Who is looking after the patients interests?

 

How are GPs getting away with this nonsense of remote GP appointments?

Despite reported cases of people dying because they couldn't get a face-to-face appointment with their GP, remote GP appointments are on the increase. Many GP practices no longer offer walk-in surgery appointments, and sometimes cannot offer an appointment.

There have been reports of GPs asking patients to cough into the phone. How do you take someone's blood pressure or examine their chest by a video link or telephone consultation? When they ask a patient to stick their tongue out, do they tell them it looks heavily pixelated?

It's unbelievable that the doctors union, the British Medical Association (BMA), are also the regulatory body for the medical profession. In effect, they mark their own homework and are the judge and jury of themselves. Surely, there's a conflict of interest here. Who is looking after the patients best interests? It certainly isn't the self-employed GP's who've basically thrown many of their patients under a bus. Many GPs are not offering patients adequate medical treatment.

Last week, I was told by somebody that I know, that his GP practice referred him to A&E with a suspected water infection because they couldn't offer him an appointment and he was told he would be seen quicker at the local hospital. After a 4 hour wait, he was seen by a doctor. This is putting the NHS under strain.