james90

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/03/behind-the-scenes-gp-surgery-evenings-weekends

Cora Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > James I think you'll find that people are going to > a@e BECAUSE they can't to see their doctor... My point was maybe we should all take a step back and really consider if we should be visiting a GP/A&E. The examples I quoted were bruises and splinters. I am aware there are many reasons to visit, but I was making the point that there will be a lot of people visiting for no good reason, as demonstrated in that show. If people attend A&E for a bruise, god knows what they bother a local doctor for. They should see neither and deal with it themselves. I find it pretty likely most people writing here have a genuine reason to seek advice - hence annoyed cannot get it, but this is unlikely to be a representative sample of the population of ED / those who use DMC. I speculate there are a lot of time wasters attending extrapolating from what is seen on the A&E show and from the evidence in the waiting room.

I've just moved to DMC. The phone situation is poor - I could not get through. But it was the same at my old surgery in North London. The issue is with the NHS and population, not this surgery in particular. It is laughable to discuss or think otherwise. Does anyone watch 24hrs in A&E? It is embarrassing seeing people turn up there with a bruise or splinter. Based on this I am sure the phone lines at medical practices are engaged with even more trivial non-sense. Just a thought?