Went in on Friday. I asked if I could discuss another issue and was (politely) told that because it's a ten minute appointment that I'd have to come back again to discuss that issue.
Which seemed...well both shit and a recipe for absolute disaster given how difficult it is for most people to see their GP even once.
So, was she right or should I be more brazen next time?
You can request a longer slot if you have multiple things to discuss.
Honestly, it was most likely they were really being pushed for time with every appt, and were concerned about pushing everyone else in the queue late.
Huh, in Australia I feel very comfortable asking my GP about multiple things in a ten minute slot, usually multiple prescription renewals
There's a sign up in my GP's surgery saying it's only one problem per appointment.
A quick Google suggests this is common practice and has been since before the pandemic in some places. It's even in the news now.
Quite where you draw the line is tricky - my auntie was on a lot of pills for pain, anxiety, etc and they'd just tweak one at a time for one condition. It took her having a crisis during lockdown for a doctor to get involved with the lot. She's in a secure dementia ward now after another relapse she didn't come back from, but I wonder if a more holistic approach earlier might have helped.
Mine let's you book a double appointment for multiple issues - which is good because it took almost 2 years for me to find a GP accepting new patients, that accepted that I was in their catchment area (my previous GP, less than 5 minutes walk away, decided I wasn't in their catchment area any more and removed me from their practice. The 4 nearest ones, all a mile away or less also agreed I wasn't in their catchment area). Anyway I've got one an hour's walk away and I'm glad of it. Oh, and my point being after waiting 2 years for an appointment (and the extra 2 months from registering), I had quite a few things I needed them to check over!
If be very surprised if this wasn't just: oh god please don't make me late for the next patient I would really like to get home to see my kids type thing.
If you were limited discussing a single ailment by policy then we add a country have huge problems.
