Hazzan

Brief Outline:

Hazzan rarely visits the GP as he is usually healthy, though recalled seeing the doctor for chicken pox and vaccinations (injections) when he was younger. He felt that GP surgeries should have more resources for young people, including leaflets and posters on mental health, sexual health, healthy relationships, puberty, and stress.

Background:

Hazzan is at school and lives with his parents, sister and brother. Ethnic background / nationality: Black African.

More about me...

Hazzan rarely visits the GP as he is usually healthy, though recalled seeing the doctor for chicken pox and vaccinations (injections) when he was younger. He remembered having blood tests but not why, and was unsure that he’d been told. 

When he was younger Hazzan usually went to the doctor with his mum. He let her take charge of the appointment – he didn’t really feel he had to understand what was going on unless he was asked something directly. He recalled that the GPs were mostly female and friendly and that they tried to make him as comfortable as possible. 

Hazzan felt that GP surgeries should have more resources for his age group, such as leaflets and posters on mental health, sexual health, healthy relationships and other ‘things that young people are confused about’. To make these resources, they should ‘actually talk’ to young people, though their ‘first port of call obviously would be the internet because it's anonymous’. Hazzan also felt that it would be helpful to have more information for young people on their ‘changing body’, not just physically but also mentally, and how school stress and pressure can affect them. He felt that waiting rooms could be more informal by having a TV that shows the news or something that ‘appeals to everybody’. 

For Hazzan, it was important that GPs try and sound like they ‘genuinely care about you as an individual’ when talking to young people. He’d like to see GPs enjoying what they’re doing so it doesn’t come across ‘like it's just another day in the routine’. 

Hazzan saw a practice nurse to have tetanus, measles, mumps and rubella injections. He’d also seen a school nurse for injections.

I don’t really go to the GP that often. I think it's only for vaccinations [injections]. But they do do that in our school sometimes, because I don’t really get ill often. But I don’t really see the GP that often, as I got older; I think that as I got older I saw the GP less.

Has it always been the same surgery – like the health centre or GP's surgery – has it always been the same or has it changed over the years?

I've always gone to the same surgery but we have gone to the hospital sometimes if I needed to get a blood test.

So, more recently, it was more to get vaccinations. Can you remember what the vaccinations were for?

I think it was like tetanus and measles, mumps and rubella I think. That’s all I can remember, yeah.

And did you see the GP at those appointments or did you sometimes see a nurse?  Who was it usually at the surgery?

It was a nurse. I went to a nurse to go and do it. And the last time I did it, it was with the school nurse. But I did it before that with the nurse at the hospital.

So some injections you had at school?

Hm mm 

And was everybody having those that, you know, you all had a time that this afternoon you're having the injection or anything like that?

Yeah, I think that was the case. I think if you'd already gotten them, you didn’t need to go again. Or if your parents didn’t want you to go within the school, you could go and do it with your GP. But I think most of the students went in school. 

Hazzan didn’t know people could speak to the GP about bullying, stress and self-harm. Mental health is an important issue but teachers tend to focus only on healthy eating and exercise.

I didn’t really think that you'd be able to talk to a GP about bullying because I thought it was like strictly health related things that you could speak about. And like, yeah, like stress and self-harm – I didn’t think those were things that you could speak about. But I don’t think the rest of it [the RCGP leaflet] surprises me as much as I would expect.

So this leaflet has been made so that people, younger people especially, cos it's for young people, can know that these are all the different reasons that you could see a GP.

Hm mm 

As a lot of people, you know, might not have heard of all of these reasons. Do you think this kind of leaflet would be good either in the surgery or given to young people or put up at school or anything like that?

I think if there was – yeah I think that they'd be useful if they were given out in like registration one morning at school, so then everybody would have the chance to look at, look through it. And then the teacher would be able to explain it to the students so then they would know that the GP isn’t just, ‘Oh I've hurt my leg’ or ‘Oh I need to get an injection’ lemme check that, down to the GP. They can actually be something that they look forward to doing because they're able to express themself.

And in terms of, you know talking with your friends at school, is health a kind of subject that comes up much or not really or, you know is it a subject that you talk about at school or not so much?

With friends it usually just comes up in conversation. But I think most of the things that happen are like sexual health or like sport and stuff. Or like mental health because those are the things that concern us the most. But I think in school we will have sex education lessons like now and then. But with teachers it's mostly like, ‘Eat healthy, like have your five a day and do sport’ and that’s it, like then your life is perfect.

GPs should ask young people how they’d like the surgery to look. More information about the ‘things that young people are confused about’ would be good.

I do think that they could spruce it up a little bit.

Yeah. So if you were going to spruce it up, what kind of things would you advise them?

I don’t know really. I think as helpful as all the information that they put on the board is, you know, the TV is about like health and stuff. They could put like the news or anything that appeals to everybody on there so that people are entertained. Recent magazines, not ones from like ten years ago. But I think the children's area is how it is and it's fine because children are easily entertained, so I think that’s fine.

Are there many things that, looking round the surgery, the waiting room, that you feel are relevant for your age group?

Mm not really. Only if they're talking about like yoga for people who wanna get like fit. But mostly it's just about pregnancies or like cancer and stuff like that and like old age.

Do you think that it could have something for your age group, and if it did, what kind of things do you think are the main issues that people, younger people of your age group would be most interested to see posters on, or leaflets on?

I think they should have more things for my age group. I think they could have things about like mental health and sexual health and things that young people are confused about, not just things that older people feel that young people care about. I think they should actually speak to us and see what we're actually confused about at this stage and then put those on the wall.

It would be better if GPs gave young people leaflets because they’d be more likely to read them then.

What kind of things do you think that young people would be confused about, and would probably think some posters or leaflets would actually be helpful in the surgery?

I think…I'll answer the latter question first. I think they would be helpful if they were directly given to young people and not just put up because I don’t think they'd take the time to look at it unless it was handed to them. But the stuff that they should put up is things like sexual health and mental health – I think those two are very important because those are the two things that are changing, and puberty of course. And healthy relationships and things like that and like, yeah, just like staying healthy and safe sex and things like that.