The following article is interesting in that here in Ottawa and I believe in most large cities in Ontario, the lone GP has almost dissapeared.
http//uk.news.yahoo.com/11112005/325/gps-asked-extend-opening-hours.html
I have had the same GP for almost 20 years. 5 years ago he joined a clinic. I still go to him for regular check ups and renewing my prescription for high blood pressure, but because the clinic is open from 8 to 8 every day of the week, I can see a doctor any time of the week (almost). Also there are specialists that are easier to get appointments with.
Under our health care system it works well and needs very little in the way of non medical staff. ( Only one insurance company)
Does your GP work alone?
Ive had to change mine a few years ago owing to moving .
The one i have now works with 2 others and a nurse pratictioner .
Thet are open from 8 -7 on 3 nights 8-5 2 nights and 9 -3 on sat there is always at least one on 24 /7 emergency
Mine is in a big clinic, with his own little corner of the building and about 5 other GPs within the practise.
That said, he operates the "jumping in and out of rooms" practise where you get the basics out the way with a nurse and then left for about 10 minutes until the doctor gets to your room, as he's doing his thing with other patients until then.
I don't mind - I find the care from my GP to actually be superior here to any I had in the UK.
I moved to CA a few months ago and decided I should have a Doctor, went to make an appointment with one and she cannot fit me in until after xmas. Just like the UK except you pay for it...
I moved to CA a few months ago and decided I should have a Doctor, went to make an appointment with one and she cannot fit me in until after xmas. Just like the UK except you pay for it...
That's a good point EEB. I had forgotten about the times I've tried to make appointments for checkups and they are several months out. It was a lot sooner with the good old NHS.
So I will revise my comment to saying that once I got in to see the doctor, the service seemed superior.
I know here with the doctors and check-ups (routine check-ups where you have one once a year), the doctors will only allow so many appointments a week for these for two reasons - one because they take up so much time and the amount of time needed for one check-up appointment they could fit in two, even three other patients. and two because they have to charge the fixed rate by the insurance company, if you have insurance which generally works out at a lower rate than other types of appointments. The other point as well is it could depend on the time of year you have your appointment - doctors that see school kids also, the 3 months before school starts in September and the few weeks after school starts are very difficult to get in for a check-up because of the school requirements of having a physical. ) Saying all that, though, we have never had to wait long and I generally make the appointments for these a year in advance.
Once we found a GP we were happy with, we have been very pleased with them. The children have a practice where there are 4 doctors, they are open 5 days a week, Saturday morning for emergencies and there is a 24hour number available for emergencies also. Hubby and I have another place where we go which has a main GP with at least 2 other doctors who work there and they are also open 5 days with Saturday morning for regular appointments. With having Oxford insurance, there is an Urgent Care Facility just 10 minutes up the road that is open 365 days a year and which we can use anytime we feel we need them as a secondary carer, and don't have to ask for permission from the insurance company first. They are also wonderful, efficient and so far we have never gone when they have been busy.
what I like about the way medical stuff works over here is that even when you have an emergency, you don't have to go to the emergency room. Broken bones, stitches etc., can all be checked and either fixed or referred at your own doctors or the emergency care facilities, bypassing the wait in the emergency room at a hospital.
Now I know the system and know who to talk to if I do have a problem or don't understand something, I'm very happy with the medical service over here. It is at least as good as what we had in the UK and in many places, much better )
the only thing I would have a hesitation over is having a baby over here. Not that that is ever going to happen wink
Got my doc thru Johnnies doc. They're married. he has the guy, I have the lady. No probs with appointments, although being able to speak Russian helps with the lady at the front desk. I don't, but she loves my accent. I shamelessly work it like crazy.
All Brit trained docs, indian by descent, ( does that sound right) 3 in the office. The couple and some guy who noone ever seems to have seen.
Fabulous docs would probably be dead without them. Do loads of tests and such and really keep you on form. Hell, they even test you for things you don't know they're testing you for, then they make pronouncements with "knowing eyes".
Very reasonable , lovely people. Available at all hours, at a cost, not that I'd want to disturb them except in an emergency.
GP whats that? I never use them if I can help it, as I always pick out a specialist and go to him or her as soon as possible; Eye Specialist ,Cardio,Arthritis,Dental,Dermo etc.
I find the a faster(time is of essence in medical cases) and safer method of course if you are locked into a medical plan(I have had night mares and billing problems with oxford and other medical plans in my journey through the American medical system) you have to go along with that plans modus operandi.
What happens if you hit a wrong specialist for your problem? I have found they waste no time in getting you to the correct specialist,appointment at the front of the line`minimum wait if any and they never,if ever, charge for that service.
I have had some bad experiences with so called GP's,for example,Very few can fix or give accurate info on an eye problem, and I would say threequarters of them cannot operate or read an electrocardiogram correctly, but they love to stick a charge for it on your bill.Also their equipment is outdated as compared to a specialists.
These faults have been confirmed by others including my bosses at work.
So I will revise my comment to saying that once I got in to see the doctor, the service seemed superior.
That says everything as far as I'm concerned. For example, 2 months ago I changed my health insurance and ergo my doctor. I called to make my first appointment and it took 6 weeks. So I ran out of my asthma drugs. And had to go to a MedFirst Emergency Doctor place (24 hour doctors office to stop people going to the ER). I've been taking the same drugs for over 5 years but because my insurance changed I wasn't allowed to buy it of my own volition. By the time I got to see my doctor I was pissed about the whole thing. And then he was fantastic. Oh, and he's a fly-it-alone GP too.
It's funny - last night on This Hour Has 22 Minutes (Canadian tv show very much like Have I Got News...) they made a joke about not being able to get hip replacements for 12 months, and other things for periods of time. For the first time since I've been here I thought "so what's wrong with waiting for most of these things?" It's a common argument after all that in Canada you have to wait so the health care is worse. I've been very sensitive to this sort of thing since the NHS in the UK refused to treat my uncle. But I've come to view that as horrible but realistic. In the US that's heresy - God damn it money gets you what you want and now. But as Annie has said elsehwere, throwing a pill at every symptom because you have the cash makes no sense. So in a system where you don't pay at the point of service waiting and prioritising isn't automatically a bad thing.
I still think the care is superior. The system, however, is akin to being mugged by a policeman.
[quote="pilgrim_007 @ Fri Nov 11, 2005 458 pm"]
That said, he operates the "jumping in and out of rooms" practise where you get the basics out the way with a nurse and then left for about 10 minutes until the doctor gets to your room, as he's doing his thing with other patients until then.quote]
Same with mine. When I signed up they insisted on a check up appointment which I protested against to no avail. My appointment was half an hour late, she kept me waiting in the room for an additional half hour whilst seeing other patients then told me I was fine which I knew anyway. Then I was charged ten bucks for the privilege. Not chuffed.
Shortly after, my stepson had an ulcer in his mouth which he mentioned to her during his asthma check up. She wrote out a mouthwash prescription as long as your arm which would have cost $50. Needless to say, Junior made do with salt water.
When I first came back here, I had a hell of a time finding a GP.
As others have said here, it's very hard to get a doctor in the first place, many of them simply won't take new patients. When you finally do find one it's sort of we'll fit you in two months down the road sort of mentality. Also, although Canada does have government health care, the system is actually quite similar to the United States. The doctor bills the government by procedure, instead of an insurance company. This means doctors have an incentive to get rid of you within ten minutes so they can move onto the next victim and swipe a (lucrative) health card.
So I was seeing doctors who would process me in ten minutes and really didn't give a sh*t and behaved as if you were lucky to have a doctor at all.
In Toronto there are drop-in clinics that will see you immediately, but it's kind of McMedicine. It's difficult to get a regular doctor who will see you immediately.
I got so fed up with this, I finally took up the reccommendation of a musician friend and visited what is called here a Community Health Centre. They are located in poorer, inner-city areas. You have to be in the broad local area to be accepted. The doctors are all salaried and I've genuinely found that they are far more motivated by wanting to help people than money. They still make a pretty good living and unlike an NHS doctor they don't have to worry about working overtime, weekends etc.
At the one I go to, I've now been seeing the same doctor for nearly a decade. She always sees me within 15 minutes of my appointment. She takes all the time I need. She always carefully explains my options and never minds me asking for a second opinion and will even book the appointment for you.
All the doctors at this centre are very kind and patient and it's a friendly, laid-back atmosphere. They also have a drop-in time every day at lunchtime, so if you need to see a doctor immediately (but not necessarily your doctor)
Sometimes I find it slow to see a specialist after my doctor has referred me because all the specialists they use tend to be at one of the biggest and most bureaucratic hospitals in the city.
Sometimes you know you're sharing the waiting room with intravenous drug users, street people et al. but most of the time it's just ordinary looking people. Anything that provides incentives to see the doctor is good in my book.
I'm not sure if it would work as a model generally, I think it's the fact that there aren't very many of these centres and not a lot of people know about them that make them special. I'm very lucky.