I have been with the same practice since birth. But I do not live in the area any more so I am going to have to change.

I am dreading it. 

Its good to have a Doc who listens and greets you. Wonder how long this will last though with this Govt pouring more demands on them.

My doctor is like yours, brisket - absolutely wonderful.
The nursing staff are all lovely too.

There is one doctor there, who I refuse to see again, unless it was a 'life, or death' situation. He's rude, arrogant and unfriendly and should have been directed into laboratory work, instead of working with humans.

Interesting Blizzie.  I too have experienced both sorts of doctors that you refer to.
It angers me that some doctors fail to show basic empathy and common couortesy.
However, I am delighted that we both currently have wonderful doctors.

More than happy! My first Doctor (in this area) I think is about 90 and still lives nearby. I feel quite odd when I push my grandson's pushchair past his house, but I expect he feels the same when he greets us. His followers have all been wonderful!

I used to have a doctor that was drop dead gorgeous - always made having a smear awkward though!  
The nurse does it now thankfully ! 
I did report a doc once for giving my baby son an injection like she were a butcher

I absolutely LOVE my doctor, however, as he's so well liked by everyone he can be difficult to get an appointment with at short notice....There's another doctor at the practice who absolutely no-one likes, so she always seems to be the one who has appointments available! I refuse to see her, I'd rather suffer!

My doctor has a healing smile.
So there!

Oh!.....I thought we were going to play!!!.......goes to take of nurses uniform!!!....

lal! 

*** tuts ***

*** hides stethoscope ***  

Than he/she misdiagnoses you still with a smile and charm.

Hit and miss for me. Don't trust them.

Mine has healing hands. 

I'm okay with mine,it was /maybe still is a family practice..now into third generation .I don't get fobbed of etc.I did go to them last year with a throat problem...I felt I had to clear it all the time,as if there was a constant irritation etc...well  they went the usual route,a few weeks of throat remedies...no change.I went back and stated it was actually getting in the way of me swallowing properly at times etc..So i did actually  have to go to hospital,get knocked out etc and various  cameras probed down the throat,I had a biopsy taken  as they found an indentation in the throat..,sample was begnign...just have to let then know if it asnnoys me again....so far so good.,No I don't smoke!

My doctor was/is Chinese,and any questions you had with him totally went out the window, because you had to concentrate soley on what he was saying. 'His English wasn't the best' and yes I know I may well upset a few people here because of that statement (I'm not racist BTW), but I've recently seen a Scots woman doctor that I'm hoping I can see again simply because she knows about my 'condition' *horses for courses*?

sprout, I had an Indian doctor like that, when I was a teenager.
It was impossible to understand him!

Poor communication can sometimes get in the way.
Great pity, because of all the relationships where good communication is vital, the doctor-patient one is extremely important.
Clarity and full understanding is essential I would say.
One should not be intimidated by the power of a doctor (or a receptionist) but should leave a consultation better informed.

**makes face like Kenneth Williams in a Bateman cartoon**

That said, the nurses that looked after me five years ago, couldn't have looked after me better when I had my hysterectomy, but I just wanted to be out of the hospital and knew I could look after myself better at home and I proved it with various members of family and friends 

I've had great doctors and nurses and have a had a few bad ones too.  I adore my renal consultant, but I know several of his other patients dislike him - probably because he tells them like it is.  Some of the registrars I see I'm not that keen on, but there was one that I saw nearly everyday for 2 months (in hospital) who is an absolute star!  The next time I was admitted, he ran over and gave me a hug and was genuinely concerned.

Some of the nurses at the various units I've been on have been great too. Some are a great laugh and make the time go by so much quicker.  Others are miserable and moany.

My consultant is fantastic, I have total faith and trust in him.
The GP I usually see at my doctor's surgery is great and a couple of others are pretty good too. However, when I was ill at Christmas, the GP I spoke to was as much use as a chocolate ashtray.
The surgery nurses are very good, even the reception staff aren't bad.
During my hospital stays, I have found that the standard of nursing care has varied considerably - from kind, caring and dedicated to disinterested, lazy and miserable.

One fondly remembers the time when one had to predict being ill by two weeks however receptionists have improved over the last few years. The new receptionists are the delightful ladies of the pharmacy.

My GP is brilliant. He's been my doctor for 26 years and his son has just joined the practice and he's just as lovely. There is a part time female doctor who is rubbish. The receptionists are a mixture - they are all polite but mostly inefficient apart from one who is great.
The appointments are always running badly late but that's because you're never hurried out of the consulting room when you see the doctor - he gives you as much time as you need

My GP retired recently.  His parents started the practice   However, since he retired the practice has gone to hell. 

I was transferred to the list of a doctor who works part time and I've never been able to get an appointment with her - I have no idea what she looks like.  There are now 5 other doctors in the practice one of whom I would never see even under pain of death  simply because he is so vile.  There's a new Asian doctor who has promise but it's virtually impossible to get to see him 

Gone are the days when they had appointments up to 6pm at night - now they seem to stop at about 1pm after emergency appointments.  The afternoons are now for their specialist clinics!  The appointment system is flawed as well because the phone lines now open at 8am although they used to open at 8.30 for an appointment that day, if you can't get through due to the volume (all appointments are generally gone by 8.45am) you have to go through the whole process the next day and hope you get an appointment

I have some quite serious medical conditions which due to the way the surgery is operated and the inability of getting an appointment I've either had to be treated at hospital (by emergency ambulance), at a badger walk in centre or an NHS walk in centre.  I'd like to move to a different surgery but all the ones close by have closed their books to new people.

The practice nurses are OK though   the receptionists are the worst aspect of this surgery.

My GP is great but the receptionists often act as if they are medically qualified.

The blood nurse at my practice has decidedly worrying shaky hands as she approaches your veins with a needle.   Although to be honest she does usually hit the spot first time.

i did too, i got quite excited for a min

*cough cough* right in all seriousness I love my doctors, I see a different one most times and they are all lovely, the receptionists are lovely too   I have now chosen to see the same doc the last couple of times i have been and hes just lovely, a really good doctor, patient, kind and really tries to helps you.

although i do have a nazi for a nurse! She didnt even let me get in the door, talk or sit down before she attacked me with a flu jab   She really wouldn't be out of place as a prison warden  

This is the same nurse that started asking me if they had got any more chilean miners out as she was doing something rather .......apt I felt like saying, "well there's none up there"

  You really should have done!

I should have,  I shall never forget the date of that, so it came in handy

There have been many changes over the years for me.
I remember a doctor who had a prescription written out before you entered his room. You left feeling very dissatisfied.
On the other hand I recall a doctor who (obviously seeing me struggle to explain) kindly said "I don't want you to leave until you've told me."   I told him.
I also remember receptionists who were tartars and who hadn't smiled in decades. They were drunk on their power and control. They seemed to think their job priority was to prevent anyone seeing a doctor, and to speak too loudly. Fortunately, the current crop are efficient and polite.


Another thing about the style of a G.P.
I have known people who have criticised a doctor because he (or she) has looked up something in a book. They say it doesn't instill confidence.
Now I feel just the opposite.
I greatly like the fact that my gem of a doctor will look something up in a book if he wants to verify or learn. It fills me with extra confidence in him.

 

What does everyone think of the requirement of a degree for nurses these days?

As a Dr's receptionist all I can say are that most of the time I get pissed off is cos of malingering shits who demand to be seen urgently (when they've missed an appointment the previous day) and who when you cannot fit them in the same day (normally when they are phoning about 3pm) then start bleating on saying the doctor must see them cos they have chest pains...I normally tell them then to call an ambulance then not wait several hours if they feel its that urgent (THEY NEVER DO COS THEY ARE LYING!)

Or people who want and expect an urgent appointment cos they haven't renewed their sicknote and they don't want to miss out on money...THATS NOT A MEDICAL EMERGENCY!

Or people who phone a couple iof hours before their appointment to check what time their appointment is (even though text reminders are sent) AND STILL DON'T BOTHER TURNING UP!

Or people who phone to say they have had a phone call from their kids school to say their child has thrown up and they need an urgent appointment that same day BUT THEY'VE NOT EVEN SEEN THE KID THEMSELVES to see how ill they are but 'I can't 'ave 'im chucking up indoors!'

Or people who continually do not put in their prescription requests 48 hours ahead of time as reuired (stated on prescription) and bring them in and expect them to be done there and then.

Or the people who phone up saying their child is ill (I'll always try and fit in a a young child) , you juggle the surgery then ask the name and their 'baby' is bloody 19!

I could go on but anyone that says their receptionist is a dragon should ask themselves why? There are a finite number of appointments available and its often not possible to conjur up an appointment no matter how needed it is. Plus, most of what they do is by following strict guidelines and instructions from the GPs.

I didn't mean you Croc     

at Crocs rant!!!




 That one ^^^^  happened to me.   I didn't say an appointment for my child, I said daughter... then I explained she would be a temporary resident cos she is at boarding school & they make them be permanent patients of the schools GP practise.. blah de blah..   

And... I said it was Glandular Fever ...   so I think the clues were there...

She still got the hump when I said she was 17 though!

I totally get all the frustrations you have listed & more...  the DNA's, the time wasters, the sick note chasers..   

but some receptionists are just bloody rude 

I particularly object to the ones that ask what I want to see the doctor about...    nowt like a bit of patient confidentiality is there

Yes but you didn't phone up saying 'my baby has a bad cold!'...I've had that!

quote:

My GP is great but the receptionists often act as if they are medically qualified.

I phoned up to book an appointment once and the receptionist asked what it was about but that I didn't have to say if I didn't want to

quote:

I particularly object to the ones that ask what I want to see the doctor about...    nowt like a bit of patient confidentiality is there

spookay