already…)

Ooh, controversy! AMR? Mis/missed diagnoses? Safety netting? Short staffing? Where's the tea?

Accessed the service myself recently and got abx when I couldn't get a GP appt before the weekend. Had to go to a walk in the next week and sit in a waiting room for 4, looong hours to get more abx to clear my symptoms completely. So it kinda worked. Sample of 1.

handsofblue wrote:

tin_robot wrote:

poprock wrote:

This might be a stupid suggestion (and Tin, please tell me if it is), but might a local pharmacist be able to help you instead of your GP? They can prescribe some things and supply immediately - but I suppose it depends what the medication is and whether it’s within a pharmacist’s purview.

You’ve pretty much answered your own question! Generally speaking you have to see a GP to access NHS prescriptions. There are some exceptions- the Govt introduced “Pharmacy First” about a year ago which allows trained chemists to prescribe for earache, sore throats, urine infections, sinusitis, impetigo, insect bites and shingles. I’m guessing that doesn’t help though. (And it’s been very controversial- with one region suspending it already…)

Ooh, controversy! AMR? Mis/missed diagnoses? Safety netting? Short staffing? Where's the tea?

Accessed the service myself recently and got abx when I couldn't get a GP appt before the weekend. Had to go to a walk in the next week and sit in a waiting room for 4, looong hours to get more abx to clear my symptoms completely. So it kinda worked. Sample of 1.

Honestly I don’t know why the suspension happened. Rumour was that it was because of AMR - big increase in antibiotic prescribing - but a public reason hasn’t been given, and not my patch, so could be anything…

Aaah, fair enough, Tin.

Diluted Dante wrote:

I know my Dad isn't happy with it.

Sample size is growing!

My sleeping medication is antihistamines. Best stuff I've ever had. Promethiazine. Amazing stuff.

Thanks for the suggestions, some good stuff in there.  Sadly its a prescription only medication so sadly no direct pharmacy help.  I may try the 111 route as its good to know they can access extra appointments.  I don't have an issue with having to see a dr before they can prescribe the meds but it needs to be done urgently.  If it goes beyond 48 hrs then the situation escalates horribly and I'm looking at the distinct possibility of a stay in hospital.

UPDATE:  I think I've just spoken to someone with some sense who has agreed the action plan and specialist letter should be followed.  They have put a prescription request forward to one of the gp's today.  Hopefully I'll be smelling of roses by this afternoon.  I'm keeping the future appointment to find out what the problem was and what to do in the future.

davyK wrote:

davyK wrote:

Heh. Doc is going to give me another course of anti-biotics. Have to knock the HiiT on the head. If no better then it's ultrasound time.

The mild ball ache is still there. Not worse but not better either. Still waiting on an ultrasound appointment on NHS. Have decided to go to the dark side and go private. We have a health plan we pay into and it turns out it will cover it. Have submitted the GP referral and my private health details just last week - will see what happens. FOr info - It would be £389 for the scan if I didn't have cover.

Ultrasound has revealed I have a varicose vein (there's another word for it that I can't remember) that explains the ballache. Seems I just have to live with it.

There are more nerve endings in the balls area than any other part of the body, for both male and female, for obvious evolutionary reasons, so any kind of inflammation, however tiny, can be really painful.

Elevation and compression is a treatment, so ask wifey to lift and squeeze.

Body proportional to nerve endings.....

as a family we've had cough and cold lurgy going round for weeks now. kids had been to docs and got antibiotics as they had a bit of a fever with it, then I went to docs last week and they said it was just viral, bugger off, but we'll do phlegm sample to be sure.

just got a call today saying they detected bacteria in it and have given me some antibiotics.

so if you haven't already been to the docs, try and get checked in case you need some of the proper meds.

Have had a tickly cough for a week or two now - the aftermath of a head cold. Clearing up now. It wasn't a constant or regular cough but was irritating.

Or lupus.

(It’s never lupus.)