Seeing the GP: Advice and tips for young people

Peter

I think that, in general, GPs are very good and the health service is very good, even though they sometimes, you feel that they get quite bad reports in like the papers and the media.

Jale

I think there's only one…there's only one, or possibly two, receptionists that if I see at the desk in the morning I think, 'Oh this is going…you know this…I'm going to get quite a grilling before she even thinks about typing my date of birth in.'

On other occasions, you know, somebody can sit in and she's like, "OK what can I do for you today de de de?" And that just makes it just easier to kind of… even just think straight off what's going on.

Because if somebody's snapping at you, you're trying to get answers quickly, it constantly frazzles you and you don’t really think about what's going on.

Isaac

I remember one [GP] diagnosed me with hay fever which is a large inconvenience – hay fever's horrible. But I remember that one, they completely basically ignored me and listened to my grandmother.

And the other one, which was a lot more recent actually, it was more of when I was fifteen, which is only a few years ago, that I had a …I was in because of my eczema. And even at fifteen I was basically being ignored in favour of them listening to my parents – at the time my mother came with me.

Aphra

I think they all listened really well and I think they were all really compassionate and really kind as well. They were all very good at reassuring me that this wasn’t something that should have happened to me, and it wasn’t kind of a failing within myself. Which is obviously one of the first things you think when it's depression. You go, "I should be stronger, I should be better.”

Hazzan

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.

Online medical records

Aphra

It was the first thing I did really when I moved in was go down to the GP's surgery. But because I'd had the travel medical card my NHS number was on it, and so it was probably one form. And then I had to have an appointment with a healthcare assistant and she just checked what illnesses I'd had because, unhelpfully for my doctor's surgery, the notes from Wales hadn’t all come across and some of them where in Welsh, and not in English, and that’s not any use for a [English county] GP's surgery at all [laughs] you know. There's really no Welsh speakers here, and so I had to kind of talk through the problems that I'd had and they checked that all my records were up to date.

Susan

I've never had a desire to read my own records in particular, and I think it would make it harder for GPs because they'd be…I think it could potentially make quite a lot of tension if people are checking up what GPs have written about them. And then especially when it's written, sometimes you can take things the wrong way and feel like, 'Oh this isn't describing my condition appropriately,' when actually for the GP it was helpful in the management of that patient. So, I think it would be quite a tricky thing and I certainly never had the desire to see my own records but I don’t know what other people feel yeah.

Ambeya

So, some doctors have been thinking about medical records and they’ve been thinking that patients should have access to their medical records, but it's all being discussed at the moment. Do you think patients should have access to the medical records?

I don’t think they should.

No, at any age or?

I don’t think it should be something that should like…should be on the internet. Because yeah, knowing what technology's like and it's advancing so much it'll get to a point where someone will have access to that information yeah.

Jale

And I remember when I was at A&E and they took a pregnancy test when I was at A&E as well, and he came bursting in, and he said, you know, "There is a problem with the pregnancy test," and I'm sat there with my boyfriend, my parents and my uncle, and he said, "There's a problem," and then a hand came in from nowhere, and he said, "Oh it's fine, it came back negative." If that hadn’t, you’ve just announced it to my whole family who are all sat here; you have no idea how they're going to respond to that, and you know that’s just not on.

So, if they can just casually just log on, and the whole point is you're meant to go and see a doctor, and you're meant to, you know have that…know that it is private and that’s what you're doing. And you just don’t know how families or other people are going to react to it, and some people might not want to say anything anyway.

And so that’s what…that’s where it gets a bit worrying, because even if it's not out there made for parents, or for family, or for whoever to see, it just gives more leeway for it to accidentally happen, or for something to come up like that or, you know if someone's in a very pressuring situation and someone says, "Well I want to see your medical records," or, "I want to see what was the last thing you said to the doctor," and that’s where it kind of builds the wrong sort of relationships you know. That is meant to be a kind of patient/doctor thing, and it should be on their records and their computers and you need to go to them if you need them really.

Aphra

I don’t think it's necessarily right for parents to be able to see it if a child's underage. Because I think that there's enough safe-guards in place, that if a child is at risk that the parents would be contacted about it. And you know the agencies would be contacted about it.

Louis

I think that like if it…the only difference kind of if your parent come along to your doctor, they can ask the doctor or something like and the doctor has to tell them or something like that, but I'm not…I think…I'm not sure how a parent would feel.  Obviously if kind of the child said no, I don’t want you looking at my medical record, might feel a bit suspicious or stuff like that. But no, I'm not sure, I don’t think parents should be allowed to look at it without kind of permission of a doctor but I'm not sure how that would work.

Vinay

I think confidentiality is key. I think your parents yes, they are your parents, and I can imagine people being very close to you wanting to know. But I think some of these issues are very, very difficult to talk about, and you might not want to admit these to certain people and I think they should be as confidential as possible between you and the GP.

Peter

And you mentioned earlier that sometimes the doctor's writing things down and it would be interesting to see what they're actually writing about you. Would you like to see, you know like they're thinking of having online medical records - would you like to see and read through your medical records?

Yeah I…personally I would find that quite interesting because they're always writing furiously and you never know what they're saying. And sometimes you can think, you know you can feel a bit nervous that they're just sitting there smiling and nodding and then you can read through it and what they're writing is something different to what they're actually saying to you.  So, I think if you could read through it, then it would be quite interesting to know what they're thinking, what's happening with your health.

And who should be able to see your online medical record? Apart from you, who else, and the doctor?

I think that it should be quite, quite closed so that only you and maybe very close family that you'd allow to see it. So, maybe your parents for the younger children, but when you're older that only people that you might give access to, that you personally would feel comfortable sharing it with, cos otherwise you can feel that people are being a bit invasive and they can read about what's happening with you.

So, parents could be able to access it if it's young children. How about younger people, do you think parents should access it or could access it, or they would have to ask the person?

I think for teenagers they should be allowed to gain access to it as well as the person themselves.   But may…like without having to ask the person that, after about seventeen, then it should be only the person themselves who can access it, and they'd have to let the parent gain access to it, cos otherwise it can feel like they're being a bit invasive to your privacy maybe.

Tagbo

And who should have access to it? So, the GP or hospital doctor; and you – anybody else or should it be completely confidential?

I think it should be completely confidential.  Or you can maybe potentially you can have sort of an agreement where your parents can look at it. And your parents, your GP and you have to access to it so, in the form of an agreement. But yeah, it should just be …except that should just be like one to one.

And do you think parents should see it throughout your…you know throughout your years or up to a certain age or indefinitely – how do you feel?

Maybe up to the age of maybe adulthood, like eighteen. Then, yeah then they can like stop seeing it, and it becomes like yours private. Or maybe they can yeah, yeah... that’s.… yeah eighteen.

Hannah

And in terms of let’s say children, should parents be able to see their children’s medical records up to a certain age or....

Up to a certain age I believe yeah, because I still remember what it’s like to be a young teenager, a teenager, and want to go to the doctor and not tell my mum that I’m going to get the pill, which is unfortunate that I didn’t want to tell her at the time. But yeah, I think, I think up to a certain age it would be okay to see my child’s medical records yeah.

Aphra

I think it is just one of those things where they are there to be really useful for the next doctor you see. And for the, you know ten years down the line, if you have a similar problem then you go, "Oh ten years ago I had something," they can go back and check them. And my GP's surgery still keeps the paper records as well as the online records. So, when the computer system goes down, they just switch back to the old-fashioned and update both as they go along. So, I think that it's really interesting from that point of view just to know that they keep them in such good order.

But I wouldn’t be bothered if somebody was looking at them for research purposes. I know when there was that big discussion in the news of oh people could find out if you'd, you know been to the GP. But when I looked into it more it was very much that the data would be anonymised. So as long as you weren't the only forty-seven-year-old within ten miles, then actually they wouldn’t know anything really about you.

Vinay

To an extent, as long as it was private from individuals you know, just anyone else. If doctors could access it for the purpose of being able to access it in regards to my issues, I think that would be great because I think it would be less faffing around and saying, “Well sorry, we don’t have you on our system and we can’t help you. We don’t know your history. We don’t have your records.” I think if they could instantly access your records from any part, it would make things so much easier.

Winston

The records. Well, linking them, that’s the main thing but the only other thing would be to register. If that could be done straight away, so it isn't like you go to that new GP and they register you straight away instead of having to come, instead of having to book an appointment to do it and everything innit.

Aphra

I think it should probably have an option for you to print it and give it to someone should you wish, perhaps not to just give them the code to go on. Because I can see the point that if you see a counsellor, maybe not through the NHS, but through a charity, that actually it might be really useful for them to have some insight into those medical records. And you might want to edit what they can see, but you might feel that they need to know what medication you're on, or how long it's been a problem. And so, from that point of view I think it would be really useful for you to be able to have the option to give it to someone you want to. But I wouldn’t necessarily just open it up for anybody, you know or for family members to see. I think it's very much about you choosing who sees it.

Hazzan

I would be interested because I kind of - because we have like a book, a medical record book, and I don’t really understand like most of the terminology and the jargon that they're using, so I think being an accessible way of getting it for young people would be very beneficial because I do feel as if young people are very concerned with these things.

Hannah

Yeah, I would definitely, cos I would remember all the things that I’ve had like for example today, I can’t remember everything I would have liked to tell you. So, if I was, if they were available, yeah, I think that would be really helpful. But I would be worried that somebody would be able to get my information online.

Tagbo

I can see it working but of course there's going to be …there are going to be concerns. Like personally my parents don’t really like doing stuff online. And it can be a concern for them and they wouldn’t want to have a shift towards everything being online because again things can get leaked and shown to the public. And it's happened before and it's happening, it’s happening time and time again. There's needs to be a sure-fire method for it to be locked and secured. No way of accessing those sorts of records because they're personal and private.

Introduction:Views on Technology

Lara

I think, cos like mostly everything’s with technology nowadays, anything to do with technology will be more useful than actually having to go in and ask the question

I think, well, I guess, cos like I don’t think really young people really want to waste their time actually having to go there. I think they would prefer it if they could text, call or email the doctor. Because like teenagers would rather be out with their friends than having to worry about going to appointments for doctors.

Booking Appointments Online

Simon

So, it’s really convenient that we’ve got an online booking system where we can book an appointment up to three weeks in advance and you can see which consultant, which doctors are available because I like to see the, the GP that I know. There are a couple of the GPs that I’ve seen quite a few times. So, I feel a little bit more comfortable with them because I think they know more about me than some of the new GPs do.

But when you do ring up for an appointment, the line opens at eight o’clock and you can be sat waiting in the queue for forty minutes with the engaged tone, trying to keep ringing back. And it’s frustrating as well if you’re not feeling well, and when you do get through sometimes all the appointments are gone and then they sometimes say, “Right, it’s such a doctor.” And you think, ‘Well haven’t I got a choice of who I get to go, to see?’ And then sometimes it’s an appointment for a weeks’ time or they haven’t got one for two weeks’ time, which is when you’re not feeling well, especially a long-term condition, you know, waiting two weeks can be a long time. And it’s not something that you can predict because of the variability with the condition. One day you can be fine. The next day you can be unable to get out of bed. So that’s, that’s been a, a problem. I’ve noticed it and I know a lot of other people have noticed it.

Since there was a new practice manager and things were changing a bit there at the practice.

Yeah, so now there’s a new practice manager and things have started to change a little bit. She’s brought in new ideas, you know, shifted everything, things are, they need to help patients to have that availability of getting appointments which is why they do the online system, which is great.

Louis

I think it would be helpful maybe if you wanted to book something with a specific doctor, you'd be able to see when they have appointments. I think if I knew about it I think we'd use it but I'm not sure if my mum would cos she's not kind of with the technology, I think she'd find it a bit scary to use it, to book on doctors.

But if you were going to book one for yourself, you know in a few years' time, say when…?

Yeah definitely.  I think it's easier than having to ring up the doctors, you can kind of do it in your own time. You don’t have to be like at 8am in the morning when it opens, ringing. You can kind of book it before cos you don’t need to have someone to pick up the phone, so I think I'd use it definitely.

Emma

I’ve never been to a pharmacist specifically to buy something.

But because I’m type 1 diabetic, I get things for, I get it for free. So, I’ve never explored kind of asking for something. My experience with pharmacists, pharmacies is when I order a repeat prescription, just online from my surgery. Which is great. I love online services from GP surgeries. That’s definitely something that’s good.

Ambeya

But I think in terms of online prescriptions, I know at the back of prescriptions they have ones for like if you need the same medication or something you can just pick it up again.

So, repeat prescriptions.

Yeah, that’s it. So, I think online prescriptions for that would be easier because now, what you have to do with repeat prescriptions…when you go to the pharmacy you take the repeat prescription back. And then when you want it again you have to go back to the GP and you have to put in their letter-box thing. And then they make that into a prescription again and you have to go and pick it up; go to the pharmacy again to get. So, I think the online service might be good for that, but in terms of the doctor sending it and you pick it up from the pharmacy, that saves the journey as well because you won't need to go and pick up the prescription.

Tagbo

I think it really…people are scared of some of the issues that they have and I can understand why telephone conversations would be for them. But I feel like it should be stressed that it should be important for them to go themselves, because you don’t know what the scenario is.  People have prolonged, where they’ve waited and waited because of the conditions that they have and it's been too late. Because they haven't …they're not brave enough; they won't …they're too scared to go and face their doctor and to go and face their doctors and the GPs.  I feel like they…it's important for them to go. It doesn’t matter how embarrassing it is, it's only between the GP and themselves so.

Aphra

One of my friend's surgeries, you have to have the telephone consultation before they’ll agree to see you at all. And so, what you say over the phone isn't necessarily what you'd say to someone face-to-face. But also, I think that a doctor picks up an awful lot about you by your body language. And so, I think some people probably aren't seen when they should be just because they're putting a brave face on it, and the GP can't tell the difference because they’ve only got what the patient is saying to go on.

Lucy

I think, I think I’d probably feel comfortable with it. But I think cos I’m a bit of a worrier, I think me myself, I’d be really worried that I’m on the phone to them and then they’re just there like laughing about me. Like, “Oh, she sounds right stupid.” But at least if I can see them, at least I can see they’re not laughing. Even if when I leave, they laugh at me after. But then at least they’re not laughing at the time about it.

Aaron

How about for, perhaps younger people teenagers, anything, I don’t know whether you would have found this helpful at all, if there was a telephone number that you could ring at a certain time of the, of the evening like after school or after uni, which was just for young people. Where you could phone up and ask your questions, rather than go in, would that kind of thing be helpful? Or do you think just a general phone number is sufficient?

No, yeah, I think a young person’s one’s good cos, as I say, there needs to be one which is, as with any age group I guess, it would need to be specific for them, that particular person. And if it’s something that isn’t like a general injury because then I guess you can just use, just a normal line. But if it’s something that relates to specific age groups or something like that, then definitely yeah like a hotline for young age people would be a really good idea. And people who are trained in dealing with young people, rather than general.

Nikki

So, you’ve never heard of telephone consultations?

No.

Would that sort of thing have been helpful, or be helpful now?

Probably yeah because when you're really ill sometimes you just don’t want to leave the house, and so you might miss an appointment or something like that, and that’s like really…that’s a good compromise like in the middle; like when you need to go but you can't feel able to get out of bed sometimes. So, I think they should really promote that a bit more really, yeah.

Emma

Yeah, just like, like I said before about that convenience of phoning and then they, you know, you talk through maybe, what was going on and then they would say if you needed to come in to the surgery or not. I think that’s a great way to maximise resources both from my perspective and their perspective. Because it’s like they’ll have less people coming in to the surgery with willy-nilly coughs that can be sorted by, doing a few different things. Or like saying a few different things, or like take your medications or anything like that.

Hazzan

I think that would be helpful because some people want to remain anonymous, or there are some situations where the parents feel like they have to go with the child. And considering that everybody has phones nowadays, they can just phone up anonymously and then be able to have that short conversation, and they feel better about the situation that they're in.

Amy

Because I feel like 111, they lost a lot of money that day, they lost a lot of money. And it only turned out I needed to get this wind out. That’s all it turned out to be. And for me, how much more money would it have saved if I just went through to a helpline? And they would have said, “Okay, this is what you do. You sit on this. You move round this way, move round this way. When the wind comes out, go to the toilet. Because once the wind comes out, that’s when the toilet follows. So go straight to the toilet. It might hurt, but it’ll come out. And you’ll be fine.”

Skype Consultations

Lucy

I think that Skype appointments should be made available and maybe phone appointments. But I think Skype could be better if obviously both parties have access to it. And I think the, they’d be much better for people if they are going to talk about mental health or they do have anxiety. Because for some people it is obviously difficult to like leave the house or go certain places. So, I do think things like Skype calls would be good.

Emma

So, I think keeping up to date with modern technology is really good. I know that they’re introducing like Skype consultations now. Which is great, cos then, you know, you don’t have to take the time off work, as I keep harping on about. But I think things like that are gonna make it a lot easier for people. Especially if like maybe they’ve got some kind of condition where they can’t physically get to the GP surgery. Then it’s great to have that resource of, “I’m actually talking to a known professional. I can see them right there” as opposed to, you know, just a message.

Email

Simon

I’d find email really helpful; you know. The problem is the doctor could be having ten thousand emails coming through in a day and obviously there’s the goods and the bads of having that. But the ability for them to perhaps email blood results to me would be much more convenient than having to ring up. Say ‘Can you bring the blood samples’ which could be two days and then going in to collect them which, you know it just adds a little more stress to it.

Aphra

I think it would only be useful if you’ve maybe got a rash or some kind of wound. So that you can take a photo and send it and say, "Do I need to come in; is this contagious?" But I still think then that quite often the GP's probably going to have to see it in the flesh anyway to make a decision.

Aaron

And it could be instant as well which is even quicker than someone phoning you for the consultation cos, as I say, I went there in the morning, and I was told that someone would call me later that day. I think I was told that they would call me at 11.00 a.m. and then I didn’t get a phone call until about 2.00.

Text

Siobhan

Have any of your friends thought, “Oh, this really helped. Maybe you should try this”? Have they ever suggested any, anything?

Not really. Just like if I need them at any time, just phone them. Like even at 2 in the morning, just phone them and they’ll pick up.

And have you ever done that? Phoned them?

No. But the counsellor person who I saw, she gave me the texting number for Samaritans, which has been helpful.

Oh, that’s good. A few people have mentioned that actually. So, with the Samaritans, did you phone them or…?

I text them for that. Cos again it’s talking. I don’t like doing it. So, I’d rather send a text so I can get my words right. Cos Autocorrect tells me what word I want.

Nikki

Yeah, I think… like a lot of the time people use social media, messaging and stuff a lot. And one of the services I used to use, I could text them and that was like really, really helpful as a young person, because I find it difficult to speak on the phone. Sometimes as well I find it difficult to speak to people face to face, so texting was really good. So, I think maybe if they…it might be difficult to do but maybe if they like sort of made it a bit more relevant to young people, like texting or something, that would be really good.

So, I would text them if I needed something, if I forgot when the next appointment was; if I…if I needed some sort of support or anything, and then they would be really, really helpful and they'd say, "Why don’t you try this?"  Like they would text like one of the coping strategies I could try for example.  It just really helped, because sometimes like you just…you can't get it out in words, like so it's just a lot less daunting to text sometimes.

Paula

Yeah, probably email or call. Cos, I feel like a text could be too like personal. And it’s also easier, if it’s a lot of information it will be easier if it was an email or a phone call.

Online advice

Emma

Well, I think if those, if those kinds of things like a GP kind of... You know how you can get, like when you go on to like Curry’s website and stuff you can get like the live chat and it’s like ask for help, blah, blah, blah. If they had something like that like for each surgery that you had to log in to, I think then you would know it was, it was legitimate. Which I actually believe that might already exist.

But anyway, I think that would be, that would be good, just to ask, just to ask advice. Because, you know, it’s all good and well Googling something, but that’s how people drive themselves crazy once they start a google search on something, you know. It’s like if you just have a known professional, potentially your own GP that you’ve been to and are familiar with, then I think that would be really helpful. You know, they could have a set amount of time during the day that they dedicate to answering questions. That people would know it was their time to log on and ask a question or something. I think that would be really helpful.

Tagbo

We could talk about…I've already mentioned this quite a lot. We could mention again sex and drugs.  So, talking about relationships and asking questions about, 'Oh should I have sex' and stuff like that.  And you can talk about…and they ask you about how old you are, and it's like, 'Oh I'm thirteen,' and can talk about how, the implications and the consequences. And because it's really hard to approach parents about this sort of stuff because they get angry, and it's hard to approach anybody else because this needs to be private, needs to be one on one.

Peter

I always would prefer to have a face-to-face meeting, but for something that’s a bit smaller, for you know, if you just want to check that everything's OK, then maybe, you know an online chat maybe…but you can often feel, you're not quite sure who you're speaking to so you don’t feel as comfortable saying some things to them as you would in a face to face, in the consultation. Online you…you're never really sure who…well who can access what you're saying.

Vinay

Maybe for the younger individuals who use the internet more than I do myself. I think maybe if you had maybe a page that sort of answered frequently asked questions or worries and issues. And also, you know, highlighted the fact, like you mentioned in this little leaflet, that some of these things are all issues that you can see your GP for, and that they’ll be understanding in those circumstances. I think maybe even with testimonials. I think that would probably promote GPs.

Emma

At that point, cos this was five years ago and social media [clears throat] has come on so far since that point, you know, I wasn’t directly signposted to it. And yet you were signposted more to kind of the information about diabetes. So, it was like, yeah, like what’s going on in your body and what might, might have happened and how you can deal with it, on a daily basis from that point onwards. But the social aspect, the kind of, the, the emotional support that you can gain from online avenues, that’s definitely never been mentioned to me.

Hazzan

I would take a look at the website, but the problem with the website is that already on hand is that they specialise quite a lot so you'd have to go to different websites to find everything. But if they put everything on one website, then I think it would be more appealing to younger people.

Emma

I’d been having a, like I was having some problems with my insulin with my type 1 diabetes, which was with a reaction within my body. And, you know, I’d, I’d been to my GP. And, you know, it wasn’t that they weren’t useful, but I think they kind of lacked an in-depth understanding of what might be going on. And so, I was kind of passed along to someone else and like, other things were suggested. And so, I then, because I’ve got, you know, I’ve got a lot of friends that are diabetic through online avenues anyway, I immediately kind of went online to see if anyone else had experienced the things I had.

And, you know, that kind of leads you into what I particularly, cos I’m really interested in research anyway, that kind of led me to some journals and like some, some up-to-date research on, on what might be going on in your body and what’s been shown in different countries and things. So, I think there’s a wide scope online, from things like social media platforms where people are just sharing their experiences to then actual kind of research that’s been published and that’s widely recognised. I like, I like having a mixture of, of what, what’s available.

Simon

The internet is really bad. [laughs] It’s really good, but it does have a lot of bad sources and you know, I try to, because I’m more sciencey and because I do science at University, I know where to look really that is reliable information. So, I look in a lot of publications and I look at a lot of good websites that are, have been reviewed by patients and consultants and other team members. So, you know it’s reliable information, but if you do type in something that you’ve got wrong, Wikipedia frequently comes up and it’ll have some useful information, but there’s a lot of stuff that can worry patients or other family members as well and there’s a lot of discussion boards as well and people saying, “I’ve got this and it could be this.” And all these things floating around as well which can really add to the anxiety and the uncertainty for a patient, and maybe it’s not all factual really.

Jale

When you took all the stuff that you'd looked on the internet and everything, you took it to your GP, the symptoms and everything, did he or she…did you feel that you were treated differently at that point or not really?

I feel like they had more…they took more time to listen to what I was saying, but I think they're still wary of the fact that oh I must, you know just googled this, and I must have just, you know gone, "Oh my god what's the possible scenario that could happen if you’ve got a headache." Like I know that, I'm even more than aware having been through what I've been through that the best idea is not to try and Google the worst possible outcomes de de de. Like that’s the worst thing you can do.

Emma

Do you think it would be helpful to see other people’s experiences?

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think because, it’s like if it’s in your own head, you can make things out to be worse than they are. And to, maybe someone else has experienced something the same or, or worse, you never know. It can add a bit of kind of comedy into it, because I think, well, not comedy, but you know what I mean. It’s like it just eases people’s like stereotypes and like their perceptions of, of GPs I think if, if they know that someone their age has either gone through the same thing or, or, you can compare yourself to other people. Which I think as a young person is what you go through, isn’t it? You’re, you’re trying to figure out where you fit in. So, to know what other people are thinking helps you do that.

Ambeya

So, now it's got to the point that if I do feel ill or anything I just have to Google my symptoms and see what that’s related to and I just look up what medication and stuff I need to take, and I'll either go to the GP or I'll just go to Holland & Barrett because they do all these medicine home therapy stuff.  So, yeah, it's got to the point I've been avoiding GPs as much as I can now.  Especially when after you hit eighteen, they think that you're old enough to look after yourself so, because that’s the vibe that they give off, I'd rather just not go to them at all, I'd rather just Google it.

Peter

I'd Google it.  There's an NHS site that’s normally quite useful because it says the symptoms that you'll get, and then how to…what to do when you get them.  And then also about the actual, you know what's actually going on – that can make, so using Wikipedia to understand the more complex [siren] happenings of what the virus or whatever it is might be, that to find out you know what it actually is. Like I quite like looking up that.

Vinay

I did look at a few medical websites just to see if my symptoms aligned with what the doctors had said. So just a sort of process of elimination myself of what it could be. I did that once or twice but I think a lot of the symptoms obviously didn’t align with the kidney stones, so even though it did turn out I had them, it was weird because reading some of it kind of put that doubt in my mind that it could have been something more serious as well. And some, I think what I’ve found with some of the websites are very quick to catastr-, catastrophize, I can’t say the word, but they, they paint more of the negative picture about it. And I think it can kind of get you to a point of panic or worry, and if your symptoms don’t align with a particular set, you start thinking “well actually could mine be worse? Could it be the worst-case scenario?” And I think that can increase the worry inside someone in some ways.

Ish

So basically, so when I try to go to a new doctor, I always tend to Google it up, like who’s around my area? And I look at the reviews now. So, I think that’s one thing that the doctors and GPs are forgetting nowadays that social media and everything is really key in people these days, so. So, we will Google it. Go online. Try to find reviews about it.  If it’s a good review then you’re going to go there. I mean, yeah of course, occasionally every place has one bad one. But like, I’m going to try and go to the place where there are most good reviewers and just when I get there, I mean yeah there were times when that that doctor wasn’t good for me and I really don’t know why. It was just, I think you need to also have a connection with your own doctor now, as in making you feel welcome.  If I don’t feel welcome or if I feel rushed, I just straight up go to someone else.

Ambeya

And finally, I just want to ask are there any messages to young people that you'd like to say?

Ah I think there's so many. I think one of the messages should be if you ever have a problem with like healthcare, you should tell them. Like I think each GP, or each A&E should have like a comment box, and I'm pretty sure like that comment box would be filled with comments and stuff. So yeah, they shouldn’t be afraid to express their opinions about healthcare because at the end of the day I think it is one of the most important things that we need to care about.