[vidarh]

"all the publicly available NHS numbers"? The number you should call if it looks serious is 999 (or 112; same thing). If they don't send an ambulance, then sure, that's a problem (and one worth filing a complaint about), but the times I've called 999 the reaction has been immediate.

As for tests, one of the reasons they "are afraid" has nothing to do with being afraid, but what is medically indicated. A lot of private services will do everything "just in case", the NHS won't. That means you often get people wondering why they've not been sent to an MRI for example (as one of the most common examples), because it's only actually affecting outcomes for a very small set of diagnoses. But some GPs certainly do get it wrong, and people need to be more aggressive about changing GPs if they feel they're not being heard.

[vkazanov]

Yes, I know, 999 was what we called.

So how it works, unfortunately, is that GPs get a lot of pressure to not do things "just in case". But "just in case" is the only way you can notice things that are wrong on a deeper level.

What, for example, is "back pain"? In 90% of the cases this can be fixed by, say, 10 sessions with a physio. But sometimes it can mean something serious, like a spinal disk injury.

Or sleepiness. 98% of that can be fixed with lifestyle and diet changes. But sometimes this can a sympthom of something scary.

Or my wife's example: didn't feel quite right for 3-4 weeks then fainted. Turned out to be serious. The full GP discussion would have taken weeks.

Or my friend's example: increasing numbness, nothing serious at first. Major brain infection. The GP actively tried to downplay things.

I don't know if there is a solution to this. Right now it feels that without chatgpt-assisted self-diagnoses and being aggressive with getting over the GP wall the system tries to avoid helping out.