When attending your doctors appointment, it may be the ideal time to offload all of those niggles and issues that have been on your mind for a while.
Particularly post-pandemic, many people have ‘saved’ up complaints and vowed to ‘speak to the doctor about it’ when you attend your appointment.
In the vast majority of GP surgeries standard appointments allocated to all patients is 10 minutes. This may sound like enough time to rattle through the list you have prepared. However, a 10 minute slot for discussion, diagnosis, action and follow up planning can be swallowed up quickly.
If you have more than one issue to discuss the advice is to choose the most important or urgent to talk through. The clinicians on some occasions will be able to offer advice on two simple issues but please don’t be offended if you are asked to book another appointment to go through further problems.
The clinicians try to run to time (which doesn’t always work out that way!) and by sticking to your allocated 10 minute slot and discussing one issue allows the whole clinic to run more efficiently.
Together we can help keep things moving and ensure that patients are seen swiftly.
