It can take two weeks just to make an appointment with the doctor.
And once you get there, it’s over in no time, with an average consultation of less than 10 minutes.
Rushing an appointment can make people struggle to remember the essential details of their conditions.
But there are some simple questions that can help you prepare to make the most of the limited time you have at the doctor’s office.
Professor Sir Muir Gray, Director of GHSa platform for tracking physical, emotional and cognitive health, shared his advice for getting the most out of an appointment.
Rushing a five-minute GP appointment can make people struggle to remember the details of their conditions, but writing things down and preparing questions can help, says the GHS
The six questions you need to know before your GP appointment
Professor Sir Muir Gray, director of online service The GHShas prepared a checklist of questions to help you prepare for GP consultations.
Professor Sir Muir Gray, director of online service The GHS
The questions to prepare include:
- When did it start?
- What have you tried?
- Does anything make it better or worse?
- What are you most concerned about?
- What do you think would be a good outcome of this visit?
- What’s wrong?
Sir Gray also recommends writing down questions and recording consultations so you don’t forget what was said.
“Before you go to a doctor, remember that the doctor may have a thousand consultations a day,” says Sir Gray.
So the first thing to do is have an answer ready for when the GP asks what’s going on, he said.
He added: ‘There are certain things you want to think about, such as when did it start, what are you worried about, what do you hope the GP can do for you, the GP will ask what you have so far tried, what makes it better and what makes it worse.
“Time is more of a scarce commodity in healthcare than money.”
Sir Gray recommends this approach, as it is common to forget important details in the appointment room, which is a sign of ‘anxiety’ rather than ‘stupidity’.
“There is some evidence that even the most intelligent people are so anxious during consultations that they no longer remember everything the GP has told them,” he said.
That’s why Sir Gray says recording the consultation can help.
“Say your grandmother went to the hospital and saw a neurologist and she comes home, she may not remember if she asked all the questions she wanted to ask,” he said.
Sir Gray added: ‘I’m in favor of writing things down and checking.
“And I also strongly believe that if you have a difficult problem, such as cancer, record the consultation and make sure you ask all the questions you wanted to ask and write down everything the doctor said to you.”
This preparation saves patients’ and doctors’ time, he said.
Sir Gray said: ‘We also need to think about patient time, as well as clinicians’ time.
“If they give you a hospital appointment at 9 a.m., you have the time it takes to get there, then the wait time, and let’s say they have to arrange an MRI scan and expect you back next week.”
‘If you are paid per day, you have lost a day’s work, which is called the burden of care.’
But Sir Gray suggests you can get more out of health care if you ask how to care for yourself and talk to other people with the same problem for support.
He said: ‘The problem is we need the NHS for diagnosis, for acute care and for starting the right treatment, but once treatment is started you’re on your own 99 per cent of the time.
“That’s why self-care is the most important concern for prevention and management of long-term health problems.”
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