GP Practice Ad Hoc Phonecalls To Me

DormouseAtRest_25 said:

Novel.

Sums it up, I am afraid

Times are changing, and they aren't going back.  Some surgeries are embracing new methods of contacting patients & others are still at first base.

Try not to think of this as personal.   There will be hundreds, if not thousands put to inconvenience by this change to a new contacting system.  Eventually they'll get it right.  Fingers crossed.  

I had a GP schedule a 10 min appointment for a mental health review once. I took it at face value and prepared some lists of stuff to discuss.

She said something vague like "tell me how you've been" and so i talked pretty much non stop for over 15 mins, because I have a lot of mental health to review. The GP obviously couldn't cope with the barrage of information and basically shouted me down at the 15 min point to say she'd do a referral to mental health services and then hung up.

Not sure how they think they can do a mental health review in under 10 mins. My appts with mental health services are always for an hour and that can be tight. The GP hasn't tried to schedule one again though...

A lot of people don't get any symptoms of type 2 diabetes (or don't notice them).  Which is why Practices act on the side of caution and promote a blood test to Patients if they think they might be at increased risk of prediabetes.  The Diabetes UK website has a good article about it:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about-diabetes/type-2-diabetes/prediabetes

In our area, if you might be at risk of pre diabetes their are online courses available about diet, exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and wellbeing etc..

I agreed to an annual blood test (I requested that they schedule that to coincide with when I attend the Practice for another medical appointment annual review).  That seems to have reduced the pester-power on that blood test topic.

I believe that (if you have already had a proper conversation with your own GP about something like that) the rest of the Practice should respect the outcome decided and not keep contacting Patients on the same matter. 

Obviously, if subsequent medical tests were to have highlighted a change in someone's body way of working or coping with the issue - then that is what should be explained with a revised medication recommendation. 

I battled something similar where my own GP agreed "no" to a medication (and I had considered and researched it and also decided "no") but another GP kept harassing me about it when I spoke to them about something unrelated (plus, they did not know my medical and family history - which my own GP does actually understand ... because they have been my GP for literally decades). 

I informed my own GP about the hassle from their colleague and they confirmed - still "no" - and I was still happy with "no" to that medication too.  (I also had the conversation about it with a senior Clinician in the General Hospital and they also understood why me and my GP were saying "no" - they didn't recommend that prescription either in my situation.

Partly it is a simply silly waste of resources, partly it is annoying, and partly it puts me off engagement with the GP Practice - particularly when they operate the "any GP" appointment approach (rather than your GP).  I understand why they might use that for something serious - but usually it is about something non-critical (fine for me to wait to see my own GP, thanks all the same).  I understood and respected the Practice was running flat out - so I don't get why they persist with the "tick-box" quest (...except that perhaps there might be a financial or performance metric involved - well were id thr measurement for "don't unnecessarily stress out your Patient"?).  Save the time talking to mr for redeployment talking to another Patient (who does need assistance on that topic!).

I also resent "A. N. Other GP" pushing a prescription for something we have already adjudicated on with my own GP ...when I would have to pay for those prescriptions.

My GP practice keep phoning me to try to persuade me to start taking cholesterol medication.

Yes - my gp occasionally phones me to ask me to go in for a pre-diabetes blood test and I keep telling them I’m not going in to doctors surgeries at the moment (if it’s avoidable anyway) but every now and again they contact me for this. It causes me a lot of anxiety. 

There is an annual schedule for my attending a mental health check-in (which I dutifully do attend, so goodness knows what they are up to with this ad hoc business).

Oh, I spoke too soon!  Catching up on my text messages from this evening, I see they have chatted with some other GP and now decided to say to me that it is a 10 minute mental health phone review and (this is an absolute "first" experience) "if you don't require the appointment" - for me to PHONE the Practice to cancel it (they really have not got the hang of this phoning thing, it is a phone number you pay to call, you wait on hold to get through the positions in the queue for circa 30 minutes, and then the system times you out and cuts off the phonecall - I am going to try the "manage" option via accurx online) ...I hadn't asked for a review, I wasn't scheduled for one, they booked it in and I should now decide to cancel it.  Novel.

Not to put too fine a point on it; the GP Practice (itself) seems to be the entity in greater need of assistance.

Thank you.  It sounds horribly similar at your GP Practice.  For quite some time, I had both the mental health folk and the GP Practice booking me in for duplicate sets of health checks and blood tests (visible to both parties). 

You reminded me about their Pharmacist - they book phonecalls to me (...puzzling when I have no prescriptions currently), I wait in at home for the allotted hours they requested me to do so.  They don't text to cancel ...but then they don't phone after all.  Most efficient.

I like your suggestion about the local ICB (I will look around their website).

I can see why you ask that, however, they do indeed have email and text means available (which is why the multiple phone performance is so very puzzling).  In addition, they have sometimes used printed letter by post, or document attachment via online accurx to which I was alerted by text with the link.

Something is more odd than usual, (I have no clue as to what / why) as they have sometimes (recently) even made a referral to something not prior discussed with me (which I really didn't appreciate - as, had that featured in conversation, I would have declined the idea - as it was clearly the least appropriate interface in support of good mental health plus good Neurodivergent health).  Weird.

They even referred me to a physical health clinic at Hospital - without telling me what they expected would happen there (or the duration, or how to prepare - it sounded like you might need to fast - but they weren't sure ...just odd).  When I asked; they first seemed really unsure (which didn't exactly instill confidence), then started frightening me with a great long list of things - several of which I had not heard before (I am generally pretty clued up on medical matters) and to which I had not consented. 

Thankfully, the Hospital Consultant reviewed the referral and then realised (wait for it) the GP had actually selected the incorrect clinic (a long, worrying re-book to a different clinic ensued - least said, soonest mended!).

I think you are correct; an updated letter is a good idea.  The catch is: a) we aren't allowed anymore (all Patients) to hand in letters to our GP these days, b) nor are we (all Patients) allowed to email our GP like we used to do.  It is crackers - you have to use the online triage screen (during office hours) - and it is like trying to communicate via social media post style character limit. 

Last year, I tried to hand in the completed home monitoring form a Nurse had given me to do ...only to find the Reception personnel really quizzed me as to whether the Nurse was expecting it - and they wouldn't take it from my hand until I quoted (in detail) who / when / why I had attended the appointment with the Nurse (an appointment I might add: which they had initiated - not me).

Maybe I should explore the possibility of trying to get a meeting with the Practice Manager.  (As our Patient Participation Group - PPG - doesn't seem to be functioning these days - I believe their last Patient-visible document is of the vintage 2023).

Something is definitely strange.  When I attended the first appointment in the Practice with the Social Prescriber person (not my idea either) the appointment wasn't on the automatic check-in system (it happens sometimes).  The system tells you to just let Reception know you had arrived for your appointment.  When I did so, it happened to be the Practice Manager at the desk.  Rather than speak through the speaker in the perspex COVID-19 screen (as would be usual), they looked embarrassed and  came into the waiting room to explain the person would come and collect me from the waiting room (usually the information is put up on the TV screen - your name / who you see / which room number and you just walk down there yourself).  It almost felt like they thought I had now become someone who couldn't hear? (nope, good old "bat ears" is my problem ...I hear EVERYTHING in the Practice and I wasn't wearing ear defenders or headphones etc. so that wasn't a misunderstood visual cue).

Frankly, the whole nonsense is getting really off-putting.  I cannot decide whether they all need some Neurodivergent awareness training, or if they have already attended some and they have completely got the wrong idea.

I have previously asked my assigned / original GP - why all sorts of everyone seem to keep getting involved - when my GP knows me and what we have discussed and adjudicated upon.

They didn't seem to understand why that was an issue and asked me what they could do - I said just those same things upon which we have previously agreed ...rather than other team members keep inviting themselves into the mix and attempting to backtrack over old unwarranted / contradictory ground.

My perception is: since the whole mental health and lateling Autism combination first arose, my GP doesn't really seem to talk to me quite the same way as they used to / doesn't even seem to quite use the same terminology as they once did.  It consequently rather comes across to me as along the lines of ableism / infantilism.  My command of language hasn't changed ... however, theirs seems to have altered.  It is really annoying to start experience this now - having been a Patient with thr sane GP for decades. 

I am beginning to become concerned; that what I might actually need to recognise: is the spectre of my potentially facing stigma.

Yes, it really is strange.  They didn't use to do so.  It seems to be a post-pandemic habit.

I thought they were over-subscribed - and yet, they keep making more work for themselves without input from me.

Oh, yes, that is something I unfortunately know about too.

You discuss something with a GP and decide you are not taking up whatever it was (medication / test / procedure) - then the rest of the team seem to make it their mission to try and (repeatedly) entrap you into subsequent compliance (even though you and a GP have already discussed it and adjudicated "no").

My worse situation was just after I was returning from a period of burnout to work and I missed a random call from my surgery about something I had already told them I didn't need, but it didn't help that I then spent time trying to find out why they called.

Very strange.  Trying to get a face to face appointment with a GP when you need one is very difficult,  but getting unsolicited phone calls from the GP practice is a nuisance.

What a strange thing for them to do, have you asked for an explaination of why they're doing it?

It is probably a monetary thing. GP practices get money for providing certain proactive services, such as blood pressure monitoring. I am presuming that you have a clinical diagnosis of autism. If so then a request not to be contacted by phone - autistic people's problems with phone use is well documented - seems a very reasonable accommodation. If they have alternative means, such as email or text messaging, available to contact you.

I would write to the practice again stating your autism, that you find unsolicited phone calls very stressful and that it disrupts your mental equilibrium, make sure they have the information needed to contact you not requiring a phone call, stress the following:

"The Equality Act (2010) states all organisations including health and social care, such as hospitals and GP surgeries must take steps to remove the barriers individuals face because of disability.

The NHS must make it as easy for disabled people to use health services as it is for people who are not disabled."

See: www.england.nhs.uk/.../

I hate my doctors.

They call randomly usually to try and get me to have blood tests. They're obsessed with blood tests. The tests have never found anything wrong, despite the doctors trying to convince me it might be "something serious" at any tiny anomaly (which is always normal again by test 2). I have no chronic conditions that need monitoring via blood test and I'm sick of them. In fact the constant harassment has literally made me physically sick with worry and stress.

I've had unexpected call from crisis and single-point mental health, practice nurses and even a pharmacist, but  never a GP. The calls always disturb me and I often think of questions or problems I should have raised too late, because there's no prep time.

I frequently check all the various apps my practice has (the NHS one, MyGP and Patient Access) in case they've booked something in. I also check https://accurx.nhs.uk/ for any messages/letters. Plus the site my mental health use:  https://patientsknowbest.com/ where they also  drop in random appts without telling me.

It's impossible to book a GP appt as they have online triage forms asking you to self-diagnose, suggest your own treatment and justifiy why you deserve to speak to a GP. They then give you a 4 hour window for a Dr to call if they decide to allow you an appt.

I then can't use my phone, or leave the house, or do anything that might stop me being able to instantly take a call, for up to 4 hrs. I usually stop drinking water in case I need the loo and miss it, ending up stressed, dehydrated, hungry and nauseous (can't go off making food when I'm waiting for a call).

Basically, the problem is they see ill people as a nuisance to be avoided. They're geared up to population monitoring and scaring healthy people by trying to convince them they're ill when they're not. They're paid well for this "monitoring" so are really pushy with it.

The stress from dealing with my doctors has literally been making me ill. I can't cope with their new way of working and am trying to get back on the books of community mental health for my bipolar and have started paying for private blood tests so I can monitor things without the NHS constantly attacking me with false pronoses of "serious" illnesses.

Anyway, that's my rant over!

On a more relevant note; you could try contacting your local integrated care board (ICB) and complaining, if the doctors surgery won't help. I mean, asking for an SMS warning of an appt doesn't sound like much does it? I'd also check the apps regularly to try and spot an appt booked without your knowledge.

Hopefully you can find a way to force them to be reasonable.

I generally find that (exempting pre-existing conditions that I might expect to hear about annually)  the surgery leaves me alone unless I contact them first.  

If I hear something from them suddenly, I'd assume it is another care provider passing something back to them in their role as primary care giver. 

For instance, perhaps some blood test results from the hospital & they needed to speak to me about it.


I too have a regular GP, and I don't particularly like the person.  I've grown accustomed to him.  However, I see him maybe 50% of the time & that suits me because he is abrupt, bordering rude & others there are far more pleasant.  In fact, if I had a message to speak with another Doctor, I'd be reasonably OK with it.  

Generally, I wouldn't worry.  The GP's time is valuable, and they wont be ringing you unnecessarily.  It may be unnerving, but sometimes they have to contact without prior notice.

It is certainly true that calling in to the surgery before time wont get your question answered, as only the person named will discuss the matter with you, and they can't promise that only 1 Doctor will ever contact you again - because your named Doctor may be away and they may need to contact you again in urgency. 

I guess you could always ignore phone calls - forcing them to send a text - but I'd not advise it.  It may be important, and I'd not want to run the risk of the information being delayed reaching me, if I were you. 

Try to think of it as a call from the surgery is for your benefit.  If they had information and didn't call you, that would be wrong.  This is right, even if hard to get your head around.

I see your point, but a lot of it is due to changes in working practices - and it wont go back.  Best regards.