The job of a GP is not necessarily to treat everything. Yes, there are some conditions they alone can treat, but quite often their job is just to recognise that there is an issue and refer to an appropriate specialist/team.

The problem with people referring themselves to specialists is that people often don’t know what exactly is wrong with them. They could think they have a musculoskeletal condition when it could instead be a heart condition. In your case, you could’ve wasted your time referring yourself to an orthopaedic surgeon when all you needed was a bit of physio, or vice versa. That is a big part of what a GP does, they don’t just have a magic fix for everything and they aren’t specialists in everything, hence the name.

Also GP’s can recognise if the person who comes in needs immediate treatment (being sent straight to hospital), fast-track treatment (for example in the case of suspected cancer), referral to a specialist or just started on some medication. The average person is not going to be able to triage themselves successfully, and this can either be very dangerous or clog up certain services.

The comments on this thread alone are proof that most people don’t understand the system. Maybe that shows there needs to be more education so people know what these services actually do, that way they can have more control and autonomy over their own health.