DEAR Editor – I often have friends tell me “their GP is useless, doesn’t listen, rushes them, won’t see them face-to-face, and that they can’t get through on the phone lines”.

Patient dissatisfaction with GP services is at its highest, which has the potential to harm the holy grail of medicine, namely, the privileged doctor-patient relationship.

Doctors too are feeling the pressure.

In fact, this has long been reported in the medical literature most notably in the highly distinguished journal, The New England Journal of Medicine, as far back at 1978 before most of the current crop of Worcester GPs were practising.

In his 43-year-old paper, Dr James Groves describes “Taking care of the hateful patient”. He reports this isn’t due to personality clashes between the GP and patient but rather due to four stereotypical patient groups, namely, dependent clingers, entitled demanders, manipulative help-rejectors, and self-destructive deniers.

Leading on from this dated paternalistic view of “doctor-centred” General Practice from 1978, I’d like to reach out to our community during the current climate of dissatisfaction with GP services to try to mend the damage.

General Practice has evolved and changed a lot since 1978 – it has shifted from being

“doctor-centred” to “patient-centred”, which is now formally examined to an exceptionally high standard before qualifying as a GP.

All GPs do their utmost to achieve the best possible outcome for their patients.

If you think that your GP doesn’t listen, rushes you or doesn’t care, then talk to them and explain your ideas, concerns and expectations.

They will welcome these and will rationalise to best support you.

The GP is your advocate and works for you – you instruct them, not the other way round. 

I’m very confident that if we work with the system as it changes, rather than against it, in a supportive cooperative manner, then we can rapidly restore our communities’ trust and confidence in GP services.

Dr Jason Seewoodhary

Worcester