Why seeing your doctor really can be life-saving

A FEW years ago, my lovely GP retired early. i was her patient for more than 15 years, during which time she saw me through (in no particular order) two pregnancies, an appendicectomy, double pneumonia, a broken arm, quinsy, swine flu, post-natal depression, the menopause and a variety of other minor medical mishaps.

shortly before she went, she confided that she had grown weary of all the bureaucracy and form-filling.

But the last straw had been the pressure to operate under a ‘polyclinic’ model, where, instead of having her own roster of regulars, she and the other doctors at the practice would see patients on a random basis.

i was reminded of this when it emerged this week that, according to a major new study, having the same GP over a period of years is the key to staying healthy.

People who build a long-lasting relationship with their doctor are 30 per cent less likely to need out-of-hours help and 28 per cent less likely to be hospitalised. This resonates so much. My old GP was not just my doctor, she was someone i could rely on and — perhaps more importantly — someone who knew me well enough to know when i needed her help.

After she retired i moved to a different surgery, and things just haven’t been the same. covid has, of course, played its part; but this move away from the model of the family doctor — someone who knows his or her patients not just as a collection of ailments, but as real people — pre-dates covid.

Most surgeries now operate the multipractice model, and for many patients it is demoralising and dehumanising. i wonder if doctors, like my old GP, don’t feel the same.

i’ve been trying to get an appointment with my new surgery for some weeks. On Monday i finally got through. i now have a telephone appointment booked for October 18. i have no idea who i will be speaking to, nor what time they will call me, merely that it will be some time between 8am and 1pm.

Funny, isn’t it? even my supermarket manages to give me a one-hour delivery slot. Then again, they probably know more about me than this doctor ever will.