Dear LPG,

I have always understood that when I visit my doctor I have just 15 minutes to communicate my problem to him or her, and when I feel unwell enough to need a consultation I am usually confronted with the choice of having to wait for days between the time that I get an appointment and the ailment that has inspired my need to visit my GP practice; or a walk followed by a long wait while I am ill which sometimes results in the need to return for a consultation at a later time or date because the queue was too long.

And then when I actually manage to see one it is always a very nice doctor who I have often never met before, knows nothing about me and has to spend at least half the consultation reading through my relatively extensive notes.  The fact that the doctor is reading as quickly as possible (skimming) is not instilling me with a lot of confidence in his understanding of my case, or leaving me much time to explain my new health problems to the practitioner.

I read a recent article which implies that the 15 minutes I understood to be the time to shine needs to be cut by half to be accurate these days. (►►►)

In the article, a doctor suggests that you mention only one condition when you finally get to see a doctor.  What happened to the time the GP had to explain your symptoms in simple terms ask questions and make sure that the patient really understood and was reassured about their health? 

It is a shame that we older people have to get ill at such inconvenient times and have such complicated health conditions.

Does the NHS not know that as we get older our health issues become more complicated?  Please take a look at what is suggested in the article above and tell me if you think we are getting value for our money; all the national insurance that we paid when we were working!

MT, Catford

 LPG found a few other articles on the subject.   (►►►)       (►►►)      (►►►)