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Patients daren’t complain about bad GPs (UK article about family doctors)

Bob

Senior Member
Messages
16,455
Location
England (south coast)
Daily Telegraph
27 Sep 2012


Patients daren’t complain about bad GPs

Patients treated badly by their GPs are not complaining over fear of being banned from their local surgery, according to a report published today which describes the situation as “one of the great unspoken scandals of the NHS”.

The Patients Association has found that almost one patient in every 20 who submits a formal complaint (4.4 per cent) ends up being de-registered - potentially leaving them with no family doctor.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9568976/Patients-darent-complain-about-bad-GPs.html
 

SilverbladeTE

Senior Member
Messages
3,043
Location
Somewhere near Glasgow, Scotland
1) telegraph is Right wing, and those assclowns want to destroy the NHS

2) Yup, it's a *cultural problem* in the UK, not because of the NHS, but because of our stupid class culture and grossly out of date, undemocratic bullshit system.
See, thing is, GPs have a pretty damn nice racket going, if you want a signature for a passport, firearm licence or several other things, you need a GP's signature, which they *charge money for*!
http://www.shakespearesurgery.co.uk/Shakespeare_Non_NHS_List_Fees.htm

3) in UK doctors are policed by...doctors! The B.M.A., who are desperate to preserve all their cosy little luxuries and "caste system"
I've mentioned the Dr John Bodkin Adams mass murder case (163 vicitms!) many times, even though 1950s it perfectly exposed the vile mentalities then and still existant today in many, that is, the "professional classes are "superior beings" and are above the law.

4) Everyone knows GPs and *consultants* are the biggest damn problem.
consultants are way to often greedy lazy incompetant incredibly arrogant utter BASTARDS
I have seen this myself and, obviously, am very pissed off at them :p
example:
push my mum in her wheelchair into consultant's office in hospital, so me with ME = half dead from that.
What does the son of a bitch do? wheels my my mum facing into the corner, and says "That's how women should be treated, seen and not heard!"
afterwards he claimed it had never happened..I was there you sick f****** scumbag!!! :mad: Jebuz :/

5) so it's really a cultural problem, way too many sociopaths, way too many ways they get away with shit "because we cannot prosecute them,we need doctors!" so they are the "sacred cows" of the "Establishment" :/
and same in different ways, goes on in America. Different culture, thus different and but also similar issues.
I don't know if it has ever been addressed? But US doctors could be struck off, and then merely move state and resume work....
I've mentioned before one asshole surgeon left a junior to do an operation (the junior had never done this operation solo before) on a relative of mine, so the senior could go golfing...with bad results.
Prescription drug abuse is rampant in US because US medical practice has become about..."consumers"...and all sides have part blame in that, large chunk of course being the pharma corps who've turned doctors into drug pushers (please note prescription drug abuse deaths have vastly outstripped illegal drug deaths, and many other associated problems)

UK to a large extent, "invented" the "ideals/system" of Modern medicine, and thus alas, arrogance, complacency, Victorian attitudes, a perversely incompetant/nepotistic class system have become imbedded in it here...Dickens would have a field day.
thing is we *know* this. it shouldn't be tolerated and a lot of docs should be in jail for negligence.
But at least we *hear* about this.
 
Messages
13,774
I've got something to add to this thread, but I'm off to bed. Hopefully I will do so tomorrow.
 

pollycbr125

Senior Member
Messages
353
Location
yorkshire
I made a complaint about A&E once I think the only chance of having a complaint taken seriously is if they actually manage to kill you . I wont go into details of the complaint but basically I got a letter full of bullshit back in return . I didnt have the energy or strenghth to take it further and this is probably the problem for most people . Unless you are a lawyer and know the law inside and out and can tie their responses up in knots you don't have a leg to stand on . They know they can walk all over us mere minions and therefore do . 'problem' patients can be taken off the books or treated with disdain if you end up in A&E or hospital in the future its there on your records so therefore most folk don't even bother making a complaint in the first place . Shouldn't be like that I know but thats reality im afraid . Theres a lot of ill pat your back if you pat mine goes on in the NHS , it is still and always has been very much an old boys network . Unless a complaint is serious enough for police involvement I doubt many complaints at all are taken seriously . To manage to get anywhere with a complaint you would have to be prepared to fight and fight hard with cases usually taking many years to be resolved .
 

currer

Senior Member
Messages
1,409
Still the BMA is the only institution in this country powerful enough to stand up against the government (all parties) who want to destroy the NHS and the welfare system for the disabled.

Good luck to them. I dont care if its a cosy old boys network. So is parliament.

The medical institutions seem to be the only bodies in this country concerned about social justice.

No wonder the Telegraph is going after them.

PS. 4.4% is a miniscule percentage of those who make complaints.
That means 95.6% are complaining without any sanctions against them.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
Messages
5,524
Location
U.K
I made a complaint once about the way my 15 year old daughter was treated by a consultant - at the time she was bed bound and very ill - i was also severely ill with M.E at the time and having to care and advocate for her. It was very stressful just to make the complaint. After many weeks of waiting i got a letter from the hospital saying
'We have looked into your compaint and our findings are: We have looked into your compaint and find no cause for complaint.'

What a load of asswipe! Don't even get me started on GP's.
Justy
 

Bob

Senior Member
Messages
16,455
Location
England (south coast)
Still the BMA is the only institution in this country powerful enough to stand up against the government (all parties) who want to destroy the NHS and the welfare system for the disabled.

Good luck to them. I dont care if its a cosy old boys network. So is parliament.

The medical institutions seem to be the only bodies in this country concerned about social justice.

No wonder the Telegraph is going after them.

PS. 4.4% is a miniscule percentage of those who make complaints.
That means 95.6% are complaining without any sanctions against them.

Interesting perspective, currer.

There is an issue with the complaints system though. It's really difficult to make a complaint, and to pursue it. There should be some sort of independent complaints watchdog, that works on behalf of the consumer, like there is with the banks, energy companies and telecoms companies in the UK.
 

PhoenixDown

Senior Member
Messages
456
Location
UK
I can say from first hand experience that the article is accurate. Doctors have been given way too much power and lee-way to do as they please. The problem is that they hold the prescription pen and control whether you are allowed to be referred to specialists, this includes referral to seek private treatment as many specialist won't even see you privately (when you pay for it) without a GP referral.

It doesn't help that the biopsychosocial model mandates without objective evidence that the doctor is "helping the patient in to a sick role" by making more referrals.

On the legal side of things, it's up to the patient to prove harm was done through the actions or inaction of a doctor, and with ME/CFS/Fibromyalgia this is very difficult, even if you had some before & after objective test results, it would be difficult to pin in it on the way they (mis)treated you, and they can always attempt to plea that you "made your self worse" through poor attitude, negative thinking, and lack of coping skills rather than it being their fault. They could also say that they were merely following the guidelines (even though anyone with half a brain can see the logical fallacies behind them), but the courts will just decide who is an expert on these matters, based on reputation not facts.

In the UK, as a general rule if a GP isn't following NICE you have some grounds for complaint, but as we all know in terms of science for ME/CFS/Fibromyalgia, NICE is little more than emergency toilet paper, perhaps even worse because the guide lines can be counter-productive.
 

currer

Senior Member
Messages
1,409
To speak up for doctors, I have always been able to keep a good relationship with my GP.
I have found that they are as frustrated as we are about the lack of support that is provided for them in caring for their ME patients - and some of them have said to me off the record that they know the current NICE guidelines are inadequate and misleading and represent the opinion of a psychiatric pressure group.

Dont underestimate the frustration that GPs have with their own heirarchies. GPs are frontline doctors and they are able to judge the adequacy or otherwise of the medical regulations they have to adhere to when they are dealing with the real world.

If you have a bad relationship with an unhelpful doctor - change them!
 

currer

Senior Member
Messages
1,409
The Telegraph is well aware that the BMA is the only opposition in this country that has a hope of holding back the destruction of all the post war social progress made in Britian.

The want to raise public opinion against doctors. Dont fall for it.
 

Bob

Senior Member
Messages
16,455
Location
England (south coast)
If you have a bad relationship with an unhelpful doctor - change them!

I did, currer, but not everyone has that luxury, particularly in rural areas.

My old doctor told me that there was nothing wrong with me, when I was complaining of an ongoing lung problem. I even got asked to leave his surgery, because I was being persistent about it. It turns out that he had ignored my thyroid test results which showed I had clinical hypothyroidism. I was undiagnosed for at least a year, maybe two years, because he missed the results. The lung problem was a complication of hypothyroidism.
 

user9876

Senior Member
Messages
4,556
I did, currer, but not everyone has that luxury, particularly in rural areas.

My old doctor told me that there was nothing wrong with me, when I was complaining of an ongoing lung problem. I even got asked to leave his surgery, because I was being persistent about it. It turns out that he had ignored my thyroid test results which showed I had clinical hypothyroidism. I was undiagnosed for at least a year, maybe two years, because he missed the results. The lung problem was a complication of hypothyroidism.


With a child with ME its not that simple as if the GP doesn't believe in ME they can see changing GPs as a child protection issue.

We've changed GPs a few times and generally found various degrees of disinterest and an ability to ignore symptoms. ME seems to make doctors take patients even less seriously than normal but some offer a pretty poor service. Sometimes it seems to be an individual in a practice others its the practice.

The unfortunate thing we have found is when we identify a good GP in a practice they seem to move on. Its often the younger ones who I assume are looking for partnerships.
 

PhoenixDown

Senior Member
Messages
456
Location
UK
The want to raise public opinion against doctors. Dont fall for it.
Public opinion of doctors should be low because they practice highly unethical methods such as acting as if patients have no underlying illness and are only ill because they think they are ill, describing illness falsely on medical records, using CFS/ME & Fibromyalgia as wildcard labels to often mistreat patients and ignore their suffering, removing patients from their practice to please their egos, or to make their jobs easier. They refuse objective testing, they discount non-NHS objective tests, they refuse to stand up against faulty guidelines. They refuse to take any accountability.
 

currer

Senior Member
Messages
1,409
It is true that Doctors ought to represent the interests of their ME patients better. Many GPs I know have been sympathetic to their patients with ME and have recognised they are ill. These doctors need to stand up against our misrepresentation.
 

jimells

Senior Member
Messages
2,009
Location
northern Maine
The situation in my corner of the world is little different. To see a doctor at a different practice, I literally have to apply, like applying for a job. And like any employer, if my record contains something they don't like, I don't get 'hired' to be a patient - no explanation required.

Changing doctors means one is 'doctor-shopping', a nice phrase for 'drug addict'. Since addiction is a moral failing instead of an extremely serious medical issue, the addict doesn't deserve treatment, and therefore gets none. Receptionists have literally told me that they don't take patients with chronic pain or a prescription for opioids. A number of doctors have told me that they never prescribe opioids - even though I have never asked for any!

I have been using a large practice associated with a hospital for the past few years. The practice is poorly run, and I have had problems with several doctors. So I wrote a letter of complaint to the hospital's 'Patient Advocate'. As you can probably guess, nothing happened. Literally. They didn't even bother to send a form letter. Silly me. For some reason I thought that maybe 'Patient Advocate' meant they would act on the patient's behalf. Apparently it means something else; I have no idea what.