Just this week, towards the end of a consultation, my patient said “thank you doctor for being so kind, I bet doctors don’t get praised very often these days, but you should be”. I was grateful for his compliment, and he was right, it doesn’t happen too often, but then I had to say, as lovely as it was to be praised, I have never done this job for praise. I do it because it makes a difference, a real difference to people’s lives.
All my colleagues, doctors, nurses, managers, secretaries and receptionists do this job because we believe that access to healthcare is a human right, your right, not a financial luxury. We believe in the founding principle of the NHS, that good quality healthcare should be free at the point of access, regardless of the ability to pay.
I recall my father telling me how many years ago, before the NHS was founded in 1949, he, as one of three sons to a single mum, who’d lost her husband, their father, to war injuries, was unable to pay to see his doctor. Fortunately his doctor was aware of their situation and never charged. That message has always stuck with me. Access to healthcare is a human right.
We are however in the midst of the most challenging times, when demand for NHS services far exceeds supply. As I write, it’s known that across the country there are more than 7.5 million people on hospital waiting lists, and a further 11.3 million waiting for their first treatment. We simply don’t have the resources to give everyone the care that they need, that they deserve. It’s a sad fact, that if there are 10 hungry families, and only 5 loaves of bread, the choice is for 5 families to go without, or for everyone to just receive half of what they need. We are, in the NHS, having to ration access to healthcare every single day. It’s appalling, but it’s the reality.
A few years ago, during Covid lockdown, I was talking with one of my nurses colleagues about the pressure we were facing, trying to deliver healthcare during a pandemic. Within minutes she was in tears, and it dawned on me, she wasn’t just a professional nurse, she was also a mum, a wife, a daughter, struggling with the same pressures our patients do, in the midst of a social, healthcare and cost of living crisis the likes of which we’d never seen before.
We are all in this together. The NHS is not just yours, it’s “ours”.
We are doing our best in the most trying of circumstances.
We know we don’t always get it right; we know we can make mistakes and we know many of our patients experience long waits and frustration and anxiety as a result. And for that we apologise.
We appreciate your patience and understanding. But not all patients are so understanding. Many of our front line staff are experiencing verbal abuse from a growing minority of patients, but it has a huge impact. So the next time you speak to a GP receptionist, either at Jubilee Park or in any GP practice, please would you be supportive of our colleagues answering the phone or at the front desk. Please would you acknowledge they’re trying their best to help you, and think about offering them a positive comment, maybe some praise or just a smile.
Maybe if you brighten up their day, they’ll be more able to brighten up someone else’s.
We are here to help. We want to help you.
I think dr Campbell and staff do a good job in very difficult times but my small grumble is I’m 80 years old and suffer quite a few times a year with uti and always get told that they can’t test my urine so I must go to the drop in centre but how long does it take to put a dip stick into urine I then have to drive myself down there in pain and then sit for three hours please could we not have a chemist or someone to be able to test urine for us
Most urine infections do no require a urine test.
Yes – there are new schemes where you can avoid the GP and attend a local pharmacy for assessment and treatment with antibiotics – contact your practice to find out.