View of your Doctors?

[steve]

Is it a postcode lottery?

We have moved to Eccleston and no complaints. Needed a “check” appointment before repeat prescription and given an appointment of 7:30am this week. Have also had an appointment of 8:30am on a Sunday.

Never waited more than a few minutes at any appointment.

Certainly feels a lot better than when I lived in Southport and later using Tarleton surgery. Always hard to get an appointment and always waiting ages at appointment times.

My son living in Bristol was totally let down on a serious knee injury last year, sure feels like it is really a post code lottery.

No complaints here and grateful.

[said]

You are right about Southport. I could probably get an appointment with the Queen before I could get a Doctor's appointment here. Mind you - the appointment times you have been given, would not exist here either.

On the other hand, when I was unable to attend surgery, I had a call out Doctor come to see me, checked me over and I was in hospital within an hour. So on that side I cannot complain.

[Albion102]

The only reliable way at our surgery to get an appointment is to queue outside the surgery at 750am, to be given an appointment at the annex surgery 2 miles further out of Colchester.

They are building 3000 houses a year for the next 15 years in Colchester, Braintree and Tendring but it seems, not building any schools or hiring any doctors.

[gsgsgs]

I often hear these stories with amazement, I don't use my doctor very often but when I do I've always had an appointment that day, the last time ringing at 08:05 to be given an appointment at 08:45

I can book an appointment in advance, book online, late surgery Thursday until 8pm and a surgery Saturday 8 - 12

I've never seen my actual doctor but if you need to see a doctor do that matter.

[Hamble]

Quote
"The shortages have been exacerbated by the retirement of a generation of Asian GPs who came to Britain during the 1960s and 1970s when there was a shortage of doctors.

Finding replacements today is hindered by immigration restrictions, under which the NHS is only allowed to employ foreign doctors if there are no suitable staff in the UK or EU.

Prof Aneez Esmail, from Manchester University, said: “There was an influx of Asian doctors in the 1960s and 1970s. Many of these went to work in under-doctored areas in inner cities and my research shows they were retiring in the 2000s.

“There was also a clampdown on recruitment of doctors from the sub-continent in around 2009. We thought we had enough British graduates but most were going into hospital medicine.”

There are also concerns that the growing number of female GPs will lead to further shortfalls.

Research by the Royal College of Physicians has found that women GPs will outnumber their male colleagues by 2013. Many of them work part-time because of family commitments.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, an MP on the health committee and former family doctor, said: “It creates all sorts of pressures as women take time out with family commitments. There is a real risk of shortage and a risk of the imbalance of where people are working in medicine.”

The Centre for Workforce Intelligence have recommended that an extra 450 GP training posts need to be filled annually over the next four years.

However, the number of young doctors training as GPs fell by 7 per cent this year, even though more places have been made available.

Dr Wollaston added that many medical students perceive hospital careers to be more glamorous. She has written to Mr Lansley warning him there are “real problems brewing” around the number of GPs.

“There’s a problem with the way doctors in training are still being encouraged to think they should have hospital-based careers,” she said."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/active/8...faces-chronic-
shortage-of-GPs.html


That was back in 2011.
Now the shortage is made worse by G.ps leaving the profession due to workload stress.

400 nhs doctors died by suicide in the last 4 years.
A rise in complaints against Dr's is a factor.

[steve]

The only reliable way at our surgery to get an appointment is to queue outside the surgery at 750am, to be given an appointment at the annex surgery 2 miles further out of Colchester.

They are building 3000 houses a year for the next 15 years in Colchester, Braintree and Tendring but it seems, not building any schools or hiring any doctors.

Assuming you are well enough to be queuing outside at 7:50am. Certainly seems a postcode lottery, I only talking about a 10 mile radius of differences. Where I am now is the most rural so that is probably the major factor, or just lucky.

[Toodles McGinty]

We've got a pretty good practice. Ours is outside of the town centre and when we moved we opted to stay with them rather than find a more local docs. It has undergone extensive modernisation and is accessible, efficient and it's easy to get an appointment. You can also have telephone appointments if it isn't necessary to be face-to-face with a GP.

In contrast, my sister-in-law went to a town centre practice when she moved here. Huge mistake. She has to queue up outside before 8am to see a GP. Or phone before 8am to see a practice nurse, which is usually at the clinic in Hoghton Street, rather than her doctors. She complains that there's 'nobody speaking English' - I know, she squirms when my eyebrows raise. Seems the worst thing is they constantly opt for generic drugs rather than those prescribed by the hospital. I've heard the same complaints from a lot of patients there.

So yes, it does seem like a lottery. I know that if I moved even further away, I'd stick with my practice. It sounds pretty grim at some of them.

[grassroots]

Trying to get an appointment at my surgery is a nightmare , and that's just to see MY GP . The surgery has an Anvanced Nurse who is qualified to do referrals she very good .

[melanieb]

Trying to get an appointment at my surgery is a nightmare , and that's just to see MY GP . The surgery has an Anvanced Nurse who is qualified to do referrals she very good .

We moved a mile up the road which took us out of Sefton and into West Lancs. and we were duly turfed out of our g.p's where I'd been for almost all of my adult life. Our present g.p's practice is the pits. You cannot ring or call into the surgery for an appointment; you have to ring to ask for a telephone appointment which means an unqualified person will ring you (usually within two weeks?) to ask what the problem is and they then decide whether you need to see a real doctor, in which case that will be in approximately another two weeks. It's the weirdest thing when attending the surgery as surprise, surprise there's hardly ever anyone in the waiting room - they're not all healthy, just unable to get in!

On the last couple of occasions my husband and I have needed medical assistance, we've attended the walk in clinic at Ormskirk Hospital, which is fantastic. Very little waiting time and you actually get treated by a real professional.

[grassroots]

We moved a mile up the road which took us out of Sefton and into West Lancs. and we were duly turfed out of our g.p's where I'd been for almost all of my adult life. Our present g.p's practice is the pits. You cannot ring or call into the surgery for an appointment; you have to ring to ask for a telephone appointment which means an unqualified person will ring you (usually within two weeks?) to ask what the problem is and they then decide whether you need to see a real doctor, in which case that will be in approximately another two weeks. It's the weirdest thing when attending the surgery as surprise, surprise there's hardly ever anyone in the waiting room - they're not all healthy, just unable to get in!

On the last couple of occasions my husband and I have needed medical assistance, we've attended the walk in clinic at Ormskirk Hospital, which is fantastic. Very little waiting time and you actually get treated by a real professional.

Wow that's sounds like a poor service Mel . I would be contacting the CQC .

[said]

I was visiting at Ormskirk hospital recently. The Hospital itself is lovely and quiet, with just a few people in the corridors. But the car park was full and the walk in clinic was extremely busy - now I understand why.

[Albion102]

Assuming you are well enough to be queuing outside at 7:50am. Certainly seems a postcode lottery, I only talking about a 10 mile radius of differences. Where I am now is the most rural so that is probably the major factor, or just lucky.

To be fair, I do it because it is quicker and less frustrating than being on hold for 30 minutes. If I actually had a treatable condition that made me feel too ill to do this, I would go to the drop in GP service at the hospital.

In the last 6 years, I've had an acute condition that needed treatment quickly to stop it getting much worse. The first time was on a Friday evening, so I went to the drop in, the second time I was stuck in a hotel in London and paid to see the emergency GP service at Victoria station.

[justbecause]

We moved a mile up the road which took us out of Sefton and into West Lancs. and we were duly turfed out of our g.p's where I'd been for almost all of my adult life. Our present g.p's practice is the pits. You cannot ring or call into the surgery for an appointment; you have to ring to ask for a telephone appointment which means an unqualified person will ring you (usually within two weeks?) to ask what the problem is and they then decide whether you need to see a real doctor, in which case that will be in approximately another two weeks. It's the weirdest thing when attending the surgery as surprise, surprise there's hardly ever anyone in the waiting room - they're not all healthy, just unable to get in!

On the last couple of occasions my husband and I have needed medical assistance, we've attended the walk in clinic at Ormskirk Hospital, which is fantastic. Very little waiting time and you actually get treated by a real professional.

This is quite obviously North Meols Medical Centre, now part of Beacon Primary (don’t) Care.

[whiplash]

Kew doctors no problems with them.

[said]

Most medical Doctors prefer to work in hospitals as it is seen to be the more glamorous job. To become a junior doctor takes five years at University, after which there is further training at a hospital.

The salaries for Doctor's is said to be higher than that for Dentists.

F1/F2
In the most junior hospital trainee post (Foundation Year 1) the basic starting salary is £22,412. This increases in Foundation Year 2 to £27,798. For a doctor in specialist training the basic starting salary is £29,705. If the doctor is contracted to work more than 40 hours and/or to work outside 7am-7pm Monday to Friday, they will receive an additional supplement which will normally be between 20% and 50% of basic salary. This supplement is based on the extra hours worked above a 40 hour standard working week and the intensity of the work.

Registrars/specialist registrars
Doctors in the new specialty doctor grade earn between £36,807 and £70,126.

Consultants
Consultants can earn a basic salary of between £74,504 and £100,446 per year, dependent on length of service.

GP
Salaried GPs employed directly by PCTs earn between £53,781 to £81,158, dependent on, among other factors, length of service and experience.

If the wages for GP's were to increase, it would attract more Doctor's. This would increase the efficiency in surgeries and relieve the hospitals of much pressure/