As some of you may know I have serious problems with the GP I've seen from time to time. Very serious.
18 months or so ago (the summer of 2002) he changed some medication I was on. The change was too drastic - I reacted badly. I was ill for 4 months. That's why I didn't do my dissertation for uni then that I was supposed to be doing. And it's why I felt so ill trying to do my Java assignment. Java's difficult anyway. ALL the uni modules are difficult anyway. Not too surprisingly I failed that module - but I would probably have failed whatever I sat at that period because I just felt so ill.
I asked him for a sicknote for extension/mitigation. He told me that the practice had a special arrangement with the university - that the university contacted them for these notes and that the university paid the doctors for writing them. I offered to pay myself for the certificate but he said no, the university would pay for it.
So I went ahead with extension and mitigation. Got the extension but I just felt terrible. Put in for mitigation.
My application for mitigation was refused. And I was made to transfer onto a different course.
I've very very little faith in all these bureaucratic procedures and the people who do them. They just keep letting me down. Finally saw Phil Semp, the education officer earlier this week. It's too late now of course to put all of this right. Impossible. I was too traumatised at the time to put myself through the ordeal of doing a re-sit when I had wrongly been refused Mit Circs.
I told Phil Semp about this doctor. He knows him. Says "He's good for sport injuries but [deleted] at everything else". And he says he has never heard of this "Special arrangement" - he thinks I've been fobbed off.
I called in at the surgery this morning to hand in my prescription for eye-drops. I asked if they could check my file for me to see whether this letter had been written. No letter. I asked about this "special arrangement" - they've never heard of it. They thought it sounded very unlike him.
If this man has lied to me - and it's sounding like a possibility that he has - then there is no way I will countance a man in authority lying to me. I've asked for a copy of the complaints procedures.
I would like to have this man's intestines chopped into tiny pieces. Well, that won't happen.
I'd like to see him severely censured. This is the doctor whom I saw about my bladder problem - the one who said, "You're not wetting the bed are you? Well then, hold it in!"
I'd like to see him retired from practice. :)
Serious advice needed
We seriously don't need docs like him,it seems to be hard though to get them struck off.
It sounds like you're doing the right thing in going for a complaint, trouble is, they tend to close ranks.
I bet that the receptionista have already forewarned him about it, and he'lhave told them not to answer any of your questions.
What you need is proof of what he told you to do at the time.
Would the uni back you up with evidence of what you told them you had to do,albeit falsely via your doc?Would they write to explain what you've miseed out on because of this?
I would certainly go foreward with a complaint aginst him.
Being a doctor must be a very ,very hard job, they're expected to know an awful lot, and the answer to anything, however i respect it if they say 'we don't know whats wrong, but we'll keep trying' rather than being fobbed off, or dismissed off handedly as you were.
I'm so so lucky in that I have a fabulous doctor, and know the receptionists well.But past experience with certain consultants at my local hospital has made me very bitter about them.I've even discussed this with my own doc, and they've agreed with me, and told me about other patients that they've sent, but have been 'mishandeled'.I'm sure though that if you asked them to put any of this in writing ,you'd get a blank.
Trouble is, these things always seem to happen when you least have the energy to deal with them.
Good luck, keep us posted.
It is extremely difficult. I am seeing one of the other doctors in the practice on Wednesday. It's possible that I may need to ask this one also for a sicknote later this spring. What I CAN'T do is discuss this other doctor with him. I really really do need to find out positively this practice's policies on sicknotes for students. But I'm not too sure that I can ask this doctor directly. It might be better to use this appointment to make a good impression. I AM overweight - I could ask him how I would get diet sheets - I am genuinely very depressed about my weight. He'd probably tell me to see the practice nurse, but at least it's a valid excuse.
The education officer at uni is going to ask one of the administrative staff if the uni and this practice have a "special arrangement". If they do have a special arrangment then it is still worthwhile pursuing this GP for rudeness. He has been very disrepectful towrds me. And probably incompetence as well - seeing as the letter he had promised me he'd write has not actually been written.
And of course if there is indeed NO special arrangement then he is indeed a liar. Of course I have no proof of that. But even lodging a complaint may start some action.
I have had some bad doctors in the past. I despair of ever getting one who is any good.
http://www.nhsia.nhs.uk/def/home.asp
The above is a link to the NHS information authority which might contain some useful infor for you.
Personally I would change surgeries all together. You have a lot more rights to proper treatment than the GP surgeries will let you think. They will send you to the practise nurse for diet, they will also probably talk about keeping a food diary for a couple of weeks so if you can go armed with one already, they can help you much sooner.
I'm sorry you've had to deal with that man.
What else would you suggest I ask this other doctor about Baa? I have seen him before so I can't really use the appointment simply as an introduction. I haven't had a check-up in a very long time - blood pressure, cholesterol etc. Do I simply say, please I don't know what you do and what the practice nurse does and could you advise me? Perhaps I should tell him that I am undergoing counselling with one of the uni staff?
I may need to ask him for a sicknote to say I'm under pressure/feeling very stressed, but I don't want to push it too far at this stage.
I'd ask him straight out about how student sicknotes are dealt with and if they have them, could they give you the notes about it. You are entitled to that information.
As you are also feeling depressed you have to make the appointment anyway. Don't let him just fob you off with the practise nurse for diet sheets, you have a valid illness even if some doctors are in the dark ages about depression and stress related illnesses.
I sometimes write a letter of all the things I want to know from the doctor prior to the appointment and take it in with me. They are quite used to that and it means you don't forget what it is you need to know or explain symptoms etc. You don't even have to read it out to them, they will talk through the letter with you. Seriously it's one of the best ways to get your words in before they begin to make their assessment.
The doctors see all kinds of people with all kinds of queries (given in all kinds of ways) during the day, we all pay into the pot, you are entitled to a service from them.
good idea Baa, its so easy to loose track of what you went there for in the first place if they side-track you.This way means that you will have plenty of time before to get any questions ready.
I know its daft, but I think that at the back of our minds we still seem to treat docs with a certain reverence, when in fact they are someone doing a job, and supposedly working for our benefit, albeit a hard one for them at times I'msure.
Thank you both. I may ring the practice manager and ask him outright for the standard procedures that they have for issuing letters/sicknotes. It's information that I have a right to know - he can't really refuse me an answer. If he did then I would be justified in taking the matter to someone above him. And that wouldn't affect in any way my dealings with the GP I have an appointment to see.
Sueone
That's exactly it! Just what the bad docs rely on keeping their job with. I've never been afriad to point out to anyone that works in a similar role (including a rather shocked/affronted college lecturer) that just because we aren't involved in a direct transaction doesn't mean I'm not a paying customer who expects a service!
There is no way I'd be a GP, I do feel for them sometimes but not the bad ones who won't look into things properly.
Northener
Please do and let us know what happens. The practise manager quite possibly is the best person to ask as he should know where all those things are kept. If he doesn't I'll come and march on Westminster with you *G* after all that's what we pay the MPs for too ;)