What are people's views about GP's working longer hours
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GP'S
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Maisie1
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Hello
Strange we were talking about something very much like this today, at this moment in time after hours are covered by Locums of night call companies, gone are the days back in 50-80s when many surgeries would have their own GPs on call this can cause problems. Even now you can be put into a problem of to many patients asking for and demanding appointments at certain times of the day, this leads to appointments been given up to a 2 week period..
My old surgery I feel managed to get around this by a rotations at after 5.00pm-6.00pm or so and a Saturday appointment period on a Saturday morning, Sunday was covered where the GP could be called and would meet the patient at the clinic, this was a urgent need appointment where again the call out service would have been used
Of course the NHS Service Direct could be called for urgent and information services.
The longer the GP and nurses work the less I feel will be working efficiently because of of long hours, you just need to look into A and E at end of shift.
Of course we are living in a twenty/four/seven society and so late or weekend appointments will need to be brought into service. Generally the appointments that are out of the standard practice working hours are their for patients that cannot attend because of work, so they are not really given to people who can visit during the day.
One way that can or does work is a telephone appointment where you can explain your problem to the GP on the phone. Then pick up your prescriptions at a later time
Personally I am not a medical person we discuss on Participation Groups in GP surgeries, a way that many patient can have a say in the running of their Surgery
Personally I think the question should be how long the surgery is open and not the hours the GP works! There are many practices that still open 9 -5 Monday to Friday.
Ideally the practice should be open from 7:30 until 9:00pm Monday to Friday with weekends from 8:00 - 12:00 Emergencies only.
If the reception were to start at 7:30 taking appointments for that day surgery hours could begin:
8:00 - 9:00 people employed
9:00 -13:00
14:00 - 17:00
17:00 - 21:00 people employed or emergencies.
Surgeries are now big enough to hold several GP's in each Practice some of which are women who prefer to work part time. The GP's could also stagger their working hours throughout the week. It would mean that we patients would have to change our ways as well rather than insisting on the same GP each time and take whatever GP is available. Which is the same as you would if you attend a hospital appointment or A&E, you don't necessarily get to see the same person if it is a big department.
This way people would have no need to visit their local A&E for the many trivial things they do at the moment.
Sorry but I am all for flexi working hours, as it was something that I spent many years doing whilst I was working, it benefited both employer and employee, plus the general public. I would add I worked for Local Government so my pay came from the public purse, so if LG can do it so can the NHS.
I do not think they should be working longer hours but surgeries working clever so they are available longer opening hours with shift patterns
I would be inclined to say that GP's work long hours already.
I don't think they are asking individual GP's to work longer hours but the GP practice to GP's available at weekends & evenings.
This would mean being flexible in their work patterns, some GP's starting early, some late, & perhaps having days off during the week to work weekends.
This would also affect the staff at the practice too, nurses & admin staff, which again they might need to be flexible.
For patients, this might mean not being able to see your GP on certain days, so you might need to be flexible in who you see especially if it is urgent.
I believe that some GP practices, which only have 1 or 2 GP's might suffer if tis is forced upon them. But again you might see surgery's joining forces so they can offer extended types of services in their practice (or adjacent practices) which might not suite all staff or indeed patients.
It is something that both GP's, Staff & patients need to look at & perhaps we all need to be a bit more flexible in our approach to healthcare.
I meant to say better opening hours. Thanks for the reply
It's nice to see your own GP but I have seen others in my surgery just as good. GPs need to have a life like the rest of us and although they might not be seeing patients they house visit and visit residents in care homes etc. They are busy people! What I would like to see are more drop-in centres where you don't need an appointment but can expect to wait to be seen. I have used one in Reading which is open long hours and ideal for visiting during a lunchtime or after work and in the evening. They then send their treatment notes to your GP. Unfortunately even the Reading one is now asking you to make an appointment - shame.
I agree about them or king long hours. The drop in centres are great but I think they are getting rid of them. To get an appt. at my GP I sometimes have to wait 4 weeks if it is no an emergency
Doctors always used to work long hours but had the autonomy to be in control over the way they offered medical care, in that they made the decisions and carried the consequences. Increasingly as in most professions now medics are answerable for every move they make, targets, outcomes, budgets, there is none of the professional decision making based upon knowing patients and their circumstances and home lives, caring about them and being fellow human beings. Increasingly medics seem to have to be machines who write prescriptions and have the answer to everything yet offer very little. If doctors were independent as they used to be and had smaller practices they would know their patients and be able to offer care informally over the phone or in person with greater willingness and greater job satisfaction. I think few medics who are in the work because they enjoy helping people get well would resent long hours, but if I was one I would certainly resent the constant decision making by others about what should and shouldn't be done and under what conditions. I think the current way of working within health and social care in this country undermines health and care for all, although there is still a lot of excellent work being done within health and care services.
I agree it's all to do with budgets and filling masses of forms in. Years ago we had one family doctor who did everything. We didn't make appts. We just turned up and the surgery didnt close until the last patient left
my personal view of my gp is good its very rare I don't get an appointment when I need , our out of hours is also very good and normaly quick to reply , The gp service works on 6 days a week over two surgeries , we have 12 or 13 doctors ,who also work around hours . My mother lives only 6 miles away and has many problems , cant get through to appointments easy , appointments are normaly 2 week s away and out of hours just does not happen , any out of hours are sent to the local hospital 7 miles away , my mum does not drive and would have to get a taxi which is costly , Doctors should make sure all there patients have the cover they need even if this means working on a rota like many other people have to , after all us tax payers pay them .so lucky to have a gp who cares for there patients
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