Careers that no longer exist

[Burgundy]

GP until 2 years ago, they have now disappeared.

And yet my wife, a GP, pulls longer working days than ever before. While Daily Mail columnists and imbeciles on social media insinuate that she’s a slacker, she’s pulling 13+ hour days without breaks. It’s sad to see how people’s perceptions of others in society gets manipulated.

 

[Merkurologist]

And yet my wife, a GP, pulls longer working days than ever before. While Daily Mail columnists and imbeciles on social media insinuate that she’s a slacker, she’s pulling 13+ hour days without breaks. It’s sad to see how people’s perceptions of others in society gets manipulated.

Well, I can tell you this... I went to my surgery for a blood test last Friday, two years ago it would have been a busy practice but we were only two people in the waiting room, I asked the receptionist for an appointment and she said " you need to go to the website and feel in a questionnaire and then the doctor would assess if you need to see a doctor." There were no doctors in the premises, the carpark had all the Drs' spaces empty and I overheard another receptionist on the phone to say so.
The surgery is accross the supermarket that we use to shop every week and we have become used to seeing an empty surgery carpark, two years ago people would need to use the supermarket's carpark cause the surgery's was almost always full.... so my experience is a real one, nothing based on the daily mail. I have friends that are registered with different surgeries that also complain about the difficulties seeing a doctor so I very much doubt our surgery is the only one with the issue.

I did read while in lockdown on the BBC website or possibly another website that for the previous month, the record showed 1.6 million fewer appointments issued than on the same month before covid.... it certainly feels like GPs are hiding since Covid began.

 

[Burgundy]

Well, I can tell you this... I went to my surgery for a blood test last Friday, two years ago it would have been a busy practice but we were only two people in the waiting room, I asked the receptionist for an appointment and she said " you need to go to the website and feel in a questionnaire and then the doctor would assess if you need to see a doctor." There were no doctors in the premises, the carpark had all the Drs' spaces empty and I overheard another receptionist on the phone to say so.
The surgery is accross the supermarket that we use to shop every week and we have become used to seeing an empty surgery carpark, two years ago people would need to use the supermarket's carpark cause the surgery's was almost always full.... so my experience is a real one, nothing based on the daily mail. I have friends that are registered with different surgeries that also complain about the difficulties seeing a doctor so I very much doubt our surgery is the only one with the issue.

I did read while in lockdown on the BBC website or possibly another website that for the previous month, the record showed 1.6 million fewer appointments issued than on the same month before covid.... it certainly feels like GPs are hiding since Covid began.

Data source: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-inf...istical/general-and-personal-medical-services

Data source: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-inf...appointments-in-general-practice/january-2022

For additional context, the data reports that the January 2022 total of 25.7 million appointments is 0.5 million more than the levels of January 2020. In addition, in January 2022, general practice delivered 1.26 million COVID-19 vaccination appointments.

Now, the ratio of face-to-face vs remote appointments has certainly changed during the pandemic. 80% were F2F before it hit, 47% in April 2020 was the lowest. It was back up to ca. two-thirds in the third quarter of 2021 but subsequently declined to around 60% - during the time in which general practice has been delivering the majority of the country’s vaccine rollout.

Now, the primary care system is in so many ways on its knees and it needs investment and (proper) reform. Edit: And decent (political) leadership. However, GPs hiding? That’s just complete bollocks.

 

[Merkurologist]

Should Covid vaccine appointments be counted in the appointments with your GP, I think not.

If there's a profession I take my hat off in the primary care system, that profession is pharmacists.... In the middle of the pandemic my wife came down with shingles, and it took 5 days to get a video appointment with a GP.... our pharmacist was very helpful and made a difference.

 

[Geofnay]

Since the 60s? I'm going to say lighthouse keeper (almost entirely automated, now) and rag and bone man - where I lived we still had one in the 60s and he pushed a hand cart.

 

[Burgundy]

Should Covid vaccine appointments be counted in the appointments with your GP, I think not.

Perhaps I didn’t communicate clearly and the graph is too difficult to interpret. The vaccination appointments are not included in the January 2020-January 2022 comparison.

But that’s not the take. Your claim is that GPs have ‘disappeared’ and that you feel that they are ‘in hiding’. That’s demonstrably untrue.

I’m sorry to hear that you and your close ones have had poor experiences. Perhaps you could join your surgery’s PPG to suggest improvements or contact your MP to try to improve the health and care services?

 

[Merkurologist]

But that’s not the take. Your claim is that GPs have ‘disappeared’ and that you feel that they are ‘in hiding’. That’s demonstrably untrue

Where is your sense of humor? GP disappearing comment in a thread about careers that not longer exist, was said pretty much as a joke, given recent history.... the last joke I heard that I found funny was " the last time I saw a GP was on GPs behind close doors on channel 5"

As for the hiding comments, that is my genuining feeling..... back to my appointment on Friday..... I asked the nurse "where are all the doctors?" And she said "Oh they are around somewhere" you could tell she felt awkward.... and then I said "the carpark is empty and there are no patients waiting either" no response.
My guess is that GPs don't want to see patients face to face.
Yesterday, the nurse rang me with the results "telephone appointment" and she wanted to persuade me to take Statins and I said "no, thank you" so when she said would you like to discuss it with your doctor I said "yes please" (my lucky day I thought) and when she tried to find a face to face appointment.... she struggled.... they were a few telephone appointments but I need the doctor to do a proper examination of something he was dealing with 2 years ago... I got an appointment for mid April in the end....
So I do genuinely feel that they are avoiding face to face appointments.
The process to book appointments is difficult, unless you are elderly they encourage the patient to go on their website and fill in the questionnaire that has so many questions, going round and round...
Something like this:

Q84. You previously indicated your little toe hurst when you hit it with a hammer
What type of hammer would that be?

a - rubber hammer
b - plastic hammer
c - metal hammer
( that is meant to be a bit of a joke

and at the end you get a message "a surgery member will be in touch"
My understanding is that this is going on all over the country so we just have to get on with it. The next time the doc ask me to complete their survey I will say how crap the service has become... mind you, I doubt they will ever ask that again lol

 

[Burgundy]

Where is your sense of humor? GP disappearing comment in a thread about careers that not longer exist, was said pretty much as a joke, given recent history.... the last joke I heard that I found funny was " the last time I saw a GP was on GPs behind close doors on channel 5"

As for the hiding comments, that is my genuining feeling..... back to my appointment on Friday..... I asked the nurse "where are all the doctors?" And she said "Oh they are around somewhere" you could tell she felt awkward.... and then I said "the carpark is empty and there are no patients waiting either" no response.
My guess is that GPs don't want to see patients face to face.
Yesterday, the nurse rang me with the results "telephone appointment" and she wanted to persuade me to take Statins and I said "no, thank you" so when she said would you like to discuss it with your doctor I said "yes please" (my lucky day I thought) and when she tried to find a face to face appointment.... she struggled.... they were a few telephone appointments but I need the doctor to do a proper examination of something he was dealing with 2 years ago... I got an appointment for mid April in the end....
So I do genuinely feel that they are avoiding face to face appointments.
The process to book appointments is difficult, unless you are elderly they encourage the patient to go on their website and fill in the questionnaire that has so many questions, going round and round...
Something like this:

Q84. You previously indicated your little toe hurst when you hit it with a hammer
What type of hammer would that be?

a - rubber hammer
b - plastic hammer
c - metal hammer
( that is meant to be a bit of a joke

and at the end you get a message "a surgery member will be in touch"
My understanding is that this is going on all over the country so we just have to get on with it. The next time the doc ask me to complete their survey I will say how crap the service has become... mind you, I doubt they will ever ask that again lol

… and yet you believe that workshy doctors is the crux of the problem.

 

[Merkurologist]

I do believe that....

 

[Northam Saint]

Well, I can tell you this... I went to my surgery for a blood test last Friday, two years ago it would have been a busy practice but we were only two people in the waiting room, I asked the receptionist for an appointment and she said " you need to go to the website and feel in a questionnaire and then the doctor would assess if you need to see a doctor." There were no doctors in the premises, the carpark had all the Drs' spaces empty and I overheard another receptionist on the phone to say so.
The surgery is accross the supermarket that we use to shop every week and we have become used to seeing an empty surgery carpark, two years ago people would need to use the supermarket's carpark cause the surgery's was almost always full.... so my experience is a real one, nothing based on the daily mail. I have friends that are registered with different surgeries that also complain about the difficulties seeing a doctor so I very much doubt our surgery is the only one with the issue.

I did read while in lockdown on the BBC website or possibly another website that for the previous month, the record showed 1.6 million fewer appointments issued than on the same month before covid.... it certainly feels like GPs are hiding since Covid began.

My personal experience, not based on chatty friends or colleagues is………

I am waiting the investigating of a complaint of my GP, part of it is the way a GP signed off repeat prescriptions for a year for something I should of only been using for four weeks. This drug has a side effect of Cataracts and yes I have a fast developing cataract. Over worked or lazy ? I haven’t accused of either but I am unhappy that no one checked. All happy to sign another prescription with out looking at the picture.

Ours too was a very busy surgery and now appears to be a ghost town. You can’t see a G.P. for eight weeks and most “appointments” are telephone ones. Whilst I can see apprehension, if this is a thing, regarding seeing people one to one my wife has worked through it all on a ward, I am a college Lecturer so I too have worked through apart from when the college was closed for lockdown. But I feel it has perhaps now become a normal way of working for some G.P.’s and the days of seeing someone are not coming to an end but it is an alternative.

Obviously there are two sides, one we don’t want G.P.’s getting ill, but also a surgery full of people only takes one to have Covid. But then the same would go for Flu.

Hospital appointment wise, I have had several, some in a short space between appointments for ENT / Audiology, so things there are at full speed.

 

[Merkurologist]

My personal experience, not based on chatty friends or colleagues is………

I am waiting the investigating of a complaint of my GP, part of it is the way a GP signed off repeat prescriptions for a year for something I should of only been using for four weeks. This drug has a side effect of Cataracts and yes I have a fast developing cataract. Over worked or lazy ? I haven’t accused of either but I am unhappy that no one checked. All happy to sign another prescription with out looking at the picture.

Ours too was a very busy surgery and now appears to be a ghost town. You can’t see a G.P. for eight weeks and most “appointments” are telephone ones. Whilst I can see apprehension, if this is a thing, regarding seeing people one to one my wife has worked through it all on a ward, I am a college Lecturer so I too have worked through apart from when the college was closed for lockdown. But I feel it has perhaps now become a normal way of working for some G.P.’s and the days of seeing someone are not coming to an end but it is an alternative.

Obviously there are two sides, one we don’t want G.P.’s getting ill, but also a surgery full of people only takes one to have Covid. But then the same would go for Flu.

Hospital appointment wise, I have had several, some in a short space between appointments for ENT / Audiology, so things there are at full speed.

Wow, nobody wants to see those mistakes.

I have always had the upmost respect for the medical profession, 5 years ago they saved my life but for the last 2 years, my experience with GPs has been a big disappointment.

 

[Northam Saint]

Wow, nobody wants to see those mistakes.

I have always had the upmost respect for the medical profession, 5 years ago they saved my life but for the last 2 years, my experience with GPs has been a big disappointment.

I have respect for them, but when things fail as with all persons need to be accountable. I’ve several other issues which are under the same investigation. I do see the need for caution, but with things returning now to close on “normal” then we all need to get back to acceptable levels. Eight weeks to see a GP isn’t right. I would also imagine for many GP’s a telephone interview isn’t what they consider a replacement for a consultation.

 

[Merkurologist]

The system had been getting worse over the last few governments.... I remember talking to my GP over the latest changes during Cameron's time in office and my GP wasn't happy, he believed the system was slowly and quietly being privatised. If I remember correctly it was during Tony Blair's time that the dentists made a deal with the government that changed the system forever and now is hard to get an appointment under the NHS... dentists offer a few appointments under the NHS but the bulk of their work nowadays is done privately.

I was playing tennis with my son last year when he got injured, ( his old man was too good for him )it was terribly painful and could hardly walk.... he works in the banking industry with a private health plan.... he made a phone call and got a private appointment to see a doctor in the afternoon and a physio the following morning, that's where we're heading I think and I suspect that is part of the problem we have at the moment with GPs avoiding face to face appointments, in a nutshell, they want more money.

 

[Merkurologist]

I am waiting the investigating of a complaint of my GP, part of it is the way a GP signed off repeat prescriptions for a year for something I should of only been using for four weeks.

I guess mistakes happen more often than we think... your case reminded me of a mistake by the GP that my pharmacist picked up...
About 3 years ago I went to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription and this heart medicine was not longer available so while I was there they contacted the surgery on my behalf to request a replacement.... so I went back the following day and the pharmacist hands over the medicine and tells me, "don't follow the instructions right away, take half a tablet for a few days but stop taking it if you don't feel well." the tablet didn't suit me at all and thanks to my pharmacist the problem wasn't worse.

 

[Zorro]

It's also my belief that, in many instances, GP Surgeries are unnecessarily restricting access and services in order to profit in some way from the pandemic or to be able to take paid work away from the clinics, such as working at or running vaccination centres.

It's not laziness. I have heard this from multiple sources that i know to be credible.

Apropos careers that no longer exist, the film processing industry has gone almost to nothing, from its heyday when people bought and used millions of rolls of film through their cameras every week worldwide.

That's film and chemical supplies, photo processing labs, and wholesale camera manufacturing all gone or dwindled away.