UK GPs 'amongst best in the world', international survey finds

The temptation to rubbish UK GPs for so many ills in the NHS is clearly misplaced. We are the worst in the world, apart from all the others.

Commonwealth saying something else and our ministers are saying something else. I think they don't read newspapers. Can they read and write? I think we should tell Commonwealth that UK GPs are being bullied by our illitrate ministers. I will be very upset if a third class minister comes to my surgery and advises me to perform well. I think I will throw him/her out. Wake up my dear friends GPs, don't let other people control your lives or surgeries.

The authors surveyed primary care physicians and have not asked patients what they think about the service, so we must not jump to conclusions and feel great about this. The reason we fair better is because we are fortunate to have computerised patient records and the OOH free and not offered by GPs. It's sad to say our OOH service is now unsustainable and NHS Direct has failed to deliver good returns. Now our ministers are ignoring our pleas and planning to shift care to nurse-led clinics. These nurse-led walk-in centres will split up primary care and take scarce resources away from GPs. BMA News Magazine http://www.bma.org.uk/news/bma_news_mag/ We all know this is not the way forward but how can they sustain the service that has been abused by using nurses? NHS targets signal lack of trust in doctors and nurses. However, a new analysis of figures by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows on international rankings on death from disease Britain has slipped from 9th to 10th out of 15 since 1997, behind countries like the Czech Republic. [ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6503350/NHS-targets-signalled-lack-of-trust-in-doctors-and-nurses.html ] Instead of educating people, listening to doctors and penalising abusers, our ministers are rewarding the destroyers and blaming us for their mistakes and wasted expenses. The irony of all this is that our profession is now threatened.

This article is high on hype and extremely short of detailed facts. It would be interesting to see a more detailed in-depth analysis of this survey.

I would certainly believe that UK GPs are amongst the best in the world and of course there are always exceptions. Let's be proud of our good work.

This is a non-article. There is no real story as no facts are given. Is Pulse guilty of the same thing as the Goverment? No details at all in fact - no facts just opinion. It wasted my time reading it. More in depth comments and facts please.

I'm delighted that Pulse reported this. That fat tome by Porter & Teisberg 'Redefining Healthcare' illustrated in very real figures that the UK model was by a long way the most effective both in terms of patient outcomes and use of resources, and concluded that the USA should immitate it (p26 and fig 1-14). Hmm, meanwhile we try to imitate USA? The issue for patients is continuity of care. The patient survey (presumably designed by the Department of Health) rates this so highly that QOF payments will be dependent on it. So PCTs get a double whammy - by replacing GP practices with salaried doctors and nurses, they don't have to pay for patient care AND they don't have to pay for patient satisfaction, as you can be sure that salaried staff will move on to the next job every few years (ie not score for contiunity). Brilliant!

I was able to live in the UK for five years and I got the chance to work in the NHS for the same number of years as well. For the past five years, I was able to visit the GP for only 3 times and I vowed not to come back to them anymore. So to make the long story short, I don't believe in this report. GPs to me are the worst trained doctors!!! At the NHS,I've seen so many different things while working there. The positive and the negatives. And the only positive is that the services in the NHS are free. And the negatives?? Sadly, there are too many negatives and I don't know if I have that much time and space to write in here. I can mention a few. I can say that the doctors in the NHS are some kind of poorly trained ones - very opposite to the UK telling the world that they've got one of the best educational institutions. There are many more dumb/poor doctors than the good ones, and that's a bit scary!! Here's one of my experiences while working there. There was a patient aged somewhere in his 60s who was admitted in A&E. The patient was really unwell, he had a low blood pressure. Then the doctor in A&E found out that this particular patient has an outpatient biopsy appointment to be performed in the next few days. After knowing that,the doctor rushed to our department and asked us if we can perform the biopsy. But then, I suggested to him why not admit the patient first into the hospital, observe and treat him with his illness and then after that if the patient is well enough that's the time to proceed with his scheduled biopsy since we can rebook the appointment anytime. We argued as if he does not want to believe me and I let him speak to the nurse in charge. And the nurse in charge said the same thing as I told him. And he then spoke to one of the consultant doctors, and he told him the same thing that the nurse manager and I had told him. He even said to me and to the nurse that he does not know what to do with the patient. Imagine!!! A doctor in the A&E department confessing that he does not know what to do with the patient that he decided to proceed with the biopsy even though the patient is very unwell. What a doctor!!! And he is trained and edcuated in the UK!!! In conclusion,the biopsy that he was requesting did not happen on that day and we were thinking that he just want to get rid of that patient in A&E to accomodate another patient!!! Now, that's NHS service for you. And another thing, I heard a lot of patients moaning that they've been to several diagnostic tests for the past few days but still the doctors in the hospital could not figure out what's wrong with them??? Imagine,if you are a patient going back and forth to the Rrdiology department to have X-ray, CT or ultrasound performed to you for several times because the doctors can't still figure out what's wrong with you?? And plus, all these blood test?? And these i witnessed personally because I was able to speak to the patients. Not only 2, 3 or 4 patients but too many of them in the span of 5 years that I worked in the NHS. So, this whole survey thing about GPs and NHS are just mere propaganda. Nothing more, nothing less. You must be a patient or an employee in order to witness what NHS is all about. Lastly, if ever we could have our second child, my wife and I vowed to go back to our home country and have her delivery there rather than to do it in the NHS hospital. It is not happening yet and good thing we left the country for good!!!