Not sure if this is allowed

[jenny1106]

I know many people are struggling to get through to/see GP's so this is a link to petition to reinstate face to face GP consultations

chng.it/ZGzyYVQ7TN

[Nackapan]

Done thanks

[Chocolate41 in reply to Nackapan]

Done 🤙

[wedgewood]

✅ signed

[clivealive Forum Support]

My wife 'phoned my surgery to ask whether may HbA1c could be tested as it is now 18 months since it was done. The receptionist told her my GP would 'phone me on Thursday - a three day wait just to be told a yes or no.

[Nackapan in reply to clivealive]

Yes snd hanging around waiting for the call all day I hate.

[clivealive Forum Support in reply to Nackapan]

And as I'm profoundly deaf I hate telephones and end up shouting "I can't hear you!" plus most of the time it's a scam or there's no-one there.

[Kazania in reply to Nackapan]

I hate this ‘call back’ situation with a passion.

[Kazania in reply to clivealive]

So sorry! I sympathise - that’s the way it is now and I don’t think it will get any better. Like you I have to sure to have my hearing aids in, and glasses handy, I end up carrying my mobile everywhere with me even into the toilet. It’s a nightmare. 😡. Nice to see you on here, even if you ‘haven’t been anywhere’ 😂 I hope you get a positive answer when you eventually get one.🤞🏼

[clivealive Forum Support in reply to Kazania]

I empathise in every respect even to taking the phone into the bathroom as at the age of 80 that's where I'm mostly to be found

[Narwhal10]

Thank you and done.

[Jillymo]

Signed 👍

[clivealive Forum Support]

Thank you - not that I've actually moved much more than ten yards for the past 18 months and Gill's been giving me my injections. She's turning into quite a good darts player

Night night

[Horsey07]

Thank you. Signed.

[ACritical]

Had seen and signed it, a friend of mine made me aware.

[JanCymru]

Done and shared via the FB link - thank you x

[Cali25]

Signed

[Calypsoplus]

Done and shared x

[Ghound]

Signed thanks ✔👍

[Barneyboy48]

Already signed.

I would encourage everybody else to sign too.

[Hidden]

It won't be much longer before the NHS will be sued for negligence claims all over the country the way it's going.People ring there surgeries over 400 times and still not being able to get through. It's not just the NHS, DVLC and the department of work and pensions...... these are all government departments letting people down. Yet the rest of private business are back in business provided they can get materials to continue.

[metamorphica]

As much as i'd love to see my GP (not seen them in the flesh for over 2 years now, only nurses for my B12 injection. I dont think forcing them to see people is right, not with the current situation.

Id like to share this from a page on FB. Dr Rant. It's run by real doctors, who like to share their real feelings about the situation and sums up how i feel about the situation.

I've edited it to remove the swearing in case that's not allowed here, but otherwise word for word. -

'Dear Readers. It would seem that various right-wing newspapers are running campaigns insisting that 'GPs start seeing people face to face'. May I point out a few facts.-Firstly, of the one million primary care consults per day in England over the last few months, NHSE figures show HALF have been face to face. The overall demand has gone up by over 20% compared to pre-pandemic times. WE ARE SEEING PATIENTS FACE TO FACE.

-You may recall an adulterous little nematode called Matt Hancock. He used to be health secretary. Last year, he asked for half of all consultants to be managed remotely in the long run. Which, from the figures above, it would seem that Primary Care has been managing to do.

-There is still a Covid-19 pandemic going on. 135,000 Brits have died from this illness. 31,000 new cases were reported yesterday. Vaccines are helping, but this condition is still serious.

-Primary Care has been underfunded for many successive governments. A bit like the rest of the NHS, really.

-This means that there hasn't been as much investment in GP Surgeries as there should have been. Most GP surgeries do NOT have waiting rooms sufficient for the middle of a pandemic. Social distancing is difficult in small waiting rooms.

-If, as these campaigns demanded, we saw everyone face-to-face, we would rapidly end up with full waiting rooms, with no social distancing, and potential cases of Covid in the room next to other patients. Think back to the average GP waiting room in 2019 - standing room only, and several kids and adults sneezing and coughing everywhere.

-No one wants to become a GP anymore. The number of full-time-equivalent GPs is going DOWN as the population goes up. There are many reasons for this; underfunding Primary Care is one of them.

-So, you have a situation where demand is going up, the number of GPs is going down, there is nowhere to safely seat the patients, and the pandemic rages on.

-The choice for GPs is difficult. Most of us are using triage techniques, and deciding which cases to see face to face, and which cases can be seen remotely. It isn't perfect. We know that remote consults can sometimes miss serious illness. But we also know that a case of Covid in a full waiting room will result in potentially everyone catching the illness.

-The only other safe way of avoiding local Covid outbreaks would be to spend much more time between cases, i.e., build up a waiting list. This is already happening for many surgeries, partly due to the surge in demand. Waiting several weeks to see a doctor isn't great for missing serious illness, either.

-GPs have been busy doing other stuff too. 75% of the vaccines in the UK have been set up and organised by Primary Care.

-Morale is worse in Primary Care than I have ever seen it. Every day, someone on mainstream media or SoMe is having a tantrum saying that they can go to Tesco or to the football, so why can't they see their GP at the drop of a pin, or why don't GPs have their paid docked 90% because they aren't doing any work? I don't recall working this hard since my house officer days doing 100 hour weeks in the 90s.

-Add to all this the usual bull from anti-vaxxers, Covid-denialists, adult toddlers demanding everything under the sun, and so on.

-And lastly, I am reminded of my earlier days at medical school, where I was taught that 90% of the time, a good clinical history alone is sufficient to reach a diagnosis; examination isn't always needed.

Some time when the pandemic is over, we will return to the halcyon days of packed waiting rooms full of screaming snotty kids, drunks, shouty louts, and GPs running an hour late. But for now, there is simply no way that we can accede to the demands of hysterical Daily Fail readers and populist buffoon politicians. Not without people coming to even more harm than with the current situation.

SO yes, as much as i'd like to see my GP (and specialist) face to face, honestly it hasn't made much difference in how i've been treated so far. I've managed to get the medication i need ( apart from obviously the fact im on NDT and self sourcing) as well as support for my conditions (to the same point as i was when seeing someone directly)

[Dee011960]

Done

[hendry]

Ticjk

[Feath21]

People need to write a notice (NOT a letter or complaint) to the NAMED individual who is the highest authority within the surgery. You state that it is a REQUIREMENT and it is therefore your 'WILL' that face to face appointments are reinstated. The notice needs to encompass a data subject access request (DSAR), you ask them questions, questions such as, ("explain how you can best serve your fellow man/woman in regards to their health without seeing them face to face, a full explanation with accompanying evidence to support the claim, is 'required'), you give them 28 days to answer the questions, in writing, sent via Royal Mail (not an email), with the Doctors full name and his/her (wet ink) signature on the bottom, (that is his/her liability), phone calls and text messages are not an acceptable form of contact in regards to the Notice either. Obviously it requires some knowledge of what you are doing, you will need to research, I can give links to help. They will not roll over easily. Complaints, petitions et al are pleadings, and pleadings are from an inferior to a superior!, No man/woman stands above another, it is sad to say but the NHS is not set up to work the way people assume, it is not broken, it never was, it was set up to function exactly how it does:/ All that has occurred in the last 15 months is deliberate, and it continues, we have to make them liable for their actions, it is not going to get easier, we have to take responsibility for our own health & well-being and stop giving our power over to so called professionals that 'act' as if they own your body, and DO NOT have our best interests at heart. This is my advice, it is up to whomever to take it or not, I am not going to get into semantics on my views regards what has been happening since March 2020, that is not my point here, I am only wishing to cut through the blocks for anyone who wishes to do that too.