IN September my son was admitted to hospital with pneumonia.
If I’d tried to take him to see a GP days earlier, he would probably have been given antibiotics.
That would have prevented him being rushed into A&E and put on oxygen where he clogged up an NHS bed for five days.
It’s something I’m not proud of.
But these days we often feel like we’re a burden and an annoyance to the overstretched NHS, so we choose Doctor Google instead.
You know the scenario — you’re sick, you want to see your GP and you ring the surgery at 8am and find yourself at position 25 in the queue.
Finally you get an appointment — for two weeks’ time, via video. And this has become so much the norm that we are actually grateful.
But none of us should ever feel grateful — or ever accept this — because the lazy attitude of those GPs who don’t bother to see us in person could actually kill us.
A new study published in the British Medical Journal this week showed that “deaths and serious harm” had occurred due to remote NHS doctor consultations between 2020 and 2023.
They said it was because of wrong or missed diagnoses, delayed referrals or an underestimation of the severity of a range of serious conditions including sepsis, cancer and congenital heart disease.
One 16-year-old girl was diagnosed with glandular fever over the phone by a GP but died of sepsis shortly afterwards.
A new mum died from a missed pulmonary embolism. This is absolutely heart-breaking.
But it’s not surprising, because as many as a third of GP appointments are now virtual after face-to-face appointments slumped during the pandemic.
How can someone, even if they are a super-qualified GP, really get a thorough feel for what is wrong with somebody via video or a phone call?
The truth is, they can’t. The report, led by the University of Oxford, suggested doctors should stop giving phone appointments to the elderly, people who are deaf or technophobes.
What they need to do is stop giving them to ANY of us.
Two years ago the Government introduced a nine-point package of measures to improve face-to-face access.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay promised last year to name and shame GPs who did not see patients in person.
Their left-wing union, the British Medical Association, urged GPs to refuse to comply with the plan, calling it a “bully’s charter”.
What is bullying about wanting your GP — a well-paid, educated doctor — to see you face to face and not treat you as an inconvenience?
Yes, there is a lack of GPs and they are under pressure, but doctors take the Hippocratic Oath vowing to “use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgement; I will abstain from harming or wronging any man by it”.
This report shows that those GPs who are opting for video calls are all too often harming patients.
They are clearly not looking after them to the best of their ability.
The pandemic is over so there is no reason for social distancing and there is no excuse for doctors who clearly have no shame to be resorting to lazy video calls.
There are a lot of people who have used the pandemic as an excuse for working from home but that’s absolutely no place for a GP.
If a medic doesn’t want to deal with the great unwashed then they are in the wrong profession — and should get out.
The rest of them should do the right thing and start welcoming us to the surgery with open arms before more lives are lost.
THE world of “reality” shows has gone from one extreme to the other this week.
You’ve got zero reality on BBC’s Strictly, where Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola are pretending to be in a romance to boost their votes – and on ITV I’m A Celeb, bosses have had to have a “gentle” word with Nella Rose to get her to actually enjoy herself instead of fighting with Nigel Farage.
And then I watched Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge, with far too much reality and uncomfortable viewing thanks to a poor man called Spencer who told viewers that he was a mummy’s boy who used to wet the bed and cried when he wasn’t with her.
We were then shown him crying and nearly being sick during a challenge.
I think I’ll go back to comforting cookery programmes.
GOOD news for all us dog lovers – our pooches could stop us getting dementia.
Research carried out in Japan found dog owners were 40 per cent less likely to get dementia than those without a dog.
It’s the first time a clear link between owning a dog and the onset of dementia has been established, and is believed to be down to exercising and making new connections when you take them for a walk.
Good news for me and good news for my boxer Layla, who is now going to get an extra-long walk this weekend.
I AM no fashionista but Julia Roberts needs to have a word with her stylist.
Yes, her Gucci shoes drew the required attention this week at the London screening of her new Netflix thriller, Leave The World Behind.
But the poor woman looked absolutely bloody frozen! Tights? Coat? Gloves?
I’ve seen more coverage on a sub-zero night out in Newcastle with The Geordie.
DESPITE the money, the glamour, the attention, you wouldn’t want to be a teenage child of a mega-famous couple while trying to make your path in life, would you?
Look at Brooklyn Beckham – chastised on social media for his stint as a photographer, then slated for trying to be a chef.
Ozzy Osbourne’s daughter Kelly once said it “makes it hard for me to do something with my life, as I’m judged whatever I do”.
Now Peter Andre’s girl Princess, who is already an influencer, wants to make it in the beauty world.
On the front cover of a magazine this week, the 16-year-old insisted: “I want people to know me for me, not who my parents are.”
The trouble is, she wouldn’t have got on the cover of that magazine if it wasn’t for her mum Katie Price and Pete, and it is going to take her a long time to shove off the tag of being their daughter.
It’s a double-edged sword.
THE Glynhill Hotel And Spa near Glasgow Airport used to order 5,000 mince pies every festive season, but this year, for the first time in 53 years, they have “banned” them. Seems a bit dramatic.
They say at Christmas parties, 80 per cent get binned. I’d be gutted if I went there, as I love a mince pie.
Wouldn’t it be better to just buy fewer, or find a better supplier?
CLAUDIA SCHIFFER is now officially a Barbie girl after having her own “lookalike” doll made.
Just a shame it looks more like Melinda Messenger.
