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Do we expect too much from our GPs ?

It was over 30 years in the NHS for me, but I know I have to choose my HCP with care. my choices and my health...they are important to me, and I expect to be listened to and my health needs met ( not always the case ) all professionals are different and I know who I have confidence in and feel comfortable talking to.....

Care along with good attitudes values and beliefs should always put patients needs first, but that in reality is not always the case...
Which is a real shame, we have a good NHS, but the topic of its management is such a big subject ........to much red tape to put it right....
 
We all want a Dr. who cares and gives us good advice. of course we do, we are human but so is the Dr.
If you cannot establish a good rapport with your Dr. then it is surely time to look for another one rather than complaining how useless they are. I often wonder if the Drs being demonised on here could see what is being said about him would have a different story to tell. We are only hearing one side of the story. There are websites where you can complain about your treatment and PALs will take up a complaint but if you just come here and moan about it then what are you expecting to change? As others have said, if a professional does not meet your standards then you have the right to complain be it a Dr. a Solicitor, a Plumber, an Electrician.

I have always had good GPs throughout my life but I have met some in a hospital setting that I have challenged both as a patient and a HCP. We have that right to discuss things with them as the old idea that Drs were God in a suit has long gone.

I found this article, written by a Dr. quite interesting and puts another point of view forward. It has to be a work/life balance for Drs too.

We want our Doctors to be perfect but they're human too.

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/06/doctors-perfect-human.html
 
its not individual doctors i have a problem with (well sometimes i spose it is) its the guidelines they follow i dont like, could i write better guidelines? could i do it better? no, so all i have left is moaning :)
 
I just wish they would listen and that there were longer appointments to see them 5 minutes isn't always long enough. I feel a lot of time and money would be saved if there was time to properly explain, to them,what is wrong with you. But they grasp hold of the first 1 or 2 things you say an judgment is made. I am convinced that 4 minor operations I have had in the past 5 years would not have been necessary if they had listened sooner. That's a lot of money which could have been spent treating the real problem, which I still have.
 
Kat100 said:
It was over 30 years in the NHS for me, but I know I have to choose my HCP with care. my choices and my health...they are important to me, and I expect to be listened to and my health needs met ( not always the case ) all professionals are different and I know who I have confidence in and feel comfortable talking to.....

Care along with good attitudes values and beliefs should always put patients needs first, but that in reality is not always the case...
Which is a real shame, we have a good NHS, but the topic of its management is such a big subject ........to much red tape to put it right....
Click to expand...

Yes I think you nailed it Kat. It is only since the NHS was beurocracised that it's all gone belly up. Before that,, those of us old enough to remember, it was a very different and wonderful service.
The words horse and stable door spring to mind.
 
Trouble I'm having is holding on to socialist principles when I pay a high proportion of my earnings in but cannot get the care I need out. I can afford to pay in or I can afford private health care but I can't afford both. The NHS isn't giving me what I need but I can't go elsewhere because such a huge amount of my income is funding the NHS. I accept that those that can't afford to pay in get their care subsidised by the rest of us, but at the moment it doesn't feel fair :-( I need a CGM to see how to stop hypo'ing overnight and if I wasn't paying so much in I could afford one. I guess I can afford my needs at the moment but I cannot afford other people's on top. Sadly, I'm forced to pay for other people at the expense of what I need.

Smidge
 
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Smidge - It was ever thus, in a set up which is funded today by the tax collected today, and there is zero chance of that part changing. With our current demography things will only get tighter, as there are more older people, who, in turn are living longer.

As far as private medical insurance is concerned, I pay c£150 a month for a comprehensive policy, underwritten by my former employer, at a special rate. Even with that I do not have cover for diabetes. Many, many chronic conditions are excluded from pretty much all private medical insurance, in UK, and some of the more expensive treatments offer quite significant cash incentives to have NHS treatment.

Sadly, healthcare of almost any description is expensive. Even if I had the option I would never opt completely out of the NHS.
 
As someone once said, doctors are just over-paid mechanics, and it's damned hard to find a good mechanic these days.
 
Garr said:
As someone once said, doctors are just over-paid mechanics, and it's damned hard to find a good mechanic these days.
Click to expand...
yes .... and there's not as many variables with cars as with the human body :) It's not as straightforward as some would have us believe.
 
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