Why are doctors seemingly so incompetent?

I would say that you get a huge range of doctors. I think sometimes people give GPs flack because they won't tell them what they want to hear. One of these occasions would be a girl that came in when I did work experience at a GP and asked if she could get hair removal on the NHS because it was 'bothering her' and the GP basically said no, explained that her case was extremely minor in the view of the hospital and that if it wasn't causing her any mental turmoil there wasn't much he could say to try and convince them otherwise - she seemed pretty annoyed when she left but what more could he do? I imagine she's gone home like 'oh that doctor was useless he wouldn't help me!'.

I feel obliged to stick up for Doctors, as I've got a lot to thank mine for. I think unless it's a very common problem that you have then you're way better off seeing a specialist in that area. I've had Eczema all my life and I've had the same Doctor all my life and he has always given me great advice and I've always trusted him, my skin got out of hand though about a year ago and as he's not a skin specialist he didn't really know what to do, so he referred me to a dermatologist. The first time I saw her she said that if she wasn't a specialist she would've just sent me to hospital as it had gotten that bad but because she had seen it all before she knew what to do. I've seen her every couple of weeks since February and quite frankly she's been brilliant. Every time I see her she will end up spending almost half an hour with me and suggesting different things, when I told her I had gotten 4A's for the January exams she almost jumped for joy because she knew how bad I was when I did my exams.

If you have a genuine problem then in my experience Doctors will always do what they can to help you. Don't forget that they have a strict budget and I'm sure they aren't allowed to send everybody they see for scans, I wish this wasn't the case but I believe it is right now.

Take a list of your symptoms and rather than mentioning the research, just say that hypothyroidism has been mentioned to you and you're concerned, and would they be able to do anything just to rule it out to put your mind at ease? Then you'll know if it's hypothyroidism or not, and if it isn't then talk about the depression. If they write you off, try again with another doctor, another practice, anything.

I think they should really ask whether you mind having student doctors before they let them come in and just stare at you.

I still have utter faith in the NHS, if people don't like them, they have the option to go private.

At all the people complaining about doctors (I assume most of you are talking GPs here when you say you went to the doctor) not doing enough checks - do you know how much those checks cost? In Germany doctor practises and hospitals pile unnecessary procedures on you to get money out of you from your insurance (public or private).

Having a test just to "put your mind at ease" in my opinion is not a viable option in the long run. There has to be sufficient cause for concern.

On letters I've had from the hospital, they do say that "we are a teaching hospital" and say that you need to let reception know if you don't want a student doctor in with you.

Yeah, my GP was eventually brilliant and I'm seeing a rather well-known gyno in the endo field (after being treated like crap by my local hospital's gyno department and my GP kicking up a fuss and having me referred to a much better hospital). I think half the battle with chronic illness is getting someone who will listen and understand, because once that happens it's amazing how much better you feel!
(It's also amazing how many non-specialised doctors (even gynos) still believe the old endo myths.)
Do you use any online groups? Because endo-resolved.proboards.com is one of the best I've come across (not too whiny and a real 'community' feel).
R.e. Pain- I think that Endo girls/women are so hardcore with their pain management that doctors just disbelieve how mucbh pain we can deal with. I know that most of the pain that I now deal with is something that I never would have been able to live with a few years ago... I now have an amazing tolerance to pain and ability to grin and bear it.

My doctor didn't know what dosage to give when prescribing drugs. He Googled it right in front of me, what was even more worrying is that the answer didn't come from one of those medical sites made for health care professionals, but from Yahoo answers!
When I went to the Pharmacy to collect my prescription, the pharmacist noticed the dosage was unusual and called up my doctor to confirm, turns out the dosage was too high and it was lowered.

Surely this is dangerous?

I'm not criticising all doctors here, just my doctor individually.
So much for "Trust me, I'm a Doctor".

To be honest I don't know why they are so incompetent.

After moving to uni I had to change, and the new surgery is pretty ****ty.

I had been in pain for about a year before they finally figured out what was wrong. They kept telling me I couldn't have endometriosis, even though I had all the symptoms for it - because of my age.

Finally because nothing else was working they did surgery, but this is after months of appointments, me researching, them ignoring/being pissed about me researching/them telling me I couldn't be in that much pain if I am at the doctors (FYI, if you have to choose between severe pain and no help, or severe pain and possibly getting help, you pick the latter).

Guess what? I have endometriosis. If they had accepted that it was possible then I would have been closer to treatment (still haven't found the right treatment, this is like three months on from the surgery). Many women I know took them 10 years to get diagnosed with Endometriosis, because there is some kind of 'general knowledge' that only older women get it. Yeah, thats because it takes you 10 years to diagnose it.

Oh and the best bit is, endometriosis is there from birth, why would you need to be older to have it?!

I genuinely think it is hard to get a good doctor these days, the amount of crappy ones I have seen, and then don't get me started on the waiting lists. They rigged the waiting lists, lied to me about when I would be put on the waiting list, and I had to kick up **** in order to get the surgery when they told me I would.


Sorry this turned into a big rant, I just have a huge bee in my bonnet about the NHS and their treatment of patients atm, I am obviously just going by my experience.

TL;DR
Basically, I agree, they are generally crap. At least in my experience.

No they don't.

There is a reason the NHS is free. Many people simply cannot afford private health care.

That's not the reason the NHS is free. We all pay for it quite heavily. It's called taxation. In fact for upper end earners, health insurance in the private sector would be a far cheaper option.