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Report transcript in: Experience of GP Service 5
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Experience of GP Service 5
Please Report the Errrors?
My recent experiences of GP services
have been largely positive. Um,
I
I've been using the asthma GP service, and,
um,
this is to do with, um,
medication reviews. Um, and,
um,
it's a bit I found it a lot more efficient than, um,
previously, uh, before the pandemic. I've found, um
there was
a system where you you had to try and get through at the same time as everyone else.
And that was really, really difficult to to navigate and and manage,
Um, and to find the the as my GP.
Um, much more efficient.
Personally, um, you tell them, um, you know, kind of why why you want to speak to them.
And it's less frustrating because you can
whilst you're trying to book
that in over the phone and it's engaged all the time. There's
there's no one to get that information out to, and you can find yourself getting
are worked up.
Um, and then by the time you do get through,
you feel flustered and and maybe not as able to articulate yourself.
Um, and what you want to speak to someone about, um, in general, I I
I tend to like more time to to reflect and and write. Um,
so
So, Yeah, I I do, Um
I do prefer that for
most things, um,
I
I haven't had to, um I haven't had to speak to
a GP over the past two years about
anything that
is potentially more sensitive is potentially.
Um,
there's something that
I'd I'd prefer to to actually like,
Have a face to face relationship with a person, uh,
and be able to see their body language as as I'm talking,
um, and to to be able to feel that there was some
acceptance there. Um,
and I'm talking about, like, in the past of of, um,
I've had to speak to GPS about, um,
my mental health. I'd speak to GPS about not feeling mentally well enough to
to work. Uh, I'd speak about my substance abuse.
I've had to speak about delicate, um,
medical conditions.
And
in those instances,
I think
you're always, um,
was quite mindful, um, of, of, like,
the potential for for a lot of people to
to judge you with those things.
I I mean, certainly the, you know, kind of the first few things I mentioned there.
Um I think with the more sensitive medical conditions where
you've got,
you've got a lot of fear and you want you might want reassurance that there's,
I suppose that,
you know, kind of you you're in, you're in safe hands.
Um,
so I've heard about people,
um, having to, like, take photos, for example of of of areas, uh, and and send them in,
um,
which,
You know, I I I've not had to do that myself, but I I feel that
I feel that if I did, I wouldn't feel massively comfortable doing doing that.
It feels very impersonal. Um,
and yeah, you know, I I don't think I'd be at all comfortable in doing that. And, um,
in relation to the areas that, um,
I spoke about in terms of things like mental health and and substance abuse.
I mean, thankfully, I'm, um
I'm in a situation where
where I'm not suffering with either of those two things now and and haven't been
well, certainly with substance abuse for for extended period of time.
Um,
but
with those issues, I think that
because there's so much
to say, a stigma around them,
I think that
having a a more consistent relationship with a with a GP.
Um,
where they can
understand who you are as a
as a person.
Um,
and beyond the condition,
um,
I think is important because I think that, um,
my well, I know that my
immediate assumption
previously
had been,
um
that to everyone.
Um,
everyone was judgmental of me and and looked down on me until they'd
almost proved me wrong on that front.
Um
and,
um,
yeah, I I mean, it's it's it's like things like, um,
it's also got
a
small number of criminal convictions. And it's a bit like the the written thing.
It's a bit like, um,
with that when you write in, uh, that you've got criminal convictions. What?
What you really want to know is that
someone's gonna not just see
that in cold, black and white.
And
stop being interested in
anything else about who you are as a person and and what might
have led up to that and what might have happened since then,
um, and the ability to to, like,
understand and accept you and understand and accept that you're
more than, you know, kind of, um,
you know, AAA
couple of lines of text that said, you've, you know, you've done something That is,
um, you know, would would be judged by the, um
by the majority of society.
So
yeah, I think
given all that and bearing that in mind, I think that there's
during the pandemic. There's
there's been good aspects and bad aspects of of, um,
changes to the way GPS deliver the services.
Um,
I think that
Oh, definitely, for
for a lot of things, I definitely recommend that the,
you know, the the use of as my GP and to move to like more.
Uh, I I suppose, um,
more efficient ways of getting you to the the actual person that you need,
rather than just go through going through a
alike,
a filtering process where you all have to go through that at the same time.
And that's like, you know, first thing in the morning. I think that that
that never really worked. Uh, and it was always
oh, really frustrating trying to, um, try and navigate that really, um,
and trying to be the person that one of the people that that got through and and,
you know, kind of, um
not one of the people that was that. That was just spend,
you know, an hour of your your morning on hold,
and you'd still not managed to get through to anyone.
So So, yeah, that
that really needs to stay.
I'd say that there should be
some
consideration
to,
um
the nature of problems people are facing
and
their preference and a degree of choice and control over,
you know, kind of lesser,
Whether going through a,
you know, an online text,
you know, filtering system might
ask my
ask my GP
or needing a more consistent relationship with a with a regular GP because of the
the nature of the issues that they're facing and the sensitivity
of the issues they're facing
in an ideal world, That's the
That's the way that I'd go about it. Um and I I'd asked the the people watching
watching this video to go about it, um, you know, kind of,
um,
one size doesn't fit all Everyone has got different needs.
I also understand how completely overwhelmed the the NHS are at this time of year
and knows that things in principle i h o is in control
and always completely possible. Um, but
you know I I I think it's something that we should
we should strive towards, um
and
yeah, um, where wherever possible, think about
the individual and what What they actually need from
a from a GP and try and tailor more,
um,
to to that
rather than have the systems that
that are are
the same for everyone.
Um, as I said, understand, that's really difficult to do at scale.
Um, and you know, uh, fully,
um, empathise with the with the positions of of NHS staff right now. Um, and
yeah, we would like to Would like to thank them for,
you know, all the time and effort that, uh,
and you know,
skills and expertise that have have helped get us through this pandemic And, uh,
you know, really
overwhelmingly grateful to that as well as having some
some input on on how things can, you know, kind of improve even more.
OK, thank you.
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