GP Stories - Drug Seeking Patient
The healthcare system in the UK is under immense strain. Hospitals are full, emergency departments are facing 12 hour waits and GP practices are closing. The ones remaining are facing huge workload pressures, of patient's demanding appointments from a dwindling numbers of doctors. A browse of GP facebook groups more recently have been discussions on how to manage this workload, from allowing unlimited emergency slots, to triaging carefully once all the appointments of the day are used up so only certain demographics are allowed an urgent slot (children, end of life, etc.), to just closing the list totally and directing all calls to 111. Which one to choose is very individual to the practice, a balance on providing what you can to your patient demographic to protecting your doctors from burnout.