My younger son had quite a high palate and when the time came for braces our dentist sent us to a dental hospital where two male dentists showed me a whole folder full of photos of seriously deformed children and adults - who apparently hadn’t had the “opportunity” to benefit from the magnificant new braces the NHS had recently “bought” from the US!! I was bullied into complying - told that if I didn’t, the NHS could no longer accept him as a patient!!! We turned up at our local dentist to have this brace fitted…both upper and lower braces to be worn 24 hours a day for at least 3 months…this for a young shy lad about to start senior school and meet new friends!!! What a load of utter crap! Once out of the dentist with my young son in tears, I told him to take the wretched thing out. We saw a different dentist who arranged the standard train tracks for six months…25 years on, he has perfectly straight teeth and NO over or under bite!!! Bullies!!!
NHS dentists? Ruined many young teeth in the 70s. The policy used to be that if it looked like there was decay to drill and then drill some more. Hence many adults with end to end amalgam (which incidentally is now banned). Strange how so few young people need fillings these days.
Add sunshinevto that list, that’s it, im moving to Spain 
Both Mrs d00d & I have experienced this kind of thing: a new shoulder for her, bunion surgery for me … no thanks, but they won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. There must be a fat wad for the surgeon.
I must be the odd one out here. Our doctors are good and I trust their advice. Thy have kept me going well past my natural lifespan.
For diagnoses and treatments that would concern just me personally and no one else I’d always double-check by getting a second or third opinion from other doctors and specialists.
However, for things and decisions like getting vaxed which concern everybody I wouldn’t need my personal GP but would rather rely on other authorities and institutions.
@ Annie S. But our ancestors usuall died at 50 yrs of age Annie !!
And so weren’t prone to all these things we get now ??
I also believe the NHS has become a bit of a cash cow for both suppliers and specialists !!
Donkeyman 
In recent years I’ve been told I have an overactive thyroid and I have too many red blood cells. I am on meds for both: I can’t dispute either.
Bunion surgery, I can, because I’ve spoken with people who’ve had it and regretted it.
@scot37 I am also well past my sell by date Scot ?
But that is part of the problem imo !
We are kept going at any cost ??
If we are over 70 yrs maybe we should cease to be covered by NHS ??
I am a great believer in the Eskimo system !!
Donkeyman!
We need to remember that the NHS is all about having enough money, and since Covid there is less to ptovide the services we all want.
here are some examples;-
For several years an NHS podiatrist cut my toe nails as I am diabetic & have a touch of arthritis. They stopped over lockdown & will now only see diabetic patients if they injure their feet & risk severe infection.
My insulin kept causing low blood sugar hours after it should have stopped working, so I was referred to a consultant. It took 5 months for the consultant to contact me yet this problem was life threatening. he referred me to a nursing team and when I asked if I needed to change both day & night insulin the nurse told me No, but I now understand that the consultant wanted me to. 
I changed my day time insulin, only to discover that somewhere along the line of it getting from the pharmaceutical manufacturers to me, at some point it had not been kept at the correct temperature… but they couldn’t find where the error had happened! I had to dispose of 7 of 8 vials of insulin as I only discovered the problem after using the 1st one.
My GP’s are working long hours & are always very helpful but there are many new doctors coming into the practice, who are young and inexperienced, and have never actually met the patients they are looking after, owing to new restrictions on face to face appointments.
These are just a few of the problems I have noticed & I seriously doubt that the NHS will ever be as good as it used to be. What happened to the idea that “early diagnosis reduces cost as it prevents the illness from becoming worse & costing more to treat”?
That’s the fundamental problem right now. They have a lot of catching up to do but not enough experienced staff. A lot of people have left the country or aren’t coming in. We as a nation haven’t trained enough of our own. The ones in the system are exhausted from covid, some died or lost colleagues. Many were ill and still deal with the effects, they were bringing vets and dentists into ITU at the height of it last year. Others are vaccinating or have been. Hospitals still have capacity restrictions on the number of people so they can socially distance patients inside. It’s not an easy time to be ill or in need of help. But then we are all as a nation still in the middle of a pandemic. Plus they are reorganising again : Integrated Care Systems Explained | The King's Fund
A friend had that privately, she doesn’t regret it but said she would not have the other foot done because it was so hard recovering from the op and being so helpless. Having to be waited on for 3 or 4 weeks hand and foot (no pun!) is not to everyone’s taste if they are independent by nature.
Mind you same friend regretted having a caesarean too. I think people should only have surgery if they absolutely cannot live with the problem. Having surgery out of choice is a big step and the outcome is not always what you expect. Sometimes it’s worth putting on the red shoes and realising everything is actually good the way it is.
I trust my doctor and my heart consultant…
It reminds me of an old Australian programme called The Flying Doctor, where people in remote areas were told how to look after their complaints themselves over some kind of phone system and maybe some people still have a similar kind system. I seem to recall there were a few episodes where people had to operate on themselves for less serious complaints, but the Doctor would fly in by plane if it was life threatening. 
I don’t think it will get that bad here but I do think we will all have to toughen up and not expect a doctors advice for e very cough and sneeze.
You would be amazed at some of the ridiculous and/ortrivial things people see their GP’s about & TBH I wonder how they get past the receptionists?
GP’s though are just that; general practitioners.
They have a reasonable or good understanding of many of the common everyday health problems they’re faced with but even in these informed and technologically advanced times they often need the help of specialists.
That said they are human and just like the rest of us they are not infallible.
But what is?
Certainly not relying on the internet for a diagnosis or recommendation of treatment, that’s for sure.
There’s a lot of that on here.
Zaphod, I think some think GPS are specialists…they aren’t, they are there to refer us to one if needed…like referring me to a heart specialist…he picked up on my heart murmur, off to the specialist he sent me.
Many GPs are specialists. They just choose to do general practice. Like Doc Martin
many aren’t specialists…unfortunately some of the general public think they are.
They are specialists in general practice.
My gp is not a heart specialist.