Mrs H had to make a phone appointment with the doctor recently. Quite a good system which we've used before because it isn't always necessary to visit the GP surgery. Our surgery has said it expects to expand this way of working once the coronavirus debacle has subsided politically, although that isn't how they phrased it.
Inevitably Mrs H first had to listen to a recorded message saying among other things how busy they were, and how much more work has been created by the pandemic. Maybe it has and maybe it hasn't, but propaganda seems to have become our way of life.
5 comments:
Most health professionals seem to be much busier these days. Those mission statements, targets, websites, apps, automatic phone messages and photocopied notices don't write themselves, you know.
Sam - plus having to work out what it all means today compared to yesterday.
The NHS has always been run more for the benefit of the staff than the patients, the covid crisis is now enabling them to remove as many patients as possible from their care, and make their lives as easy as possible. Their concept of the ideal health 'service' would be one that employed everyone as now, but didn't have to bother with any of the troublesome patients at all.
My surgery has already been doing phone consultations long before the virus struck.
The local health authority has made a statement that up to 80% of all consultations will be this way as the new normal, well with their three day weeks and phone consultations they may as well shut their two story medical center. it has not been full for some time, forty waiting area seats, three people is normal now.
We have a couple both doctors, one a GP and one a surgeon who live opposite us, they have spent the last three + months mainly at home and not much difference now.
The entry level GP end of the health service is not fit for service in many areas, mainly brought about by Blair's 'let them have anything they want ' negotiations when he was in power, patients now are just a milch cow for NHS payments as being on their books, little else.
Sobers - they certainly create that impression, probably without even being conscious of it.
Wiggia - our surgery has been doing phone consultations for ages too, but for some reason never made it the basis for initial contact as they do now.
Post a Comment