I'm really uncomfortable with how broadly we're disparaging GPs here. Yes, there are plenty of bad ones and we've all got horror stories, but... golly, my GP has saved my life twice and my son's life at least once and I don't believe any human being could work the hours they do (and yes, they get paid for it, but not as handsomely as you'd think) without prioritising health outcomes and wanting to genuinely do some good.
They are, by definition, General Practitioners, not specialists. Their job is to identify and refer on, and while we're expecting them to know the full ins and outs of T1 and T2 diabetes, we're no different to anyone else with a long term health condition who is expecting lots of specialist knowledge from their GPs: try having a disabled child at a GP appointment - the average GP will train for a total of less than 15 minutes (in the entirety of their medical training) on childhood disability. Diabetes at least gets more coverage (and a higher on-going profile) than that.
Yes, budgets are squeezed and The Evil Practise Manager is constantly trying to cut costs. You know what would happen if they didn't? Virgin Health and other privatised for-profit health companies taking over our GP surgeries. You wanna have a fun time trying to get your annual retinopathy screening or try new meds - try doing it with a private health company steering the ship.
As patients who are trying to actively self-manage our illness, it's on us to form a partnership with our GPs. This is because we're really, really unusual. We might be the only diabetic on our surgery's roster that's trying to take their diabetes in hand and make ourselves personally responsible for it: most people do only what their GP tells them, no more and no less - and so that's what a GP expects from a patient. This proactive, self-management stuff is off-piste for most GPs and those with more years in practise could well find it harder to adapt to and understand than the younger,more recently qualified.
But that doesn't mean we shrug and go "Well, they're more interested in profit than patient outcomes." We're expecting our GPs to understand what we're trying to achieve - it's surely up to us to take the time to explain it to them?
This thread was started by someone who fell foul of 2 surgeries merging. For whatever reason, the practise manager hasn't weighed in yet. On Monday - hopefully - the OP will give an update on their prescription and whether an explanation and apology has been received.
And if they're still unhappy at that point, they can still choose to leave that surgery and register elsewhere.