Britons turn into ‘DIY doctors’ as poll reveals 1 in 3 gave up booking GP appointment

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Britons turn into ‘DIY doctors’ as poll reveals one in three have given up on booking a GP appointment
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/healt...71557.html

INTRO: An alarming number of Britons are turning into “DIY doctors” because of the struggle to get an NHS GP appointment in 2023, new polling has revealed. Some 23 per cent of those surveyed said they could not get an appointment, while three in 10 (33 per cent) said they had given up on booking one altogether, according to a Savanta poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats.

Many said they had resorted to “DIY” medical care or gone to A&E instead. One in seven (14 per cent) said they had been forced to treat themselves or ask someone else untrained to do so, with the same proportion seeking emergency care.

One in five people said they had bought medication online or at a pharmacy without advice from a GP, and one in three had delayed seeing a doctor despite being in pain, as pressure on the NHS mounts.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey described the figures as “utterly depressing” and said they should serve as an “urgent wake-up call for ministers asleep on the job”.

The party has called for a new legal right to see a GP within seven days in an early version of its manifesto, which it says will be fully costed at a later date... (MORE - missing details)

[confused2]

Exactly how (and why) doctors in local surgeries get paid is somewhat opaque. As I understand it, until about 15 years ago a medical practice (which may be one or more qualified doctors) would be paid annually by the NHS an amount based on the number of people registered with the practice. If people weren't happy with the service they could register with another practice so there was an element of competition involved. It seems doctors have been able to maintain a fairly high pay while increasingly opting out of the less attractive features of doctoring. A patient seeking to change the practice they are registered with is likely to be a high maintenance Karen and (not surprisingly) they find it difficult to get accepted by another practice.

Practice receptionists are traditionally unpleasant and unhelpful to the point where a slow and painful death may be preferable.

[stryder]

Exactly how (and why) doctors in local surgeries get paid is somewhat opaque. As I understand it, until about 15 years ago a medical practice (which may be one or more qualified doctors) would be paid annually by the NHS an amount based on the number of people registered with the practice. If people weren't happy with the service they could register with another practice so there was an element of competition involved. It seems doctors have been able to maintain a fairly high pay while increasingly opting out of the less attractive features of doctoring. A patient seeking to change the practice they are registered with is likely to be a high maintenance Karen and (not surprisingly) they find it difficult to get accepted by another practice.

Practice receptionists are traditionally unpleasant and unhelpful to the point where a slow and painful death may be preferable.

A method used by the hospitals in the area I doubt has changed much. They use to put people into the beds they had and then work out which ones they could keep there which were the minimum of fuss, so the more problem patients would be sent somewhere else. (One of the reason they were always out of beds) I think there was a bit of a reform (from when someone ended up being "evicted" from a bed in recent years) but it's still a widespread problem.

Along with the fact that some of the medical staff probably shouldn't even be pushing a trolly let alone handling medicines.

Hospitals for the sick, avoid as if it was the plague where possible unless you can't push, poke, tuck or reset whatever the issue is then its a 6+ hour wait down the A&E (longer on weekends)

[confused2]

A method used by the hospitals in the area I doubt has changed much. They use to put people into the beds they had and then work out which ones they could keep there which were the minimum of fuss, so the more problem patients would be sent somewhere else. (One of the reason they were always out of beds) I think there was a bit of a reform (from when someone ended up being "evicted" from a bed in recent years) but it's still a widespread problem.

Along with the fact that some of the medical staff probably shouldn't even be pushing a trolly let alone handling medicines.

Hospitals for the sick, avoid as if it was the plague where possible unless you can't push, poke, tuck or reset whatever the issue is then its a 6+ hour wait down the A&E (longer on weekends)

Back in the day, if you were ill you could ring up the doctor and he/she would come to see you. At some point it seems doctors could opt out of home visits and they all did. Now, if you are ill, you have the choice of going to see your local doctor at a time convenient to them (which may be days or weeks away) - and they can't do much more than take your blood pressure and maybe arrange a hospital appointment for you for 'tests'. OR. Drive/ambulance/taxi to the nearest hospital with an Accident and Emergency department where they've got all the equipment for keeping people alive and wait some hours to be seen.

We may well have got to the point when the things a community wants and perhaps even needs from a local doctor is so different from what the actual local doctors are willing or able to provide that maybe we should just get rid of all these expensive local practices altogether.