The Retirement Thread

[PaulSB]

Foggy and very cold here.

Turbo and multi-gym today followed by trip to town for a new coal scuttle and the GP for the nurse to go through my latest MOT results.

A complete waste of time as everything says 'in range' apart from Cholesterol being slightly over on my NHS App.

Also, is it beneath GP's to talk to patients these days as everything seems delegated to Nurses, Nurse Practioners or Pharmacy Practioners at our Practice?

Interesting question there, Spokey. At our practice many of the appointments are with different specialists and doctor appointments are limited to what I'll term "diagnostics." You know "Doctor, I've got a pain in my knee."

Personally I prefer to see a nurse practioner as at our practice they have the time for a discussion with the patient. I find the chat can be wider than simply your results are OK. This is especially true, IME, of the older nurses. Our practice does have a young practice nurse and her lack of experience shows in many ways.....that of course is true in any occupation. Interestingly though the younger nurse was the first to quiz me on the daily timing of my meds, asked me to change and gave the reasons for that change.

The NHS needs to modernise, become more efficient and I for one am very happy to see someone who is focused on specific areas as opposed to the GP's necessarily wide knowledge.

 

[BoldonLad]

....

The NHS needs to modernise, become more efficient and I for one am very happy to see someone who is focused on specific areas as opposed to the GP's necessarily wide knowledge.

Couldn't agree more.

This mornings interaction with GP Surgery, on behalf of my wife, who has Alzheimers:

Background. Prescription, ordered online, Sunday, using the NHS APP, as requested in the interminable message which is played if you attempt to ring GP Surgery. This prescription is required because the Surgery screwed up that last prescription, and did not include my wife's Alzheimers Medication

This morning, I check NHS App to see if prescription approved. It is showing as "Rejected by GP".

- Phone GP surgery, as per the instructions in the App.
- Wait (listening to message telling me to use the APP) as I move up the queue, from No5 to No1, this takes 15 minutes, at which point the call is disconnected.
- Phone GP Surgery again, I am now 6th in the Queue. Wait another 15 minutes, listening to message telling me to use the APP, and, asking me me to be polite to the "care navigators", who are, extremely busy. Eventually, a human answers.

ME: Give necessary details to identify my wife, ask why prescription request rejected by GP
Care Navigator: "it is not rejected, it is to approved"
ME: "so, why is the APP, which you want me to use, showing status as rejected by GP?"
Care Navigator: "I have no idea, it does that sometimes"
ME: "could we make things easier by putting my wife's medication on an automatic repeat?"
Care Navigator: "your wife will need to have a medication review to do that"
ME: "OK, can we arrange that"
Care Navigator: "your wife has already been sent a text message on 20th December, requesting that she makes an appointment"
Me: "my wife has not received such a text message, or, indeed any text message from Surgery, I have her phone infront of me now"
Care Navigator: "we dont send actual text messages any more, you have to check the NHS App, it will be in there"
Me: "I have the APP open, on my wife's phone, infront of me, there are no messages. Is it wise to send messages only in an APP which, judging from the prescription status, does not work, and, to a Patient with Alzheimers?"
Care Navigator: "oh, sorry, that was a request to send you a message was entered 20th December, the message is scheduled to be sent out, in the APP, on 9th January"

I will not bore you with the rest of the exchange, amazingly, given the idiocy of the conversation, I stayed calm, and, eventually, was awarded an appointment for my wife, with a "Nurse Associate' tomorrow at 09:30.

In addition to the 30 minutes of my life I lost, just to get through to the Surgery, the above exchange took a further 20 minutes. Wasting not only my time, but, the "Care Navigator's" too, and, of course, clogging up their telephone system so that other patients would be stuck in the Queue, listening to the pointless message asking you to use the APP.

Watch this space.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Couldn't agree more.

This mornings interaction with GP Surgery, on behalf of my wife, who has Alzheimers:

Background. Prescription, ordered online, Sunday, using the NHS APP, as requested in the interminable message which is played if you attempt to ring GP Surgery. This prescription is required because the Surgery screwed up that last prescription, and did not include my wife's Alzheimers Medication

This morning, I check NHS App to see if prescription approved. It is showing as "Rejected by GP".

- Phone GP surgery, as per the instructions in the App.
- Wait (listening to message telling me to use the APP) as I move up the queue, from No5 to No1, this takes 15 minutes, at which point the call is disconnected.
- Phone GP Surgery again, I am now 6th in the Queue. Wait another 15 minutes, listening to message telling me to use the APP, and, asking me me to be polite to the "care navigators", who are, extremely busy. Eventually, a human answers.

ME: Give necessary details to identify my wife, ask why prescription request rejected by GP
Care Navigator: "it is not rejected, it is to approved"
ME: "so, why is the APP, which you want me to use, showing status as rejected by GP?"
Care Navigator: "I have no idea, it does that sometimes"
ME: "could we make things easier by putting my wife's medication on an automatic repeat?"
Care Navigator: "your wife will need to have a medication review to do that"
ME: "OK, can we arrange that"
Care Navigator: "your wife has already been sent a text message on 20th December, requesting that she makes an appointment"
Me: "my wife has not received such a text message, or, indeed any text message from Surgery, I have her phone infront of me now"
Care Navigator: "we dont send actual text messages any more, you have to check the NHS App, it will be in there"
Me: "I have the APP open, on my wife's phone, infront of me, there are no messages. Is it wise to send messages only in an APP which, judging from the prescription status, does not work, and, to a Patient with Alzheimers?"
Care Navigator: "oh, sorry, that was a request to send you a message was entered 20th December, the message is scheduled to be sent out, in the APP, on 9th January"

I will not bore you with the rest of the exchange, amazingly, given the idiocy of the conversation, I stayed calm, and, eventually, was awarded an appointment for my wife, with a "Nurse Associate' tomorrow at 09:30.

In addition to the 30 minutes of my life I lost, just to get through to the Surgery, the above exchange took a further 20 minutes. Wasting not only my time, but, the "Care Navigator's" too, and, of course, clogging up their telephone system so that other patients would be stuck in the Queue, listening to the pointless message asking you to use the APP.

Watch this space.

Sorry to hear that
you need to send a copy of the above to the surgery as a formal complaint - at least they then will get to know about the problems and it will be logged
If they get a lot of complaints logged then it looks bad for them when they get a review - so it matters to them even if the actual care of patients isn;t their main priority


as far as who I see is concerned - I am not especially bothered as long as they know what they are doing and have the authority to do what is necessary
which may be to pass it onto a GP for an urgent face-to-face appointment
We have recently changed GP and this one is massively better than the previous one - if we end up seeing a Nurse of whatever (it was a pharmacist last time) then they know what they are doing and are often better than a GP would be.
And if we need to see a GP urgently then we can do so - OK I have to ring at 8 a.m. and wait but that has been the "game" for many years with the 5-6 GPS I have been with

 

[BoldonLad]

Sorry to hear that
you need to send a copy of the above to the surgery as a formal complaint - at least they then will get to know about the problems and it will be logged
If they get a lot of complaints logged then it looks bad for them when they get a review - so it matters to them even if the actual care of patients isn;t their main priority


as far as who I see is concerned - I am not especially bothered as long as they know what they are doing and have the authority to do what is necessary
which may be to pass it onto a GP for an urgent face-to-face appointment
We have recently changed GP and this one is massively better than the previous one - if we end up seeing a Nurse of whatever (it was a pharmacist last time) then they know what they are doing and are often better than a GP would be.
And if we need to see a GP urgently then we can do so - OK I have to ring at 8 a.m. and wait but that has been the "game" for many years with the 5-6 GPS I have been with

This is just part of an ongoing saga of blunders and stupidity with my wife’s treatment, which has been going on for over a year. I have emailed Practice Manager, I have written to Practice Manager, I have complained to Care Quality Commission. All, so far, to no effect. I did get a pointless apology from the Practice Manager, I say pointless because it has had no effect, and, I am trying to help him.

I am going to speak to my wife’s GP about it, if no joy, I will be onto MP.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Sorry to hear that
you need to send a copy of the above to the surgery as a formal complaint - at least they then will get to know about the problems and it will be logged
If they get a lot of complaints logged then it looks bad for them when they get a review - so it matters to them even if the actual care of patients isn;t their main priority


as far as who I see is concerned - I am not especially bothered as long as they know what they are doing and have the authority to do what is necessary
which may be to pass it onto a GP for an urgent face-to-face appointment
We have recently changed GP and this one is massively better than the previous one - if we end up seeing a Nurse of whatever (it was a pharmacist last time) then they know what they are doing and are often better than a GP would be.
And if we need to see a GP urgently then we can do so - OK I have to ring at 8 a.m. and wait but that has been the "game" for many years with the 5-6 GPS I have been with

I have had a few interactions with Nurse Practitioners over the years. The specialist ones are particularly good, with an excellent depth of knowledge and experience on their specialties, ofter greater than the GP who by definition is a generalist.
Mrs Tkk spent over a decade worked in a Hospice towards the end of here career, she ran the " Breathlessness Clinic ". She had attended several relevant courses, ofter travelling to London / Liverpool and other hospitals with specialist units. She also did a BSc at Southampton university. What was interesting was the attitude of some of the other medical practitioners, in general the hospital specialists were on the ball and recognised her depth of expertise and experience, whereas speaking with some of her patients GP's she would get the attitude " why are you calling me, you're only a nurse ".

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Interesting question there, Spokey. At our practice many of the appointments are with different specialists and doctor appointments are limited to what I'll term "diagnostics." You know "Doctor, I've got a pain in my knee."

Personally I prefer to see a nurse practioner as at our practice they have the time for a discussion with the patient. I find the chat can be wider than simply your results are OK. This is especially true, IME, of the older nurses. Our practice does have a young practice nurse and her lack of experience shows in many ways.....that of course is true in any occupation. Interestingly though the younger nurse was the first to quiz me on the daily timing of my meds, asked me to change and gave the reasons for that change.

The NHS needs to modernise, become more efficient and I for one am very happy to see someone who is focused on specific areas as opposed to the GP's necessarily wide knowledge.

I think you have made some good points there Paul, which I have taken onboard.

I think my views are a little bit jaundiced by some recent experiences where with any one condition you are handed from GP to GP whilst the condition is being managed, rather than have one GP alone deal with the issue. And at every handover interaction, information from the previous interaction has either been 'lost in translation or not recorded at all. And then you have to go through everything again. Grrr!

I do get that they need to modernise though, and in many respects our Practice is really very good.

I do think it is bizzarre that with there being a reported shortage of GP's that so many work part-time. Our Practice has 8, each of which works either 2 or 3 days per week. Probably a discussion for NCAP tbh. I just find the situation a bit frustrating!

 

[PaulSB]

I think you have made some good points there Paul, which I have taken onboard.

I think my views are a little bit jaundiced by some recent experiences where with any one condition you are handed from GP to GP whilst the condition is being managed, rather than have one GP alone deal with the issue. And at every handover interaction, information from the previous interaction has either been 'lost in translation or not recorded at all. And then you have to go through everything again. Grrr!

I do get that they need to modernise though, and in many respects our Practice is really very good.

I do think it is bizzarre that with there being a reported shortage of GP's that so many work part-time. Our Practice has 8, each of which works either 2 or 3 days per week. Probably a discussion for NCAP tbh. I just find the situation a bit frustrating!

Yes, I agree with being handed from one GP to another. Provided what I need is non-urgent I now request to see specific GPs. Generally this works. By chance I had the same chat with my DIL this morning. She has a four week old daughter and was delighted to speak to a GP who understood a specific issue. I urged her to ask for that GP again. A four week old is a precious thing and the "gets it" factor is vital.

Yep, fully agree re part-time GPs.

NCAP? Sadly, yes so I'll stop now. I won't use that forum. In this thread I always feel it's simply friends chatting. I understand why the mods while probably appreciating this can't make an exception.

 

[gbb]

I'm watching Squid games on Netflix. It's quite addictive.

It's quite immersive, addictive perhaps. It's just so out there, so different it was well worth a warch

 

[numbnuts]

I've got trouble with my printer, I think the heads are blocked, been cleaning them with proper head cleaner, but it's a slow progress
just done it again I think I will let it soak over night to see if that helps.

 

[simongt]

I want to change gear when I decide.

Our '22 plate Kia Ceed lets me know when to change up & down and there's a wee display band that gives engine revs efficiency so I can predict when to change before it 'advises' me to - !

 

[classic33]

I've got trouble with my printer, I think the heads are blocked, been cleaning them with proper head cleaner, but it's a slow progress
just done it again I think I will let it soak over night to see if that helps.

You not been printing enough?

 

[PaulSB]

Our '22 plate Kia Ceed lets me know when to change up & down and there's a wee display band that gives engine revs efficiency so I can predict when to change before it 'advises' me to - !

Yes, my Hyundai i30 does the same.

I'm trying to learn how to pronounce my car's brand........apparently it isn't hi-und-day....but something barely audible on the telly.

 

[simongt]

Yes, my Hyundai i30 does the same.

Interesting that when we had to change our Hyundai, recent used were hard to come by, but the Kia Ceed is pretty much a Hyundai in a different suit, so much of the layout and ops are the same.

 

[numbnuts]

You not been printing enough?

Yes it seems so

 

[Gunk]

Yes, my Hyundai i30 does the same.

I'm trying to learn how to pronounce my car's brand........apparently it isn't hi-und-day....but something barely audible on the telly.

We have all been pronouncing it incorrectly. Apparently it’s “Hun-dee“

A bit like when Oar-dee became Ow-dee, back when I had an Audi I just used to love calling the dealer to book my Oar-dee in for a service, they always corrected me!