Reasonable time to wait for Doctors appointment

[Blaster72]

I've booked to see my Doctor as I'm having a little nerve pain in one buttock sometimes when my bladder is full.

My Dr is booked up solid, the next available Doctors appointment was 12th May 16' when I called up today.

Like most chaps, I'm allergic to Doctors and hospitals so I have no idea if this is normal to have to wait 3 weeks to see a GP? Seems like a long time to wait to me.

[Blaster72]

Thanks lads, I'm hoping it'll clear up before the 3 weeks are up anyway but can't hurt to get things checked over.

[Blaster72]

Well, I've learned some queue jumping scams from this thread anyway.

Seems also like waiting times are very variable depending where you live.

My 3 week wait is nearly up and my symptoms are still the same, so this Thursday I'll trot down there for my appointment and see what Doc has to say. Hopefully I'll avoid catching any bugs in the waiting room.....

[Blaster72]

RobM77 said:

I'm sure this is obvious, but General Practice has been short of doctors for years, and the problem's getting worse because the number of people entering training is going down every year. The reason is extremely simple: my wife's a GP and works 12-15 hour days without breaks, for about half the take home pay that I earn working an easy 7½ hour day with a proper lunch break, and she trained for about 7 years to do it - it's not a very attractive profession to go into! On top of that the government want to increase practice opening hours dramatically without recruiting more doctors, and that prospect of things getting even worse puts people off even more. We are therefore in the midst of a major problem with an even bigger one on the horizon.

All of the above results in the nationwide shortage of doctors which is why we all have to wait so long to get seen and are often rushed through when we are seen. There's not much that can be done, other than petitioning the government or going private.

You either earn a crap load of money or your GP wife is doing something very wrong. It's not generally a low paid or long hours job unless the GP chooses it to be so.

Average UK GP wage is just below £100k and given most surgeries are 8.30 to 6.30 I'm not sure how 15 hour days without breaks are happening. Must be lots of overtime to achieve that workload (and £££) or am I missing something?

Edited by Blaster72 on Wednesday 11th May 19:28

[Blaster72]

Sorry, just read that back and it comes across really badly. I'm just shocked a GP could be on poor wages and 15 hour days.

15 hours without a break is surely against the law and unsafe practice for that kind of job though?

[Blaster72]

Thanks for that, it's amazing how many safety critical sectors have just opted out of the working time directive limits.

The insurance is a real stinger too, I had no idea GPs had to self insure for so much!