stick to your guns and after a while the press will get bored and find another
poor sod.
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From: [log in to unmask] on behalf of allan harris
Sent: 12 July 1998 13:44
To: INTERNET:[log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Evening and weekend surgeries
I did a Coop shift yesterday, 87 patient contacts in 6.5 hours
with 3 doctors covering. When both visits cars were out with
urgent and necessary visits, slowed to a standstill by the York
Race traffic, I held the fort, triaging calls, seeing patients, so
with phone calls and actual patient contacts (phone them and then
see them), I found that it was copable with but I felt even more
of a juggler with my time than usual. Lost count of calls made and
patients seen, best guess 50+ calls and 40+ patients.
I was knackered at the end of the shift, but actually felt that most
of the medicine was necessary and enjoyable. The actual numbers of
'trivial' complaints was small, triaging sorts out most of it. I felt
that the patients I saw seemed genuinely grateful that they could be seen
quickly, in appropriate clinical surroundings, even if they had never
seen me before and most likely never will again.
There is however a definite swing towards some people using the primary
care centre as a convenient way of getting an opinion when with a little
forethought they could have seen their own doctor in normal hours. Are
others finding this to be the case? I think we are also being used as a
source of second opinion in a minority of cases. I find that this leads
to the greatest difficulty in not treading on other professional toes.
Our local paper is currently running front page stories about patients,
usually
kids, whose parents have been unwilling to bring them to the centre. This
encourages
a defensive attitude to visiting, where the strict clinical need for a
visit may be suborned by the need to keep off the front page. It is plainly
not in our terms of service to provide a taxi service or to subsidise those
people who say they have no money for transport to us. Logistically it
can be impossible to physically get around everyone who requests a visit.
How do others tackle this problem? Is it widespread? The mood in the office
yesterday when we looked at the frontpage was unhappy. We don't feel the Press
understand the problems we work under, even if they really want to understand.
We are an easy target for emotive journalism. We risk losing some public
confidence if this continues.
--
Allan Harris, GP, Haxby, York YO3 3PH
tel 01904-768666
work 01904-760125, fax 750168
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