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A visit to the Doctor.

BrumBum said:
This thread opens up lots of possibilities. Our GP when I was young was Dr Ezzat. His practice was a fairly large but poorly adapted house on the corner of Court Oak Road and Tennal Lane. There were no appointments and you would simply take the next available chair and wait your turn. Good job we were trained to queue from birth! The waiting room must have once been a sitting room or perhaps dining room. The chairs were a random mix of wooden dining chairs, but none of them was particularly comfortable. As the buzzer went (I think it was a buzzer) for the next patient, we would all move along one chair. I can picture the room very clearly even now. There was nothing warm or inviting or interesting about it. When you were called through, you would walk along a short corridor and knock on the door of the consulting room, already slightly high on the whiff of antiseptic. Dr Ezzat was a large, fairly genial Egyptian who knew all of my family and was prone to give advice on a range of things, whether you wanted it or not. My clearest recollection of him is when he treated me for a severe gash to my knee caused by newly pruned and dagger-like privet hedge at my Grand-dads house. I still have the scar, but I did not develop an infection.
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Yea. As a youngster I remember Dr Ezzat's and all the shuffling along the chairs. He was our main doctor from the early 1960s when we lived on the Moor Pool Estate and after we moved to Highfield Lane up at Quinton. I liked him and he actually seemed genuinely interested. I remember his kindly face with head tilted to one side as he meticulously checked our chest with his stethoscope and looked at our tongue ......whatever ailment we had. I wonder what his story was. My guess is that he came back with the 8th Army after the war.
 
When a lad in Weoley Castle, our Doctor was , Dr Judge, Castle Square, a big Irish man, and a genuine bloke, I worked at the Butchers on a Sat Morning and cut my thumb, quite badly, and went straight over to the Surgery, when he opened the door , he frowned, come in son, took me through to the office, lets have a look here , yes stitches I'm afraid, he cleaned and stitched the wound. he finished and said, did a lot of this in the Desert war, you were very brave, its ok now, and I went back to work all in about an hour, I was about 12/13 at the time, how different to today.
 
paul stacey said:
When a lad in Weoley Castle, our Doctor was , Dr Judge, Castle Square, a big Irish man, and a genuine bloke, I worked at the Butchers on a Sat Morning and cut my thumb, quite badly, and went straight over to the Surgery, when he opened the door , he frowned, come in son, took me through to the office, lets have a look here , yes stitches I'm afraid, he cleaned and stitched the wound. he finished and said, did a lot of this in the Desert war, you were very brave, its ok now, and I went back to work all in about an hour, I was about 12/13 at the time, how different to today.
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I run a FB group about the history of Weoley Castle. Would you mind if I shared this? I would do it as a screen shot.
 
Many of us remember the days when you went to " the doctor ".no group practices then because the one local doctor was enough to cover most situations.You just went to the surgery and sat and waited your turn.When you saw the doctor there was no rushing through matters so the next patient could be seen.As with many things,there was TIME.
Tojo.
 
Memory, is a funny thing in age, things come and go, can´t quite remember, the dates but about mid fifty´s, place Bartley Green, mom and dad were talking about a friends of mine sister, in Hasbury Road. The Dr, was called early morning, and became so worried about the child, that he operated for an appendicitis in the Kitchen. Now as I say the memory´´s fluctuate, but I am certain that this happened ??
 
Our doctors was a Dr. Butler and his wife, on Reservoir Road at Stockland Green. His surgery was an ordinary house just near the shops. Like others we just turned up and waited our turn. Mom had a long term sickness and saw him regularly for which he charged her 10 shillings a month. I was about 9 when I had an abscess on my right ear. I had to have some black ointment on it for a week [smelling like tar], and then went back, and he and his wife, who were both surgeons, operated in their back room to remove it. Too gory to go into details. They were wonderful people and cared about every aspect of your life.
Although like everyone else, have difficulty in getting a face to face consultation now, when I do see him he nearly always gets up as I enter and shakes my hand
 
Our local Doctors surgery was Spring road,Tyseley,and was run by two doctors, Dr Essen and Dr Allen. This was during the 1950s.
The waiting room was small with two doors leading off to the doctors.
The surgery ( or what we called,the doctors) was part of a terrace of flat fronted houses converted. The whole terrace row has now been demolished.
 
paul stacey said:
When a lad in Weoley Castle, our Doctor was , Dr Judge, Castle Square, a big Irish man, and a genuine bloke, I worked at the Butchers on a Sat Morning and cut my thumb, quite badly, and went straight over to the Surgery, when he opened the door , he frowned, come in son, took me through to the office, lets have a look here , yes stitches I'm afraid, he cleaned and stitched the wound. he finished and said, did a lot of this in the Desert war, you were very brave, its ok now, and I went back to work all in about an hour, I was about 12/13 at the time, how different to today.
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Hey Paul,my wife and I lived in Alwold road in the mid 60s and one time I cracked a rib at football practice.I went to see Dr Judge,a good bloke who,I imagine,would have been good to have a pint with at the Raven or the California.I thought he might put an elastic bandage on me but,instead,he sat in his chair with a large roll of plaster,got me to fix the end of it just under my armpit.Then I was required to rotate like a pirouetting ballet dancer until the top half of me was entitrely strapped in.I had a bit of trouble breathing going home but eventually got used to it.The biggest torture,however,was when it was time to take the plaster off ! There was lots of screaming,swearing and ooh ah ooh ahs sitting in the bath trying to remove the plaster an inch at a time.
I was glad to get through it but still glad to know Doc Judge.
Tojo.
 
Hi Tojo, yes he was a good GP, I believe a desert rat too, like most of his generation, they used their surgerys, for minor operations, when my young sister was very ill he came out in the middle of the night with a mac over his pajama´s to treat her. These stalwarts of the NHS are long gone now, not that there are so very GP´s about still!!
 
Butcher boy said:
Our local Doctors surgery was Spring road,Tyseley,and was run by two doctors, Dr Essen and Dr Allen. This was during the 1950s.
The waiting room was small with two doors leading off to the doctors.
The surgery ( or what we called,the doctors) was part of a terrace of flat fronted houses converted. The whole terrace row has now been demolished.
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Hi. I used this doctors from the 50s until the 70s and remember both Dr Essen and Dr Allen. Do you remember the other doctor, a lady who was just called Dr K. Her name was difficult to pronounce. Did you go to Yarnfield school, I was there from 1955 until 1962.
 
Our doctors seems to think a phone call is all we need now, her indoors has problems with blood pressure, she gets it checked at the pharmacy adjoining the surgery. Last time she went the pharmacist said it rather high so I'll go into the surgery with you so you can make an appointment. The result of that was " the doctor will phone you in two weeks time" and she was given the date and estimated time for the call. o_O
 
izzy eckerslike said:
Our doctors seems to think a phone call is all we need now, her indoors has problems with blood pressure, she gets it checked at the pharmacy adjoining the surgery. Last time she went the pharmacist said it rather high so I'll go into the surgery with you so you can make an appointment. The result of that was " the doctor will phone you in two weeks time" and she was given the date and estimated time for the call. o_O
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hear hear izzy
 
at one time a visit to the dr was private..not now what you say and have wrong with you goes on the pc, any tom dick and harry can have a look
:mad:
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Attending an appointment I found that my doctor for many years had moved to another surgery.I was seen by a locum who referred me to the hospital for tests.I had a tumour which needed removing.
After the op,during recovery,I discovered that my doctor had moved to the group practice nearby.I made an appointment and when I saw him he said " Well well,I haven't seen you for ages ".
I said " No,I've been ill "!!
 
izzy eckerslike said:
Our doctors seems to think a phone call is all we need now, her indoors has problems with blood pressure, she gets it checked at the pharmacy adjoining the surgery. Last time she went the pharmacist said it rather high so I'll go into the surgery with you so you can make an appointment. The result of that was " the doctor will phone you in two weeks time" and she was given the date and estimated time for the call. o_O
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The system here took a bit of getting used to. A visit to the doctor is chargeable at fixed rates set by the state, and then a percentage is reimbursed by the state, and the rest is paid by your own health top up insurance. For those of limited means, the state runs a top up scheme which is free based on a means test. If you wish, you can opt for a zoom or FaceTime consultation, which is charged and reimbursed as if it was an in person visit.
For an urgent hospital visit, the doctor will sort it directly. For a visit to a specialist, the doctor will hand over an introductory letter and you sort it yourself with whoever you want. My doctor wanted me to see an Endocrinologist, so armed with the letter, I chose one in the town of Albi and made an online appointment. Why Albi ? Because it is a lovely old town with the biggest brick built cathedral in the world. Saw the specialist, then we spent the rest of the day having a nice meal and wandering around with Julie. Nice day out.
As long as health care is centred on my doctor, I am free to choose my own specialists.
My doctor, and nurse like to have a recent blood pressure to look at each consultation. I do that myself with an automatic cuff, filling in a sheet over 3 days. They also like regular blood tests, so I have a prescription lasting a year for the various factors to be monitored. I walk into the health centre when I need to, no appointment, they extract the red stuff, and I get the results online the next day. The doctor also gets a copy directly. If I am in town, I can go directly to the testing laboratory that the health centre uses. Or anywhere else that does blood tests that might be convenient at the time. If the doctor sees something irregular, she will call me in. If I see something, then I will make an appointment, otherwise it is a 3 monthly cycle alternating with the nurse. The results I get also show the previous results, and the expected range for each factor for guidance.
Because doctors work within a charging system, they tend to feel that they must deliver value for money. I can't just have a repeat prescription, it has to be a mini health check every time. Normally a visit is about 20 min. That's fine though.

Andrew.
 
I have had many appointments at my local medical centre, some with nurses, some with nurse practitioners and some with doctors. All NHS.
 
mw0njm. said:
at one time a visit to the dr was private..not now what you say and have wrong with you goes on the pc, any tom dick and harry can have a look
:mad:
View attachment 182231
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Patient records are confidential except in very specific circumstances. Here's a quick summary of position:

Can anyone else see my records?

Your health records are confidential. The NHS shouldn't show your health records to anyone without your consent. Unless they share information with other NHS or social care staff members who are involved in your care.
 
Jent said:
Hi. I used this doctors from the 50s until the 70s and remember both Dr Essen and Dr Allen. Do you remember the other doctor, a lady who was just called Dr K. Her name was difficult to pronounce. Did you go to Yarnfield school, I was there from 1955 until 1962.
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I went to Yarnfield School 1946- 1954. Dr K or Kaczmarska was a Polish doctor who , I think replaced Dr Essen. The surgery moved further up Spring Road towards Bowsteads paper shop. Dr K died in mysterious circumstances
 
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