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Horrible GP, please advise!

Z

zombiegirl

Member
Messages
8
Hi Everyone,

I'm new here but have a problem I've never come across before which has really upset me and I don't know what to do. I've been type 1 diabetic for 22 years and have moved around the country a lot, so changed GP loads of times. They've all been brilliant, really supportive and concerned about my diabetes, and very proactive about my checkups. I've just registered with a new one who is so horrible I come away almost in tears every time I speak to him. When I first registered as a new patient he acted like I was wasting my time, and when I asked about regular diabetes care he said "Well, what care do you need?" as if I was asking for something extraordinary. He won't let me speak, just cuts me off and shouts everything he says. He left half my regular diabetic whatnots off my repeat prescription list and when I rang up to sort it out, he asked me *why* I need testing strips (!!!) When I voiced my concerns he really started shouting, saying he would not accept me accusing his practice of not doing a good job.
I can't register with another practice because I live in a tiny village with no transport of my own and that is the only surgery I can get to. I have no idea what is happening with my diabetes care or when I'm supposed to get a check up and I'm afraid to ask again since he went so ballistic last time.
What can I do???
 
Is there another dr in the practise you could transfer to? I also think if it was me I would write a complaint about him and send it to the practise manager! I am the sort of person who stands up for myself (not saying your not as I don't know you) I say how I feel etc I'm afraid I wouldnt have let that dr speak to me in that way!
 
Print off your post here and as Sarah says make a formal complaint to the practice manager and include the post to them.
Treatment like this should NOT to be tolerated under any condition.

I wouldn't even include the gp in the loop, he needs a severe reprimand. Disgusting behaviour.

Keep us posted !

Superchip
 
I might write a letter, yes, I guess I was a bit afraid that if I make trouble for him, he will just make things harder for me, but I guess if within the letter I request to see a different doctor at the practice then I won't have to face him again. I might wait til he's sorted out all my missing medication first before complaining about him, in case he finds some petty reason to delay it! I can just imagine him doing that!

Thanks for the advice.
 
HI I really can't believe your new GP, the word CRASS comes to mind straight away. I would agree with sarah and write a letter of complaint, but remember the Gp has been there a lot longer than you and Gp's stick together :!: :!:

Make another appointmnet to seeyour GP, go armed with all the information you need regarding your diabetes care.

Firstly being type 1 you must have blood test strips to control your sugar levels, ask for an appointment to see the diabetes tgeam at your local hospital. You need your feet checked, eyes, blood pressure, weight and to discuss your ongoing medication and any problems need to be discussed.

Your health is the most important thing right now and you must put this across to your GP, but he should know that anyway.

You have to stand up for yourself and be assertive to put across your needs in a ( I know GP's and professional can be intimadating at times) but persever and don't give up. Its extremly important that you get the right medical care.

If if goes badly, make sure you complain before leaving the surgery and or try and see another GP who has more understanding of Diabetes and has still got some bedside manners and the well being of his/her patients.

You could also contact the Diabetes website or CAB for advice and support.

Good luck and I wish you well and a happy and safe outcome.

Best wishes RRB
 
Hi, Zombiegirl :)

You cannot be the only person in the village that has been treated badly by this so called Doctor.

Before you do anything, nicely and discreetly ask around the area for some information regarding this Doctor.

Something is not adding up as you have had many good experiences with Doctors prior to this problem.

Lets hope it all works out well for you.

Roy, :)
 
Totally uncalled for and there's no need to treat patients in this manner.

I would suggest two things, first try changing to another gp in the practise and insist that you don't want to be seen by this gp again due to his unprofessional conduct. Secondly, if you do change gp's and your still not happy then ask them to refer you over to the care of the diabetes clinic at your local hospital, IMHO they are more adapt in dealing with problems related to type 1 diabetes and their expertise far surpasses anything you will find in a gp surgery.

Good luck and let us all know how you get on!
 
I feel a great deal of sympathy for you zombiegirl. I put up with my GP for years before he moved on when the practice reorganised last year. In many ways I defended what he was doing on the basis that it was the system that was at fault and he was doing the best he could within it.

I was wrong. Not everything that is wrong with me is down to my weight and smoking. A new GP cleared up a mouth/throat problem, that I have suffered with for something like 12 years, with a simple cheap medication given on an almost one off basis. He looked at the back of my mouth/throat, was not certain what the problem was, but saw no reason not to give this stuff a try as it was the standard first line treatment for the most likely cause. It worked. Why have I had to suffer this long when a simple cure was readily available?

At the end of the day, it has nothing to do with the system, the 7 minute appointments or similar. My old GP simply was a poor GP because he too quickly formed his own opinions and was then blinkered against anything else. I still do not doubt his medical skill, but the way he interacted with me and I now understand his patients generally, made him a poor GP. Medical skill is not the only thing a doctor needs to be a good GP. It was his duty to work within the system to get me the correct medical care. It was his duty to tell me what he wanted or needed me to do to fit in with this, be it arranging to see him on a much more regular basis or book double appointments. It should not have been up to me to guess or find ways to work around him.

Do not let yourself get into the same situation, so that you do not get the correct care.

I would suggest that the first thing that you do is enquire of the practice if they have a doctor who includes in his/her interests diabetes care. If they have one, then suggest that in the light of your Type 1 diabetes, you should be on their list, rather than your current doctor's. Of course it depends upon the size and nature of the Practice, but this is a way of at least trying to bring about a change, without actually having to confront the issue of the current treatment that you are getting.

If he is the one with the interest in diabetes care, then the suggestion that your care be supervised by some hospital or specialist unit for Diabetes and Metabolism Care would be one way of trying to get around him. The Practice is likely to take note of anything that they say, rather than relying on your particular GP.

If this is not possible, then yes consider a formal written complaint. In the first place this should be the the Practice Manager, however if the Practice is fairly small without the more formal positions and procedures of a larger practice then you might like to consider going outside the practice. This has all been changed with the abolishing of the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and such complaints now go through the relevant Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). For more details try a web search using something like 'complaining about your GP'. This should give you the up to date information and the details as to whom you should be sending any complaint to.

Final bit of advice, if you find the receptionists at all approachable, ask if they have a leaflet about making a formal complaint. You might well find that the next person to appear is someone just wanting to have a little chat and find out what the problem is and if they can resolve it for you. You might be surprised how hard some of the Practice personnel are willing to work to avoid having formal complains registered against it.
 
Yes. there are people in the world in what should be caring professions who let their opinions and ignorance interfere with their ability to provide an adequate service.

When I was told I was diabetic by the hospital they said contact your GP and let them know and they'll arrange everything. Much to my surprise the surgery did nothing, even when I told them what the hospital said I should expect. I ended up arguing with a surly receptionist who tried to refuse me an appointment. All the eventually did was an HbA1C, which the hospital had already done, told me it was OK and to keep doing whatever I was doing. It wasn't OK. I not only had to go through the practice manager, I had to go to the head of the local PCT. After all that I was allowed to see someone who gave me the prescriptions and advice I needed. I wish that were the end of the story but it isn't.

For most of the next year the surgery managed to screw up every one of my repeat prescriptions, that finally come to a crescendo one evening when the pharmacist walked across the street to the surgery with me to try to get yet another problem sorted out. The surly receptionist, who it turns out was also doing the repeat prescriptions, shut off her computer ten minutes before the surgery was due to close, told us she hadn't made a mistake and to come back Monday if I needed a change to my prescriptions, then turned off the lights and said we'd have to leave. I was left without metformin for a weekend. After the PCT received two very detailed complaints she no longer works at the surgery. It's still not what I would consider a good surgery compared to others I've been to, but interestingly enough I haven't had a single problem with any more prescriptions, no more cancelled appointments, nor problem seeing a GP since.

I wish I hadn't needed to do all that, or to get someone put out of their job, but sometimes it is necessary to do such things to ensure that you get the treatment and respect you deserve. Hopitals and surgeries should be giving appropriate care, we should let the appropriate managers or governing organisations know when they are not doing so, anything less is simply accepting poor service.
 
It is always difficult to tackle a bad GP, but it's worth remembering that they are self-employed consultants, they earn a lot of money and get paid for each registered diabetic. You are entitled to at least an annual diabetes check and obviously a T1 needs strips. As the GP is so bad, making a complaint can't make the relationship any worse?
 
I suggest you get to know your pharmacist - they are professionals, they don't just dish out prescriptions, but take an interest in their patients/customers. They can approach the Dr for you about prescriptions you need. Also they've go a lot more time, & you don't need an appointment.

I had a Dr like that whom no-one could speak a good word for. Tell him what your problem is, & he'd diagnose something - anything - else. I went in with a hernia, & without examining me diagnosed piles - & "prescribed" 5 pints of drink per day!

The company's Dr referred me to the hospital. I asked him if I had grounds for an official complaint, & he simply said the Dr was entitled to his opinion.
 
I had a horrible GP, who habitually sneered at my M.E. and I put up with him for years. I even sat there with what turned out to be shingles, not going to a doctor because I thought he'd just sneer at me for taking up his time with "spots". If I'd left it another 24 hours I think I might have had permanent damage to my optic nerve. When I realised that I decided to try to switch to another GP in that practice - I needed to see a female GP anyway and went to one the practice nurses spoke highly of.

Once there, I confessed to her that I would prefer to switch my registration to her. I said, "This is off the record please. If I cannot switch from Dr X, then I will have to leave this surgery as there is a total breakdown in trust. He does not trust most of what I say, and I do not trust his judgement. Please can we find some way of moving me sideways without a fuss."

Now being bad about M.E. is so common that I didn't think I would achieve anything by making a fuss. Being bad about diabetes should be unacceptable. However, making a formal complaint about one doctor in a practice may simply make the others close ranks and even if you get better treatment, you may still never feel at ease there.

So, I would try asking around the village, if you can, "Is it just me, or is Dr Z. beastly to everyone?" If he's someone who has adopted the tactic of bullying and denigrating all his patients then even his colleagues may be glad to see a complaint against him. But if he's just bad with you, or bad with diabetics, then a complaint won't do very much good and may harm you.

See if anyone else can give you feedback on the other doctors in that practice - maybe the pharmacist who fills your prescriptions (when you can get them!). Go at a quiet time, if you can and try for a chat.

I wouldn't wait for this doctor to sort out your meds. Chances are he'll get it wrong and you should ask your new GP if he will do a review of your meds anyway. The other thing is that in my practice, the basic diabetes monitoring is done by one of the practice nurses who has special diabetes training. Your surgery may be too small to have a specialist, but if they have a practice nurse, then could you ask if the nurse could handle the regular checks - it's mostly keeping on top of the figures which come back from a blood sample.

You could even ask to be given a copy of your results every 6 months and keep a track yourself and seek a GP's advice when you think there's something to worry about. You've probably got a pretty good idea of what the figures should be - that information is fairly readily available on this forum.

Fighting the good fight against this man may be the way forward for you, but in a small community that might just make your life more difficult. But there are ways round that, I hope. Good luck.
 
Hy folks every where.
Is there some one out there that has a CONTOUR next usb meter made buy BAYER.

If so i would very much like to hear from you. :thumbup:
 
Thanks so much for all your replies everyone, it's made me feel so much better just knowing that other people have had similar problems with bad GPs. I've typed out a letter of complaint and have just saved it for now, gonna sleep on it in case I want to re-word it but it felt good to get everything off my chest just by writing it. We'll see what happens!
 
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