back to article Doctors sick of anonymous-coward NHS feedback commentards

A leading GP has declared that the general public are too rude about doctors on the internet in a complaint that may amuse those of us more familiar with the culture of "Internet feedback". In an interview with eHealthInsider, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, of the British Medical Association's GP Committee said that patient comments about …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Worrying...

    If the Drs are gullable at falling for troll bait, then how many of them believe everything else they read on the internet.

    Anon for comedy purposes.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Worrying

      The worrying thing is that some people hold doctors in such high esteem that they consider them infallible. It's this sort of belief that let Harold Shipman get away with his slightly less than impeccable behaviour for so long.

      The only thing more worrying is that most doctors also appear to have an even greater belief in their own infallibiilty.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "The worrying thing is that some people hold doctors in such high esteem that they consider them infallible. It's this sort of belief that let Harold Shipman get away with his slightly less than impeccable behaviour for so long.

        Went to my GP with a persistent cough and generally feeling unwell. Told me it was a virus and to come back in a few days if I don't get better. 2 days later, feeling much worse. Back I go to see the Dr. Listens to my chest and prescribes some antibiotics. 3 days later, feeling even worse (could barely get upstairs without becoming breathless), go back to see Dr again. Told I hadn't given antibiotics a chance to work. Said that I'd given them 3 days and was actually feeling much worse. Told to go away.

        Next day, feeling absolutely hideous, the worst I'd ever felt in my entire life, I drag myself to A&E. Got admitted with severe Pneumonia. A&E Dr asks why I left it so long.

        Your life in their hands, eh?

        1. JEDIDIAH
          Devil

          The squeaky wheel...

          The squeaky wheel is likely to be the one with the problem. The bulk of your customers that are more or less satisfied are simply not going to bother. Any self-selected forum is going to bias towards the more motivated respondents. Of course this is going to include those that are the most p*ssed off.

          I agree with the idea that some doctors can't handle honest feedback and want to somehow silence or mute the complaints by discrediting them all.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @AC 12:36

          Any time I have had sufficient cause to believe the doctor was giving an unrealistic and broad-brush treatment I wasted no time in seeking a second opinion. The prime example was when I was prescribed anti-biotics in ever increasing doses to deal with glandular fever. It was apparent to me very quickly that they weren't appropriate and when also given the "not enough time to act" bs I went elsewhere. Whilst this is in no way as severe as what you had it highlights the basic premise that "it's your body and your responsibility" - if you don't trust what you've been told then seek further opinion. Always.

      2. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
        Joke

        doctors also appear to have an even greater belief in their own infallibiilty.

        Q: What's the difference between God and a doctor.

        A: God knows he's not a doctor

    2. LarsG

      IT COULD ALSO BE A...

      CLEVER by some practices to discredit legitimate complaints by branding them trolls as a whole.

      What if a doctor took a dislike to you as a patient because you cost him too much in time and treatments. A way of making you go to another practice is by the doctor being unhelpful and rude and uninterested.

      The patient would not complain under his name for fear of being branded difficult to the new practice.

      Practices like low maintainance patients so before you brand every complainant a troll just remember that they may be the one with a legitimate grievance.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I don't think you have any idea how much unreasonable shit doctors have to put up with. An anonymous forum is inevitably going to attract those same people. The world is not full of people with legitimate complaints against medical professionals. It is however full of people who get unhappy when the doctor won't prescribe them morphine, or doesn't take their hypochondria seriously, or forces them to wait 3 days for a non-urgent appointment. Remember this before you assume that there is a genuine complaint behind what looks like an anonymous troll. If it talks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. If people's legitimate complaints get overlooked because they look trollish, tough shit. That's their problem, not the doctors'.

        (Posting AC because I love the irony.)

        1. Silverburn
          FAIL

          @ AC

          "If people's legitimate complaints get overlooked because they look trollish, tough shit. That's their problem, not the doctors'."

          Wow. Just...wow. Spoken like the true arsehole doctor these sort of forums are meant to expose.

          Unreasonable shit? I suspect most of that shit flows downhill from the processes put in place by the NHS board, rather than the small minority of unreasonable requests from patients, who are - by the vast majority - genuinely seeking medication attention.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          i post ac too,

          You sir are a plonker who sees no further than the end of your nose, and judging by your reply must have an interest in the medical profession.

          Now that is ironic

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Thomas 4

      @Larry

      Isn't it absolutely hilarious when someone loses their job and potentially wrecks their career when you make an anon troll post:? I tell you, my sides are absolutely splitting when he goes home to his family and tells them he's unemployed because someone on the internet put him in an impossible situation.

      There is a time and place for trolling. A forum dedicated to medical needs where a comment could save someone's life is not it.

      1. Thomas 18
        Thumb Down

        "put him in an impossible situation."

        Difficult to ignore commentards maybe but hardly impossible. I'd say blame lies roughly 50% with his superior for firing him for something so minor 25% with him for overreacting and 25% with the guy who posted the original comment. For all we know though it might have been a valid complaint, some people have weird perceptions of health issues or like to join the dots themselves and arrive at odd conclusions.

        1. Version 1.0 Silver badge
          Thumb Down

          percent responsible?

          Why don't you thrown in a few percent for the ISP too ... by your logic they facilitated the whole exchange and surely have some degree of responsibility too

      2. BristolBachelor Gold badge

        "...unemployed because someone on the internet put him in an impossible situation."

        I don't know about that. Does that mean that everyone who lost their temper was justified in doing so because someone put them in an impossible situation? It is no longer required for you to act professionally because someone upset you?

        Obviously this article does not say what he responded to, but he did it representing his employers, and in public. In addition he did it somewhere that gives the impression that the whole purpose of the forum (to generally improve standards) is not followed up on.

        Perhaps he could've done what the rest of us do from time to time to ease tension? go to the workshop and carry out a secure "erase" of a HDD using a hammer.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Arctic fox
      Unhappy

      @Larry F54 "fired for hitting the nail on the head?" I agree entirely.

      If someone wants to post as an AC and say what the fuck they like then they have no basis for any complaint about the kind of reply they get. Posting as an AC where you have perfectly acceptable reasons for wishing to remain anonymous is fine. I see any number of postings here that are, in and of themselves, perfectly acceptable expressions the the AC's opinion - whether I agree with him/her or not. However, the moment an AC posts abuse then we are in another situation. I think that it was a flaming disgrace that a reply that was blunt but not actually abusive led to her cowardly employer firing her.

    3. mccp

      Firing unjustified?

      Hard to know from such a small amount of information surely?

      From the Guardian article:

      "Replying to another patient, who said they had switched to a competing practice because of the poor standards of service, the employee added: "This is wonderful news. We are all delighted you have been able to find a new GP.""

      I'd say that there was a distinct possibility that the practice employee wasn't exactly toeing the corporate line.

  3. geekclick

    I can see the Dr's point..

    My surgery gets a slamming in its comments and yet I have only ever found them helpful and polite.

    Sure it's hit and miss about when you can get an appointment but what surgery isn't?

    That said they shouldn't rise to it and the fact they do normally means they are worried about something...

    1. BristolBachelor Gold badge

      Presumably you said this is your comment about the surgery then :)

      1. geekclick
        Thumb Up

        re: Presumably you said this is your comment about the surgery then :)

        I did indeed yes...

    2. Richard 12 Silver badge
      FAIL

      Of course the majority are complaints!

      I work in support, and I don't think I've ever had a call/email along the lines of "I just wanted to say that your stuff is brilliant and I love it."

      I have had a few callbacks to say "The thing you suggested worked, thankyou".

      However, almost all my calls are "This thing doesn't work". When I fix it I usually get a "Thanks very much, bye!", and that's all I want.

      No matter what 'spontaneous' contact method you use, most people simply are much less motivated to go out of their way to say "That was great" compared to "That was terrible". It's human nature!

      You see it everywhere when comments on any service aren't directly solicited - you'll only get much in the way of positive comments if you ask people immediately afterwards, even and that runs the risk of annoying them.

      Most satisfied customers usually think "That was good, I'll go there again.". And that's all I want.

      - As to that practice manager who was fired? That was the correct decision.

      My employer has a forum, and quite often someone will post a nasty comment on there. If it isn't spam, then it stays and somebody will try to give a useful reply. Being rude back doesn't help anyone.

      1. Vic

        > I don't think I've ever had a call/email along the lines of "I just wanted

        > to say that your stuff is brilliant and I love it."

        I put in a big order to CPC a while back. On delivery, it was short one small item (which I didn't need urgently anyway).

        I called them and asked if they would put one in the post sometime. It turned up the next day by courier.

        So I called Customer Service & asked to speak to a manager. I got a very resigned tone when she picked up the call. I told her the story, the name of the woman who had helped me, and how happy I was with the service.

        And she had no idea what to do with my call. I suspect I might have been the first ever occurrence of praise :-)

        Vic.

  4. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Only human

    ... and of course all doctors are fine, upstanding, conscientious and talented.

    The main reason for people "hiding" behind an anonymous posting is to avoid the possibility of retribution - or even of a practice deciding they don't want whingeing patients on their books. You can just imagine a situation, moments before the doctor says "cough, please" when they decide to raise the topic of your last, critical, posting of their bedside manner.

    1. Mad Mike

      Surgery actions

      It's not like surgeries haven't thrown people off their books for spurious reasons is it? I've heard of several stories where surgeries have thrown people out for making what seems like perfectly reasonable requests. I've also heard of surgeries doing the same with people whose medical needs are 'too high'. Given the above (maybe from a very small number), are they really surprised when people to refuse to put a name to the comment?

      Some surgeries have already shown patients what retribution looks like, so maybe they don't want to experience it a second time?

  5. BristolBachelor Gold badge

    Expectations

    The thing is that I see it as about expectations. Imagine a ficticious website that allowed you to feedback you experiences at your local Sainsbury's. Imagine a poster said "Oh wow, I went into Sainsbury's today to buy some bread, and they had some; what's more they let me buy it!"

    Possibly the people who posted on Choices saying "My doctor was wonderful, listened to me, and was very helpful" had much lower expectations (either through previous experience or guessed from general opinion of doctors). This in itself says almost as much as the posters who said "I went to the doctor, they were awful, and I wish I hadn't gone".

    1. deshepherd

      Item on the R5 business program last night was talking about "reputation management". One of the contributers said that businesses always had to treat negative comments more seriously than positive ones since the rule when he started 20-30 years ago was that a happy customer told 2 or 3 people about theie good experience while an unhappy customer told around 10 - but the change was now via the internet an unhappy customer now tells thousands.

      As for saying "My doctor was wonderful, listened to me, and was very helpful" - that's what I said a few years ago to someone I know who's a GP when I was impressed that having gone in to get a prescription of hay fever treatement the doctor I'd seen had had a short chat with me about my general health, what exercise I did and then checked my blook pressure ... however this positive illusion was quickly dispersed when the GP I knew explained "that's just because he would have needed to do that to meet a target for the practice bonus"

      1. Martin
        Stop

        and?

        "that's just because he would have needed to do that to meet a target for the practice bonus"

        Doesn't mean it's not a good thing to do - I see no reason at all why your positive illusion should be dispersed because you have a cynical GP friend.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Problem should be acknowledged

    This isn't just a problem of trolling. With anonymity, people tend to be harsh or unbalanced in commenting in a way they wouldn't dream of doing in any other context. I think there has to be some way to measure a person's reputation online - otherwise everyone's feedback is reduced to junk.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      what a load of drivel. do you even know what the hell are you talking about?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Nice one!

        @AC: "what a load of drivel. do you even know what the hell are you talking about?"

        I see what you did there.. ;)

  7. Wombling_Free
    Holmes

    No shit, Sherlock

    " that anonymity allowed the commenters to say things that they wouldn't if they were named"

    YES, D. Nagpaul, hence the term ANONYMOUS.

    Surely this guy knows about Commonwealth standard defamation laws - that you can be sued for defamation even if what you are saying is the truth - the plaintiff only needs to prove the comment 'harmed their character in the view of an average person'. The Law makes no distinction about true or false comments.

    Billy Bragg said it best - 'This isn't a court of justice, son, this is a court of law'

    oh an Dr. Nagpaul? this is TEH INTARWEBS, not your living room.

    1. Colin Millar

      How wrong can you be

      It is a complete defence to a charge of defamation to show that the defamatory information is substantially true.

  8. toadwarrior

    it's the british way

    Anyone who has ever looked at the BBC's website (especially when they had the old have your say area) can see there are a lot of angry people using the internet to rip on anyone in hope (I assume) to make themselves feel better.

    Anyone with a serious concern with their surgery should bring it up then and there and I suspect in most cases it'll be taken care of.

    Instead they act like nothing is wrong, probably say thank you numerous times, and then when they get home rage on the NHS site.

    The doctor shouldn't have lost his job. He was completely right in his response.

    1. James Cooke

      The trouble is that this isn't always the case. For instance recently I was hit in the face with a stick playing hockey and needed to see the dentist. Being a weekend I phoned the counties emergency helpline they said sorry we're too busy phone back tomorrow - when I did at 8am they said sorry again and confided that they actually only had 2 appointment slots for the whole county!

      When I phoned up my practise to get an appointment with them on the Monday the best they could do was a week away and when I complained that I thought this was a bit long for what I considered urgent the best they could say was sorry.

      Complaints of this sort I'm sure are not uncommon (ever felt you're being hurried at the GPs? that's because they have 7.5 minutes per consultation) and sometimes complaining to a wider audience seems like the best way to escalate it or at least blow of steam.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As I understand it

    The best way to get better treatment from your doctor its to go to a walk in centre. When the doctor learns you've consulted someone else they'll be all over themselves to protect their quotas.

    1. NomNomNom

      is it illegal to bribe a doctor? I don't mean a full suitcase of cash just a few notes or chocolates or something. try the suitcase if that doesn't work.

  10. FunkyEric
    Joke

    Perhaps the Doctor in question

    Should have posted his reply anonymously........

  11. Bernard M. Orwell
    Coat

    @AC 1030 06/02

    Since you choose to hide behind the title of 'anonymous', I have little alternative than to dismiss your comments as unhelpful and unsubstantiated.

  12. Mattyod
    Holmes

    All rather predictable

    The cast majority of patients probably have a satisfactory and unremarkable trip to their local GP. These people are unlikely to be motivated to go online and leave a comment.

    Those who are disgruntled, annoyed or dissatisfied will have plenty of motivation to go and air their grievances.

    Eventually you end up with a forum full of complaints and everyone looks bad.

    1. Paul Shirley

      The majority of patients rarely need to see their doctor and might not find out if the practice is good or bad till it's too late. Think it took nearly 10 years before I met my longest serving GP. 4+ years on I've tried but still not managed too see a doctor from my current surgery - thank god for locums and a pox on 0845 booking systems and 25min call queues.

      If the choice is no comments or inevitably biased comment, I'll risk mentally filtering for bias over pure chance.

  13. seanj

    What the NHS Choices forum really needs....

    ... is more Sarah Bee. If people think that responses to trolling have been abusive already, they ain't seen nothin' until they've seen the (ex-) moderatrix in action.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How long until...

    GP's start hiring some offshorian outfit to spam the forum with rave reviews?

    ---

    And you lot blaming some anon troll at a keyboard for someone losing their job scare me. Step up and be responsible for yourself* and your* reactions, rather than pointing vaguely into the abyss and blaming some faceless non-persons nasty ASCII for your* consequent behavior. Sheesh.

    *'your', because if you're gonna excuse someone else's behavior on those grounds, I'm pretty sure you'd extend yourself the same dumbarse excuse.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Within my family, I can think of several instances when things have been awkward with NHS services. Some problems, such as emergency dentistry access, are specific instances of a general failure. Others, I wonder if the "back-office" management is adequate. And I really can't take seriously the idea that GPs are automatically the right people to be in charge.

    Part of the problem is that the internet generation can get at good data sources that, twenty years ago, even the Doctors struggled to access.

    And there are huge quantities of rubbish.

  16. Just Thinking

    The doctors comment seems perfectly valid to me. An anonymous comment on a public forum could easily just be some idiot shouting their mouth off.

    I don't really see the point of such a forum in the first place. Still, I suppose there is only so much you can spend of healthcare so the NHS have to find something to spend the rest of their money on. And it gives them an excuse to get rid of some of the huge surplus of GPs so its a win-win.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Welcome to the jungle^Wintarwebz

    So, what is this commenting thing for, those GPs believe? For a big happy family? "Slegs vir gemiddelde?" Really now, if you want feedback you shouldn't skew the results beforehand by insisting they should be from "average patients" only. It's the outliers you're most interested in because it tells you something about the weaknesses of the medical system.

    That there's querulous and trolls and simulants and whatnots, well, those you see in Real Life general practice too. I'm actually quite surprised that GPs have trouble with this. Something about starry-eyed self-delusions and inexplicably not matching reality.

    A bit of moderation can be quite a good thing, just as it can make the "forum" useless, or indeed worse, of course.

  18. Jason Hindle

    Well ACs call my GP practice hell on Earth

    And they're not wrong either! The NHS is in desperate need of reform, both at an organisational and a cultural level. I just don't think Con part of the Condemolition, with their ideological blinkers, are the government to do this (in fact, I think they'll make things far worse, leading to more cowards complaining anonymously).

  19. Why Not?
    FAIL

    key thing in any forum / rating system is to identify trends

    If all the posts say Dr Smith was rude & abusive you have reason to suspect they probably were - investigate.

    If all posts say I can never get an appointment the phone is always busy only way I can get an appointment is to queue first thing in the morning - investigate they are probably right.

    My surgery is among 3-4 who used to have that complaint some improvements have been made and they get fewer now.

    If they all say is the surgery needs a repaint then relax and schedule a decorator, you are obviously doing an ok job.

    Comments are about trends, you interpret them and then decide if there is an issue.

    Look at eBay you look at someone with a high positive rating then at their complaints, if they are minor and well dealt with then you buy from them. If they all say X was wrong then you make an informed decision.

    If you have one person with an apparently serious gripe you ask them to give more details privately or complain officially. You don't tell them to go away.

    If a member of staff had behaved that way towards a customer in the practice they would have faced disciplinary action, why should it be any less serious when they type it?

    If they don't want to hear bad things, don't do bad things - if you do people will tell you and you can fix it. Point of a comment system surely?

    By the way we want BOFH!!!!!!!!

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Or...

    "...A leading GP has declared that the general public are too rude on the internet "

    There, fixed it, etc. etc.

    I find it really rather sickening that normal people who would never be rude to someone in real life will say some of the most unpleasant, obnoxious things to people on the internet and hide behind their anonymity or pseudonym in order to do so.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I used the service to make a complaint about my dentist, and as a result the NHS trust has recommended the practice makes some changes to its operating practices.

    My complaint was because the kicked me off the books for failing to attend an appointment. The Dentist had sent me about 4 or 5 letters changing my appointment time or date. The last change was to change the appointment to while I was on holiday. after several attempts to telephone them to tell them I could not make that appointment, I elected to send them an email.

    when I got back and called to make an appointment, they refused claiming I had missed an appointment and referred me back to the emergency dentist and told me to find a new dental practice.

    to say I was not happy was an understatement...

    as it turned out, I went to the emergency dentist and he questioned why a temporary filling he had done 2 years before had still not been dealt with properly.

    having somewhere to vent your displeasure is an essential thing when it comes to NHS services. It gives people a voice to be heard.

  22. Eponymous Cowherd
    Joke

    True Story.....

    And an illustration of the general humourlessness of medical receptionists.

    Called my Doctor ( a group practice) to make an appointment. A rather severe sounding voice answered (after the requisite 50 attempts to get through):

    Receptionist: Surgery.

    Me Hello. Is this the correct num........

    Receptionist: This is the appointments line. Do you want to make an appointment?

    Me Errr, yes pl......

    Receptionist:Which Doctor?

    MeWell, I'd prefer a medical one.

    Receptionist:What?

    Me A medical doctor, as opposed to a Witch Doctor........

    CLICK.....

    Me Hello? Hello?......

    1. Silverburn

      I tried something similar

      ...and ever since that day, I get dumped with the doc with the bedside manner of Hannibal lecter, and a penchant for prescribing paracetamol 30 seconds into your diagnosis even if you weren't actually finished telling him what's wrong.

      That paracetamol cleared up my ingrown toenail a treat, right enough. And I don't know what medical school he went to, 40'c is not within normal temperature range for a 2 year old. Funnily enough, this was another case for paracetamol too. Pity he 'forgot' about the intravenous anti-biotics she needed 24hrs later in A&E.

    2. NomNomNom

      Haha hillarious. Did you try again asking for Doctor Who?

      There's definitely an opening for someone like you on the NHS Choices website

    3. The Head says

      Not unreasonable

      The thing you failed to recognise is that the receptionist is the gateway to the NHS. Without her (and it's almost always a "her") you don't get care and you'll die. The question is whether the post attracts humourless, impatient diktators or creates them out of ordinary people.

      1. Eponymous Cowherd
        Holmes

        Frankly, I don't give a.........

        "The question is whether the post attracts humourless, impatient diktators or creates them out of ordinary people."

        Frankly, I don't really care. Politeness and civility costs nothing. If you can't put on a polite and civil demeanour when dealing with members of the public, particularly sick and worried members of the public, then perhaps a career change is in order.

        Oh, and congratulations. You being a bona fide psychic, and all that. I mean, how else could you realise that I had no idea what role a medical receptionist performs. Adding it to my notebook right now:

        Note To Self: A Medical receptionist is the gateway to the NHS. Be nice to her, no matter how awkward, rud and obstructive she is or ye will certainly DIE

        1. The Head says

          @EC

          "You being a bona fide psychic, and all that"

          I knew you wre going to say that

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    no smoke without fire

    Do they really think people post this sort of thing for fun? i've had one doctor at the practice give me the whole " theres nothing wrong with you go away" after the most breif examination/questioning despite it possibly being multiple things (one of which it was)and two others at the SAME practice send me for tests (which have identified area's for concern), give me all the answers to my questions, give me any medical results i want etc.

    sure i could go and go " Dr x is crap this surgery sucks" or you know what? try a diffrent doctor. there is no way i'd go see the aforementioned doc (who would probably tell me it was nothing anyway) and will wait to see the others (anything that can't wait is usually A&E time).

    so why do they think people are posting when they must have some reason to? sure a lot of them might be "Dr Y won't give me morphine for my headache" but when comments are about general rudeness or percieved lack of concern would it not be better to stop bitching and look to why?

  24. Cunningly Linguistic

    Looks like the doctors are having difficulty adapting to their new pedestals which seem to be a lot lower than they ever used to be.

  25. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
    Mushroom

    General public are too rude about doctors

    The doctors have never heard their receptionist's on the phone then?

  26. jongaze

    100% Satisfaction... only in the public sector!

    It seems if you make a complaint you're struck off the patient list http://bit.ly/yUuwvv and http://bit.ly/zjpLqD etc.

    If you make an anonymous comment to avoid that fate it seems your opinion is discarded.

    That's a superb way to get 100% satisfaction rating.

  27. NomNomNom

    It's all very typical for these so-called elitist "scientists" and "doctors" to arrogantly sit within their ivory towers casting down mainstream "wisdom" as if they are better than us.

    But we don't need them any more. Most of this medicine and science stuff you can figure out yourselves and then write a blog to tell everyone else, or even tweet the bottom line.

    1. Stuart Castle Silver badge

      Then die of the cancer you misdiagnosed as a headache. Excellent advice. Your advice is exactly the reason that Tuberculosis (a disease previously thought extinct) is on the rise.

      1. NomNomNom

        No, Tuberculosis is caused by chemtrails. If you need more in depth medical info I can give you the link

        1. Stuart Castle Silver badge

          Why not post it publically if it's accurate? Or is this just another Conspiracy theory?

          1. Darryl

            Wait, I thought tuberculosis was caused by Phobos Grunt

            Or do I have my conspiracies mixed up again?

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    People will be people...

    Most complaints aren't helpful. They are vague, angry and poorly worded.

    That does not mean they aren't valid, just that they don't help solve the problem.

    GP's are told they have to see a patient within 3 days of that patient requesting an appointment. That doesn't allow for the volume of people asking for an appointment, so some practices are exceedingly busy. GP's are being given more and more responsibilities, further reducing the time they have. So they rush things and make mistakes, and generate complaints which take time to review and try to fix leaving them less time to see patients and then they get hoax complaints and time wasters and random inspections and they have to keep up on what illnesses are around at that time and updates on treatments and drug trials and improved procedures and new symptoms to watch for and warnings of potential outbreaks and the odd game of golf to get away from it all and perhaps even a conference or two and...

    This is no different to any other public service out there. The emergency services get just as much grief, and hospitals... well, let's just say some people can't tell the difference between reality and TV... and each and every complaint has to be taken seriously, even if the consultant the complain was against didn't really exist...

    And another Anon, just because...

  29. Crisp

    @NomNomNom

    Scientists and Doctors used to occupy a privileged rung on societies ladder.

    Today though, they are just skilled knowledge workers.

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's not the killing off anonymous going to fix the problem. Such a move is at the "reaction stage" in the problem reaction solution game. Implemented as a final solution, it leads to an abusive health care system with no checks and balances or public input.

    Who would want to put their real name on anything at that point?

    The failure here is at the website moderating and rules of the website level. Doctors aren't webmasters and webmasters aren't doctors.

  31. Danny 5
    Trollface

    they'll learn

    Just like we did :D

    spot the troll!

  32. Keep Refrigerated
    IT Angle

    Internet Explorer

    I clicked on 'Communities' page and spotted this gem in the sidebar:

    "If you're using Internet Explorer (versions 8 or 9), you may find you can't log in properly and post a blog or a comment. This is a long-standing (and very irritating) problem which we've discussed at great length with Microsoft but have not yet been able to get them to fix. So, if you want to contribute to any of the communities please use other browsers, such as Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari."

    Quite refreshing to see something so rare, honest and plain-speaking. It almost harkens back to another era before everything said from inside an organisation strained through the PR filter.

    I'd prefer not to see GP tax money being spent on PR agencies so I'd prefer the raw response from GPs over PR doublespeak - let them duke it out in the forums, I say!

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @The Head says

    "The thing you failed to recognise is that the receptionist is the gateway to the NHS. Without her (and it's almost always a "her") you don't get care and you'll die. The question is whether the post attracts humourless, impatient diktators or creates them out of ordinary people"

    Or, the question is, what criminal charges should be brought against that person if they refuse care and someone actually does die?

    On a broader note: How are people held to account, if any complaint can be dismissed simply because patients fear to give their name (knowing that if they do the 'diktator' will have reason to 'de-prioritise' their access to care)? In a silly way it's a bit like train services, where train not running on time = Not our Fault, but complaint from customer about train not running on time = abusing our staff.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Glad I'm not in the UK

    First, the doctors need to get with the program and hire a PR agency like everyone else does to counter the negativity with positive comments. Apple has a good blueprint for this.

    Next, I'm just laughing at everyone's experiences with their doctors. From not having actually physically seen one in years, to only getting a few minutes of time and quickly ushered it of the office.

    You guys have this so backasswards it's not even funny. Get your government out of the business of playing doctor. Then start paying the docs directly, out of your own pocket. I guarantee two things will happen. First they will actually answer the phone and set a reasonable appointment. Second your overall level of service will go up exponentially.

    I pay cash for my healthcare. I have regular insurance for the big stuff, but when it comes time to see about a little cough or sniffles or whatever, I pay cash and let them know when setting the appointment, which I usually do online. You know what: they are always smiles and spend whatever time I require. Because I am the one paying the bill, not some nebulous government or commercial entity that is just going to argue over whether they should have spent 5 or 6 minutes in diagnosis.

    For the guy who asked about "bribing" the doc. I think you have the wrong perspective. It's called a tip, and it works wonders.

  35. Cunningly Linguistic
    FAIL

    People don't seem to realise that 50% of all doctors were in the bottom half of their classes, and of that 50% most end up as a GP.

    A Jack of all medical trades, but a master of none.

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