A heartfelt Facebook post about the harsh realities of life as a GP has gone viral with over 8,600 ‘shares’ since May 19.
The post by Dr Emma Nash, based in Portchester, Hampshire, was sparked by a patient’s complaint on Facebook’s newsfeed about having to wait 17 minutes for their appointment and the realisation that ‘many of our patients have little idea about what their GPs are actually doing’.
In the post Dr Nash describes how she sometimes leaves work as late as 11pm or even 2am even though she should be working a part-time week of 20 hours.
She argues that a 10-minute consultation is not enough, particularly when patients are elderly or turn up at the practice with lists of questions.
Dr Nash also points out that many patients use appointments that they do not need, when self-care and time will ‘do the job’.
‘I really do understand the frustrations of the general public – remember I have a family too, who occasionally need to see a doctor. But. We are working flat out.’
She says that nobody wants to become a GP because ‘it’s a draining job, very heavy on workload, and we are demoralised and constantly berated by the press and portrayed as lazy and money grabbing.’
Dr Nash encourages comments on how it could be done better because GPs are ‘all out’.
