While we all know that the days of the on-call family doctor are a thing of the past, most of us would like to think that we can still trust our doctors to have our best interests at heart.
Luckily, this has been the experience of many patients even as ongoing GP shortages have left a doctor surgery stripping back their services. Unfortunately, we’re also hearing more and more stories of doctors who are failing to reach a diagnosis in crucial cases, sometimes with fatal results.
It’s a worrying eventuality, and if you’re concerned that your doctor has missed a diagnosis in recent years, then don’t hesitate to contact injuryclaims.co.uk to discuss medical negligence. But, what if you’re unsure whether or not your doctor is taking you as seriously as they should?
Feeling heard in the doctor’s office is key to getting the treatment you need and opening up potentially life-saving discussions. As such, it might be worth seeking a second opinion if your doctor does the following things when you bring up something that’s bothering you.
# 1 – Refusing to See You In-Person
Doctors have long been migrating to telephone appointments that can conveniently diagnose minor complaints like urine infections. This is great news for both patients and doctors who can save time, but if your GP keeps fobbing you off with phone calls, it’s a sign they’re not listening to what’s going on.
The key here is to remember that phone calls can only diagnose minor issues. Your doctor certainly shouldn’t be using these for larger problems that concern you and require in-person consultation. There’s simply too much room for missing things via the phone, so it’s important to either push for the in-person appointment you’re entitled to or seek help elsewhere.
# 2 – Long Appointment Wait Times
Long appointment wait times have become pretty standard from doctors in recent years, but there’s a very serious risk to waiting a few weeks to see your doctor in some cases. Also, it’s important to note that doctors do still have the capacity to offer same-day emergency care or at least an appointment in the same week you get in touch.
If your doctor makes you wait for a month or more before seeing you, then you can bet they aren’t taking your concerns seriously. You don’t have to put up with this and are well within your rights to request an earlier appointment with the reception team where necessary.
# 3 – An Unwilling to Consider Your Suggestions
Doctors these days are working in an age where all patients have access to Google. In some ways, this can be a negative thing, but it’s also worth noting that doing your research can lead you down avenues that a doctor looking at unrelated symptoms might miss. If your doctor is taking you seriously, they’ll listen to and research your suggestions with your case in mind.
If, however, a doctor entirely discards your research, then it’s a sign they might not be best for your case. It’s especially important to be wary of a doctor who treats your suggestions as unreasonable or unlikely without listening to your thought processes. Instead, a good doctor should be more than willing to work with you, rather than against you.
# 4 – A Failure to Follow-Up
Even if a doctor makes the right noises during your appointment, there’s a risk they’re not taking you seriously enough if they don’t make any effort to follow up. This is true both in terms of booking future appointments/referrals, and test results. In particular, you may notice that your test results aren’t automatically sent to you if a doctor doesn’t judge them to be worth revisiting. And, that’s a lot of the reason why issues remain unchecked.
In truth, though, you should never simply assume everything’s fine just because you haven’t heard back. As stated on nhs.uk, you should always call back if you haven’t heard within a few weeks. If your doctor takes a long time to get back to you even then, it’s probably time to ask whether you can see someone else.
Takeaway
Making a GP appointment can be daunting at the best of times, and those of us with health concerns are often all too happy to have a doctor downplay our worries. However, as misdiagnosis cases continue to come to the fore, it’s more important than ever that you remain wary of these signs that your doctor simply isn’t taking you as seriously as they should.
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