Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

It was interesting that a spokesman for The Kings Fund agreed with Cameron the other day regarding waiting times.

http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/

The King's Fund is an independent charity working to improve health and health care in England. We help to shape policy and practice through research and analysis; develop individuals, teams and organisations; promote understanding of the health and social care system; and bring people together to learn, share knowledge and debate. Our vision is that the best possible care is available to all.

Well hes probably been conned by Camoron as the true figures are out now Hays.

Sometimes you really are gullible.

How many days does it take you to see your local NHS GP???????and I mean within the last 18 months.

I can see my GP next day and sometimes same day. I have never waited for more than three days.

Thanks Hays. This is a NHS practice??. And this appointment is not an emergency appointment??

OTHERS please what are your experiencies.??

Just an ordinary practice. I never see any immigrants in the area. It is a sort of white ghetto as well.

Yep but I remember you commentating on your local A@E where you said it was like a cattle market full of immigrants with ALL THE FAMILY with them.

Im wondering if this is a regional problem with NHS GP appointments.

I think poster shortie said he had a short waiting time aswel at his GP.

Wonder if it gets worse the further north you move up from London or are some parts of london bad aswel??

Anyway off to watch Bouchards legs at the tennis.....amazing.

That is not my local A&E. In fact it was an outpatients dept in Hampstead. The catchment for the Hospital is huge. It is not even my local hospital.

Some parts of London are very bad. My mother in law is in a bad area for GPs.

Or bad GPs.

Let us consider the delayed being seen patients are a back log.

If the GPs worked an extra 2 hours a day, then they would be able to clear that back log within a short period of time.

If they were paid an extra £50 per patient to cleared the back log, some would work night and day.

Also, if they were more efficient of making diagnosis within the first couple of appointments, they could cut down on number of "return" or "follower up" appointments.

Also, there is in many practices a problem of continuity of treatment in GP and hospital medicine, which adds to the inefficiency and acceptance of ongoing responsibility for the patient.


The NHS has always been inefficient and that needs to be addressed, but it having the "NHS" it is part what makes a decent society.

Fred how long have you to wait?.

My problem is this, if I cant get an apointment for 10 working days 1.will my problem I have gone away or 2. will I have died?.

I hear some GPs are using the stats for cancelations due to getting better are lumping them with the offenders who dont turn up for an appointment even when the patient as phoned to cancel and say the illness as got better........surely that is wrong.

GF,

I think in the case of acute illness in a child, an appointment should be available the same day, or if judged "serious" within 2-3 hours during the day. (These can be evaluated by suitably trained staff with direct access if needed to "doctors".

If it is "routine" reviewing then that period can be extended.

Similar for adults, but judgement of urgency can be evaluated by medical trained staff.

There is no reason for delays.

But doctors have to have the courage, if a patient frequently bucks the system for personal convenience without respect of the practice organisation, to point it out to them.

Also, there is a role for doctors to educate patients and parents to recognise what is probably "trivial" illness and self treatable from the more serious.

Also, patients have to be educated to recognise that sometimes patience is a better treatment than a "pill" and the former is all that is needed.

=============

There is another problem leading to more consultations and that is the "bloody note" for everything society we are now attempting to live in.

=====

This is brief, and some of the details can cause the problems.

=========

Maggie Thatcher change Medicine for many practitioners from a vocation to a business.

Doctors not being "stupid" got fed up and started concentrating more on making a buck than the ethos of the profession.

(Loads of money.)

===

The stupid contract reform by Labour did not help the situation, also to a lesser degree "hours of work" which should have allowed for exemptions.

God knows what happens in the Scottish Isles. Must ask my niece's partner.

I can usually get a same day appointment at my surgery but this is Wales, land of free prescriptions and sheep! :o)

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2014/02/public-not-noticing-impact-of-council-cuts/

Public ‘not noticing impact of council cuts’

By Richard Johnstone | 4 July 2014

Nearly two-thirds of people say that they have seen no real change in council services despite reductions in local authority funding as part of the coalition government’s deficit reduction plan, a poll has found.

According to the survey by insurers Zurich Municipal and Ipsos MORI, 63% of people said they had not noticed any difference to their council services, despite almost all local authorities introducing major changes, including reduction in some services, in response to budget pressures.

Bloody hell, are you blind Haystack?


Look at the state of the roads for example.

Kim,

Do feel at home there?

8-)

Hazy one.

Perhaps 47% are not dependent on the services being cut!

Kim cheers.

Seems to me its North of the Watford gap where we are suffering.

Fred I understand where you are coming from but would a young mother not be taking too much of a risk chancing on her young child?. Using her judgement for instance could be a massive risk.

Hays ...............open your eyes Council Services are appaling compared to 4 years back.

Had to get a blue badge for my mother.......4 years ago 2 days wait........now 2 months if your lucky.

Actually Fred, The field next to me has a herd of cows in it at the moment, not as accessible as sheep! :o)

Look out Crawshaws will be after the meat for their pies.

Lol!