John

Brief Outline: John rarely sees the doctor and, as he has a family member who is a GP, he can check any symptoms with him first. He recently moved to a new area and is yet to register with a GP.

Background: John works in IT and lives with his partner. Ethnic background / nationality: White British.

More about me...

John rarely saw the GP as a child – he was usually healthy and, as he has a family member who is a doctor, he would check any symptoms with him first. Fortunately, John had little need over the years to visit a GP, though has been in hospital several times for injuries and surgery to his nose. 

As a child John was registered with a family GP but was put off seeing him because he felt he was dismissive. He also ‘didn’t overly like that I wasn’t talked to that much when I was younger about conditions like with my nose and so on. That could have been better communicated, so I guess discounting children is...for me doesn’t put me in a good frame of mind about GPs for the rest of childhood.’  

John prefers GPs to be ‘objective’ and all staff in the surgery, including receptionists, to ‘fuse friendliness with efficiency’ and be engaging. He is ‘not really bothered’ about the doctor’s gender but would feel more comfortable talking to male doctors about sexual health. He also feels that a doctor’s age is unimportant but finds it easier to talk to someone who is ‘not a million miles away’ from his own age.

On one occasion, John saw a practice nurse for an ingrown toenail. Although she treated it fairly quickly, he wishes that she’d explained what the treatment was and what to expect afterwards. 

Over the years, John registered with different surgeries when he moved around for his studies or work. He recently moved to a new area and is yet to register with a GP. He would like surgeries to be open seven days a week but has mixed feelings about extended opening hours. 

John often uses the internet if he wants to find out more about symptoms he has and said that the NHS Choices and Boots MD websites were helpful. He has also used the internet to look at local surgery websites when deciding which one to join. 

John’s message to doctors is that it’s ‘about respect for the patient’. He understands that doctors have to follow procedures but has noticed that they often discount patients’ knowledge of their own health, which can feel patronising. John advises doctors to talk to their patients and take them through the various procedures.

John saw a nurse for an ingrown toenail. She was ‘friendly but efficient’. Treating it was quick and easy but he would have liked a bit more information.

I think it might have been with a practice nurse maybe. It was a very minor procedure. They just spayed some silver nitrate stuff on the nail or something like that. So it was very quick, and in the open hours they tend to have a lot of people there, so, and they try to keep it moving.

So was that just once you had to go for your toenail?

Yeah, no, I think I went back in for a, just to see that it had sorted itself out.

And was it back again with the nurse?

I can’t really remember.

So you think that you might have seen the nurse rather than the doctor for that?

I definitely saw the nurse for the initial bit, and then I think it was, I imagine it was the nurse for the second bit.

When I went in she [nurse] pretty much just took me into a room, sat me on a, on one of the beds, and took a look at it. And it was all quite friendly but efficient. And then she disappeared off to get some of the stuff to put on my toe to treat it, and it was a bit weird being left in the room on my own, but it was fine. It didn’t bother me too much. And yeah it all seemed quite, it all seemed pretty quick and easy.

Was it painful or was she worried that you might feel some discomfort, or have some side effects afterwards?

It did turn my toe black, which she didn’t really warn me about. But she did warn me about it being a little bit uncomfortable. There was a bit of stinging but it wasn’t too bad.

So would you have liked her to tell you more about the side effects of your toe being black for example?

Yeah, I guess it would have been nice to know. It didn’t really affect anything so I wasn’t too bothered, but it would have been nice to know.

Websites helped John decide which surgery to register with. He prefers sites that are simple and not too technical.

So at the moment you haven’t registered, at the moment, but maybe, you know, you will at some point. And you’ll have a look at the internet then to, or would you ask other people at all, or would you prefer to look on the internet.... sometimes when you move to a new place you ask the neighbours or something like that?

I think I’d rely on the internet really. Usually if there’s anything wrong or something on the internet, someone will comment on it and some will give a bad review, so I’d probably go with them. If I had something particularly bad.

You mentioned that you Googled the GP surgery before and looked at different websites, and kind of decided which one to register with based on what you thought was the best website. So how did you decide which one had the best website?

Just from a web design standpoint. Yeah, pretty much the...

So what kind of advice would you have to GP surgeries if they wanted to make their, if they wanted to improve their website to make them look more attractive, what can they do?

I guess they’ve got to not make it very technical, you’ve just got to be like, ‘this is a great surgery, we have lots of very qualified doctors,’ and just make it as simple as possible. I did talk to [my relative that’s a GP] after that, though, and he said like the ones who can make the best websites are the ones who are clearly spending their time badly, so maybe I made the wrong choice.

John moved around a few times. He was registered at university first, then back at home. Later he moved again and registered with a new surgery.

I think when we got there in fresher’s week, there were packs of stuff telling you all the essential things you needed to do. So I did that fairly quickly, and it was all quite well organised cos they had nurses coming to the college and things, doing blood pressure and all that sort of thing you get in the first check-up you do. So it seemed a bit like standard procedure for them.

Yeah, so you joined quite quickly. And could you remember actually going there to join, did you have to fill out forms beforehand or while you were there?

You filled out forms but they sent nurses into the college so it was all done there. So we didn’t really have to go there until there was an actual problem.

After you left university did you go back to the same family doctor, you know, the same family health centre or surgery?

For a little bit. I spent a year at home after university and it didn’t really make a lot of sense to change. And I actually think my mum sorted out all the paperwork and everything, and just sort of did it all for me because I was a bit apathetic about it, so...

And was that because you hardly ever go, and if you did you would ask first a family member [who is a GP]?

Pretty much, yeah, I think. I’ve always really thought about anything that could be sorted out quickly can be done and anything else I can sort it out as and when, so....

So for about a year you stayed with this surgery?

Yeah.

Then when did you move?

So when I moved to [place name] and I re-enrolled at, I think I actually re-enrolled because of this thing in my throat so...

So while you were at home for the year, did you go to the doctors at all in that year?

I didn’t go to the GP because I didn’t really have any health issues.

And then when you moved to [place name], you registered with a practice there?

Yeah.

Yeah, do you remember thinking, you know, how shall I register or how many surgeries are there? Or did you find a house first or accommodation and then think that’s the nearest?

I had a flat and then afterwards I sort of Googled the local GP surgeries. And I picked the one that had the nicest website and went from there.

So was that quite quickly after you moved or did you leave it a bit?

It was a bit of a while. I didn’t really have any pressing health concerns so I didn’t really feel the need to sort it out.

John lived in four different places over the last few years. He intended to register with a GP but put it off because he hardly ever needed to see one.

So if we just kind of go through where you’ve had different doctor’s surgeries, even though you haven’t, you know, had the need to go very often. So first it was at home, then you moved to university, then did you move to [place name] after coming back home for a year?

Yeah.

To [place name A], and how long did you stay there with that doctors surgery?

I was in [place name A] for about 2 years, and I guess I was with the surgery about six months because I went quite late.

So for about one and a half years you didn’t see any doctor because you had no major need?

Yeah.

Yeah, and were there any small things, can you remember, that you could just phone and ask your [relative who is a GP]?

Not that I remember, I was usually quite, either healthy or not really that bothered by anything.

So you were there in the [place name A] Health Centre for about six months, and then where did you move next?

So then I moved down to [place name B] which is, with my partner, and now we’ve moved to [place name C].

So did you have a surgery there in [place name B]?

No, I think I’m still registered in [place name A]

Oh right, right [laughter] so how long were you there in [place name B] for?

A few months, two or three months, something like that.

So not very long then.

No.

In some ways really maybe you thought, did you know you would be there for a short time?

Yeah, it was always planned to move that quickly, so I guess I didn’t really think it was worth it.

And now you’re in [place name C] and your GP is still in [place name A] because... so far have you needed to?

No, I haven’t needed to do anything so I’m registered there. I think I will be booking at some point, but it’s on the backburner.

It’s on the backburner because you hardly ever go?

Yeah. 

It’s good if receptionists can ‘fuse friendliness with efficiency’.

I remember the nurses and receptionists when I was younger being very friendly. And it seems to have changed style, like they seem to be more like trying to get people moving now than they used to be.

Do you think that could be improved at all?

I guess they could fuse the friendliness with the efficiency, but that I think is better that they do get people moving, particularly since there’s a lot more larger volumes of people going to GP’s now.

That’s quite interesting that you say infuse the friendliness with the efficiency, so would you say those for all the health professionals and receptionists are very good qualities, being efficient and friendly as well with it?

Not over friendly I guess, but just like engaging with you rather than just...