Typical dismissive attitude of most GPs in the UK to make you feel guilty for consulting them.
Having sick children can be worrying and minor ailments can actually be more serious in a child, so it's hard to know when to ride it out and when to seek a second opinion.
People go to the doctor because they don't know what's going on with their body and they are worried. They don't know that it's a minor ailment until an expert tells them. I hate this trend for shaming people just for being worried (which of course can be a sign of a mental health condition in itself).
I think the difficulty here is that doctors do have to deal with hugely ignorant people on a daily basis. The fact that many people apparently haven't grasped that antibiotics don't do anything for viral infections is testament to this. (Seriously - there was recently a national NHS ad campaign about this).
On another forum, I got a UK GP upset that my country suggest people over 40 to see a GP once a year for a checkup. What a waste of resource it seemed to him, he could not believe it.
Well the truth is that in most of the European countries, seeing a GP is simply a non-issue. Even in my in law family village, 70 km away from the nearest city, population reaching 100 inhabitant there is a GP 3 full days a week, free. 8 km from there, there is a 24/7 walk-in centre. I never experienced "you have to wait for weeks to get an appointment" or the "go through the list of common ailment and their cure for 2 weeks before requesting a GP appointment". You are sick, you go to the GP open consultation, he will see you within the hour. Or you call and he will come in the afternoon. That's what GP visit mean in other EU countries.
Before coming to the UK I never had to go to the A&E. Now, I'm really sad to say because it is a terrible waste, but that's my primary care centre (after self medication). My GP has a month waiting list, 2+ weeks if I'm happy to go to a GP that has never heard of me.
I don't think the NHS realise just how far they have been bled out over the years. They rely on statistic and forgot anything about the side concern. Sure maybe seeing a GP once a year when you are asymptomatic 40 year old does not have an immediate ROI. What they lost sight of is the indirect ROI, like GP knowing his patient ? Or even patient knowing his GP ? That has been proven recently that simply trusting your GP increase the efficiency of medication.
Note that A&E has been tremendous. They really helped us understand what to be worried about with small babies and children. But there is nothing (thankfully) they did that a GP in my home country would not have done.
From the perspective of a GP, they might find it troubling that, despite continual patient education efforts, patients persist in seeking GP consultations for symptoms of minor ailments rather than opting for a nurse (or even a chemist). Patients can usually be seen by nurses sooner and for longer consultations, with the ability to prescribe and triage for further diagnosis/consultation.
My own idea for why this happens (in a UK context, at least) is that nursing's reputation for basic healthcare skills persists amongst the public, as well as a notion that nurses may be acting 'above their station' in diagnosing and treating patients. The popular idea of nursing as providing basic care and observation is something that tends to be done by healthcare assistants these days. The role of specialist nurses - including nurse practitioners - in recent times should allay such legitimate concerns, but it might be the case that they are encumbered with a low-visibility public presence or status. Another idea that occurs is that it seems to have been part of patient culture for patients to arrange appointments with a family GP when seeking assessment and treatment - a norm passed down through family generations? Changing it or introducing new norms within families' relationships with primary care providers may be a particularly tricky challenge to overcome.
My partner was hospitalized for pneumonia. That was despite seeing a doctor 4 times. Each time the doctor was dismissive about the problems she was having. It was only when she struggled to get out of bed that a doctor said it was time to go to hospital.
This has happened for similar issues attending different doctors for issues such as fatigue (turned out to be low iron levels after an operation) and wrist pain (turned out to be RSI which required multiple cortisone injections and prolonged time off work.)
This attitude makes you not want to attend the doctor unless you become critically ill.
While they shouldn’t be making you feel guilty per-se, they’re gatekeepers for the public, finite resource of NHS care, and help stop healthcare spending spiralling out of control.
But the primary care side of things basically has to be a bit shit for the whole thing to work. Because demand for healthcare is so elastic. Almost every single one of us has those little niggles, aches and pains and things that we ought to get checked out.
If we could get a GP appointment at 24 hours notice, and be guaranteed an un-rushed meeting with a sympathetic and friendly doctor, demand would skyrocket. The system has to limit demand by never getting too good.
There isn't really a private alternative because, in the UK, NHS GPs are the gatekeepers of everything. You need a referral letter from an NHS GP to see a specialist on your own private medical insurance. There are some companies with private GPs but they're extremely expensive, presumably because there isn't much competitive pressure.
So the system finds an equilibrium, where it's frustrating but tolerable. Not quite good enough, but not quite bad enough that it's worth paying for a private GP.
I think this is slowly shifting. I have private medical cover via my employer and one of the things included in that is access to video chats with GPs via a mobile app - obviously they can't diagnose everything without being physically present, but they can do referrals for things where its obviously needed. There are a few services popping which offer this sort of thing for a one off fee for each appointment as well.
It's interesting that the insurance companies have noticed the weakness in the NHS system. Presumably they sell this service to their clients in terms of reducing the time lost from attending GP appointments.
I also don't think that services like this are going to be a satisfactory replacement for an in-person visit. I bet they err very much on the side of caution, and are likely to end up sending people back to the NHS if there's any doubt. But for those situations where you just need a referral rubber-stamped they could be fantastic.
I'm sure more expenses on early symptoms and making people ask for a diagnosis when in doubt would end-up as a lot less money used to try curing things at a late stage.
What's the reason behind this - government wants them to do more work without more pay? An innate sense that they're doing exactly the right job and why change it?
Some people think they're rentseeking, some people think they have a point. I obviously have my opinion but I won't push it on you.
Your GP isn't the first port of call though. People can ask a pharmacist, speak to NHS 111 or read NHS Choices.