"Medical gaslightling"

Majority of GP's are condescending.

They certainly don’t like it if you have any medical experience yourself, know a lot about your condition, ask for specific tests/referrals or God forbid, question their suggestion or make any yourself!

The phrase “Well you’ve clearly done your research” - in an embarrassingly passive-aggressive, far from professional tone - has been uttered to me by the same doctor on separate occasions. If I have witnessed this toy-out-the-pram behaviour more than once, no doubt it is used in an attempt to shut down other patients who dare show an ounce of medical knowledge.

I have witnessed other doctors in the practice who I feel have true respect, compassion and care for their patients. They actively listen and don’t in any way medically gaslight you like the other doctors. They appreciate that your lived experience with you or your family member’s ailments, conditions or illnesses is just as (if not more) valuable when considering next steps in the 10-minute slot they have with you, rather than just their professional training and experience on the subject - no matter how vast or limited that may be.

While I am more than aware and experienced on how hard pushed and far stretched they may be, there is no doubt that a lot of the practitioners require additional training on how to deliver a service that is time restrictive and stressful without making the patients feel worthless, time wasting and stupid.

There are undoubtedly patients who use up valuable time and funds that could be spent on others if they merely attended the optician, pharmacy or took a couple of Paracetamol. But even these people should be shown respect, because there is a reason why they haven’t.

It needs to be remembered that others often only call or attend when they have multiple ailments, have suffered chronically and can't continue as is. They certainly shouldn’t be medically gaslighted and made to feel worse than they already did before finally reaching out to someone.

In my opinion, these GP's need to show some respect, try to mask their classism and superiority complexes and perhaps attempt some actual empathy so as to provide a service which is person and family centred, as I don’t feel this is currently the case.

To end on a positive note, the admin staff are mostly pleasant and helpful, but the HCSW's have the kindness, compassion, attitude and work ethic that could and should be learned from.