family doctor

Can we reform our healthcare provision?

As some readers may know we are running a rolling set of polls looking at healthcare reform. You can see some of the previous polls here. And it would be great if you could spare just a couple of minutes to take part.

Today we would like to focus on healthcare availability.

From a UK perspective one of the things people find irritating about primary care (by which we mean family doctors, general practitioners[GPs] or PCPs) is that is seems only to be available when we are at work or our children are at school (ie not). It has been improving over the last few years but you can’t see your family doctor on Sunday afternoon pretty much anywhere.

So we were wondering if our readers help that it would be an improvement for healthcare provision in general if primary care was available 24/7 – rather like A&E (or ER for our US readers)?

There would be less waiting around and any conditions which needed to be seen early could be. It would take off much of the pressure on hospitals at the weekend so they could get on with their real jobs.

What do you think?

Why not take our poll below and have your say in the comments section below?

You may also be interested in how such a service might be offered in a restructured health service. Why not check out our previous blog on polyclinics?

How long to you have to wait to see a doctor?

One of the features of getting older is that you develop the feeling that the whole country has gone to the dogs. Also the kinds of music your children listen puts your teeth on edge. But that is a different matter.

Another is the feeling that it takes longer and longer to get an appointment to see your family doctor. (Or GP or Primary care physician). Indeed according to the UK’s Daily Mail one can often wait two to there weeks for an appointment. But according to official guidelines we should be aiming at a 2 day wait.

So something seems to be going wrong. But what and where?

To help answer this question we would love your help.

Firstly it would be super if you could participate in the poll below which asks if you feel that these days you are waiting too long for a doctors appointment.

Secondly it would be great if you could use the comment box to share some of the reasons behind your answer and also how you think the situation could be improved.

Many thanks in advance.

Patient Talk

Patient Talk

Healthcare reform – Should primary healthcare be available everyday and all day?

Waiting times! Do you have to wait too long to get an appointment to see your family doctor?