Consulting a GP always make me apprehensive. For the 6 years I’ve been in the UK, I have yet to meet a GP that inspires confidence & trust. They’re often aloof, cold, crude, rude, inefficient, arrogant, I can go on for a long time.

Perhaps it’s the area we’ve lived in. I’m no bank manager or actress. Even if I earn better pay than nurses, it doesn’t mean I can live in affluent areas like Chelsea or Surrey. Most often than not, my GPs are very old, some probably just won’t retire. So perhaps their attitude problem & lack of empathy is typical of Filipino public servants’ lack of enthusiasm in their jobs.

Whatever. The bottomline is even if I don’t pay for my consultation, my taxes are feeding them & their families.

Anyway, since April my face have been very dry. I think I tried at least 3 different moisturisers but to no avail. I developed some pimple-like bumps, too, which are sometimes itchy esp. if it’s windy. So the GP gave me Daktakort. Hubby was insisting I ask for a BUPA referral straightaway. I was hesitant as most of the time, our GP doesn’t like giving private referrals & we often end up arguing. It’s really pathetic as we’re entitled to it. Apparently, they’re allowance is deducted for every patient that goes private (I have a side-story on this later).

Anyway, after a month I went back, I wasn’t any better. The symptoms comes & go. You know what the great GP said when I asked him what we should do about my skin? He said “go to a beautician” with a smile that says he’s very pleased with himself.

It took a lot to hold back my karate-chop. I told him to refer me to a BUPA dermatologist. Long story short, I saw the private doctor & he asked about any tests I’ve had. I nearly choked when I controlled my guffawing-reaction. So I am to have 3-sessions for a skin allergy patch test soon to find out what causes my skin to breakout. But he did mention that since I have a history of asthma & I am prone to all sorts allergy, which I already know.

It’s always the case with the GPs that we’ve seen & heard about. They prescribe something without telling the patient what they have or what the meds are for. They rarely do investigative tests for symptoms that they feel are not likely to kill you. I really have had enough of them, but I cannot bypass them to see any specialists - NHS (gov’t) or BUPA (private). So until I earn enough to ditch GPs (which will be never) I have to grin & bear it.

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side story
I have a feeling I already mentioned this in one of my older posts but I’ll repeat it again. My neighbour whose husband is suffering from debilitating arthritis was referred by our GP to see a NHS specialist. This specialist told them the husband needs a critical test done but the NHS waiting list is too long. So his suggestion was he sees them as private patient only for the test (£200+) and then continue with his consultation on NHS. Now the couple returned to our GP to ask for such referral but they were refused (a couple of times). The GP maintains they need to wait on NHS just like everybody else because going on private means they will bump some poor soul from the NHS list. They were gobsmacked. How will they affect the NHS list when the private session will be done on a weekend? Besides they were going to pay for it themselves. So what is the GP’s problem?

Last I heard my neighbour is filing a complaint in NHS. But isn’t unbelievable?

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 12:21 pm and is filed under british nga, bugnot moments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.