Pensioner fury at GP’S ‘you’re not dying’ snub

AN ELDERLY man has said his GP refused to see him “unless it’s life or death”.

Dennis Baker, 94, from North Hampshire, said he felt “put off ” by his doctor’s surgery, which is a three-minute walk from his house.

The pensioner, who says his wife has advanced dementia and is bed-bound, has found it “quite difficult to carry on a conversation with a doctor” and can’t get them to visit him at home.

“The chances are [the receptionist] will say, ‘You’re not dying, a doctor will phone you at some stage today’ ... that’s the usual response,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One.

He added that once a GP does call, “the moment that they realise that it’s not life or death… they’re not really very interested”.

“For instance, [they ask] ‘Well, who is your normal doctor, and really you should be speaking to him or her’ and that’s the end of it.”

He said that he felt “absolutely put off [by his GP] in the hope that you go away and be quiet”.

It comes as analysis by the Liberal Democrats showed that the ratio of patients to doctors in England has reached more than 2,200 for each GP.

Since June 2017, the number of fully qualified GPS. excluding trainees, has fallen by 1,343.

Dr Steve Mowle, of the Royal College of GPS, told World at One something “radical” needs to change to tackle the falling GP numbers.