GP clinics to close

[sammason]

Here in England some general practice (GP) practices aren't doing as they should. If LJ allowed me to link to one of the current news reports about this, I'd do so, but it's not letting me do that. I hope you can find the reports. The story is that hundreds of GP practices (in a country that has a few thousand) let patients down so badly that they'

Comments

[lilacsigil]

How are doctors' clinics distributed in the UK? In Australia, there are a lot of incentives for doctors to work in rural areas and poorer areas, but so few people took up the rural offers that the government had to make it compulsory for doctors from overseas wanted Australian registration to work for ten years in rural and remote areas. My area isn't even that remote and has a very pleasant climate and scenery, but we still went without regular doctors for two and a half years from 2006-9. And the very worst doctors often end up in rural areas where they can do what they like: the "Butcher of Bega" and Jayant Patel are two recent examples, and our nearest ophthalmologist (an hour away) was struck off the register for illegal and unproven laser surgery that seriously injured three patients. It took a year to get a new ophthalmologist

[sammason]

I don't know. Hope somebody else in this comm has info and shares it with us here.

Those stories about Australian health-uncare are shocking.

[lilacsigil]

Australian healthcare is vastly better in the cities, where 85% of the population lives. The other 15% of us are spread out over a huge continent - my town is 800 people and the service town for another 1500 or so - and we tend to get forgotten about until someone wants to look nostalgic or patriotic!

[deborahw37]

It worries me too!

[cat63]

And then at the same time they're talking about having practices open in the evening and at weekends.... talk about left hand not knowing what right hand is doing.

[sammason]

Yes! The left foot doesn't know either: apparently we're each promised a named, individual GP. I didn't know that we didn't already have a doc we could call 'my GP.' But that shows how privileged I am.

[cat63]

I didn't know that we didn't already have a doc we could call 'my GP.' But that shows how privileged I am.

Likewise - in these parts there is a doctor who is nominally my GP, although I rarely see him when Ihave an appointment.

{resumably some folk are less fortunate :(

[dimity_blue]

I won't be surprised if the powers that be will expect those in remote areas to travel to wherever the nearest doctor is, even if that's in an A&E in a city umpteen miles from where they live.

Then there'll be reports of people going to A&E with trivial complaints that they should take to their GP, and the powers that be will warn people to stop wasting A&E staff's time.

As for the doctors who are failing, I wonder if that's down to them being bad doctors or if it's down to them being in a single doctor practice, run off their feet, unable to afford a lot of office staff, and they're falling behind on paperwork. I'd like to hear what their patients think of them rather than rely on what the powers that be think.