Pats…I know you have a nursing history…but one thing must be respected…people do know what is going on in their bodies!!
i.e…by now I would be in a wheelchair…
dead from cancer…
son would have had his leg amputated…
doctors are only people, not Gods…and they do very often make mistakes…
Unlike you lilac…I have got doctors who are qualified and do speak my language. If I’m not satisfied I have no qualms telling the doctor (I don’t want to take or do this or that) and unlike you…I would have changed doctors long ago if I was in your shoes.
Unless you are seeing a doctor privately, which is your own choice, your doctor doesn’t get paid based on appointments. You could see your GP every day or not at all and there would be no difference to what the doctor is paid. So perhaps your views are based on misconceptions?
So why is there a time limit on consultations?
If it isn’t a factory?
Demand and supply…If there was no time limit then some patients would never get a chance to be seen.
Did my quoting a fact imply otherwise?
The doctors at our medical centre have a sign saying “please no more than 2 problems discussed at any one appointment”. Sorry, not exact words as I haven’t been to the doctor in ages but I can see their point.
At first I was affronted when I saw the sign but so many people want to,pour their hearts out about every little pain when the doctor greets them with “So, what can I help you with, or what seems to be the problem?”
Nobody else would be able to see the doctor & our wait times for appointments would go from a couple of weeks to a couple of years!
You get this with white(racist??)doctors as well.
Spot on Pats its not funny.
The only problem I’d have with a so called foreigner doctor is the part about understanding them. I realize you can’t help having an accent no,matter what it is but if the doctor doesn’t speak slowly, & you have to repeatedly ask what he said, he gets an annoyed look in his face. I don’t think that’s right, especially many older people have hearing issues.
we get 10 minutes consultation but you can make a double appointment of 20 which I’ve done, that gives me plenty of time to discuss problems and receive a less than hurried response
Perhaps it’s just me but I always thought give the GP as much information about all m symptoms gave them a better chance to diagnose what is wrong with me, certainly without all my symptoms being discussed the GP would not have sent me to be tested for MS and also my cancer could have been missed. It’s dangerous to assume they can diagnose us by just discussing one symptom or two at a time.
Just posted this response on the other thread …
I am not sure how it is where you are but here we have a plethora of accents not necessarily foreign, some black country accents or Glaswegian accents baffle me, I have less problem usually with an Indian accent than I do a very broad Glaswegian, get out into the countryside and again some accents and even phrases are very different, I love hearing them but I do struggle sometimes to understand them.
After my diagnosis with Diabetes, my GP sent me to another in the practice who was a specialist on the condition.
Trouble was he was from Pakistan, and i could not understand him, nor him me. It was almost comedic and after the third session i left the practice and found a new one.
Nothing against the man himself, but no point if he cant make himself understood.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve always understood that doctors coming from non English speaking countries are tested for their fluency in English before they’re allowed to practice.
My GP doesn’t speak English and on the only occasion I’ve had to consult him I translated all my symptoms and questions I wanted to ask him into Hungarian and wrote them out on paper. It made the consultation a lot easier for both of us.
They are fluent I believe it’s just a strong accent, as I said above I have more problem with some strong UK accents than many from around the world.
We don’t have thick accents in Canada regularly except maybe people from Newfoundland. Usually they only talk fast if they’re with others from that province. My SIL is from NFLD.
I guess if you’re having a lot of problems Julie, you’d book a double appt, like Honey said. They don’t want someone in there with completely separate conditions yakking away away about their banged toe, their headache, the sty in their eye, a hangnail, ingrown hair on their rear end, whatever.
GP has to request a double at our surgery, so you have to get a single appointment - 4 to 5 week wait, then GP can request a double which means another 4 to 5 week wait. I guess by then you are either dead or better !
So few appointments available now my husband gets his injections and does them his self rather than book with the surgery, oddly they keep giving him repeat prescriptions and don’t ask why he isn’t having the injections done at the surgery. Never seems safe to me.
I didn’t know that.
I trust our GP service.
I had a shrill whistle ‘accidently’ blown in my ear on Tuesday …:shock:…it left me deaf in that ear and feeling nauseous so went to my surgey to make an appointment to have the ear checked out, this was 11.30am and they gave me an appointment for 12.15pm.
No damage to the eardrum, just disturbed fluid balance in the middle ear, I just have to put up with the ‘whooshing’ sound until it settles down again.
