Optimising appointments

How to get the most out of your appointment

Here are some tips on how you can best use your appointment time:

• • Start with the most important issue: Sometimes patients will talk about something minor before raising an issue that they are really concerned about. If you have really worried about something – bring it up first.

• • Get your facts together: Being as clear as possible about when symptoms started, how long symptoms last etc will be very helpful. Making some notes beforehand will ensure you don’t forget anything

• • Don’t bring a long list: We respectfully ask you to be realistic. It is not possible to talk about more than one or two of issues in one appointment. Your doctor needs enough time to properly deal with each issue. Choose the most urgent problem and work through that, rather than rushing through multiple issues and not addressing any of them properly.  If you need more time, you may need to book a double appointment or come back again for another consultation.

• • Try not to attend with children. If the appointment is for, it would be better to leave the children with someone while you are having your consult. We appreciate this is not always possible but without the distraction of your children you may get more out of the time.

A google search is not the same as a consultation:
It is great to be informed, however there is a vast amount of information available on the web, some of which may not be relevant to you. Attending your consultation, having already made your own diagnosis may not helpful. Please talk to your doctor about your symptoms and concerns and let their training, and experience