I think that it's incredibly complex what makes a good GP I think
that they obviously have to have medical proficiency because that's what
they're there for but I think they also have to have an
ability to form relationships I think they have to have an ability to see the
whole person rather than just the disease because I think a lot of times
in few hospitals people only see what you're there for they don't see the whole person
I think the most important thing for me is a GP who's prepared to
listen to you he's a GP who is accessible and a GP
when you go back a month later you find that he's still there a good GP is
A good GP is someone who knows you well particularly in my case I've had my GP for something
between 20 or 30 years and I've kept him because I have any number of complex
conditions that need somebody who knows me and somebody who has probably over
those years become a specialist in the sort of things that I need
So I think the most important thing for a GP is the ability to listen if they're not
connecting with their patient not building enough rapport you're not going
to feel as comfortable telling them what's going on and I also feel that
quite often because they're not listening properly they're not really
showing that they care too much and then I don't feel as comfortable and then I'm less likely to go back
I think a caring approach you have to make sure
the patient is on board with you the negotiation about treatment or lack of
treatment or non adherence to treatment you can't be judgmental about that I
think being a good GP you have to have the clinical knowledge so you have to be
on top of the medical issues but that is only one element you have to be able to
draw out the patient's issues give them enough time that they feel they've been
heard and then I think it's the negotiation
around the treatment plan and then of course the great thing about general
practice when are you going to see them again
I went to a number of medical practices this is going back 15 16 years ago and I booked in
as a normal patient and I saw doctors and I got very frustrated by the fact that invariably
you found that the next time you went back they were no longer there so I then
finally found a doctor who was part of one of the practices which were owned by
the doctors and I started with that doctor then that doctor is still there
and I'm still with him today
I didn't actually what happened was that we had a
friend who was a GP not our doctor just a friend who was a GP and his
brother-in-law had a practice in Manly so when we moved to Manly we looked him up
and that's how we got our GP
He set up a practice many years ago it was the
local practice and my family has been going there for years
So I moved to Sydney to go to uni so I left my family GP of 18 years and then had to move to
Sydney and find another GP so I kind of GP hopped so to speak around the bulk
billing kind of clinics because I couldn't afford to actually go pay a
doctor because I was a you know uni student and then I eventually found one
at a bulk billing place and he was really great, listened to me made me feel
welcome and I really connected with him and so I stayed there and I've been there ever since
I presented with what turned out to be Guillain–Barré syndrome
which is a very rare thing and he had never seen a case before in his
life but because he had read about it he knew
what it was immediately identified it immediately and I was sent to hospital
immediately it's fairly unusual for a person to be diagnosed so immediately
because it is such a bizarre disease so I mean for him to have that
diagnostic ability to deal so effectively with something he'd never seen
before it's just well that I owe my life to him basically
So I think they're the number one thing he does is he acts as that middle person
between me and the other services particularly with mental health so he's
been on a long journey with me through this with like looking after my
medication and then referring on to counselors and psychologists and the
psychiatrist's and kind of being the middleman between all of those services
We chat about his family as well as myself and my kids we have a lot in
common and whenever I have had a problem he's been very quick to get on top of it
if there was any negative side to it it's a fact he sometimes it's a bit of
overkill which I suppose in hindsight it's better to be overkill than it is to
not have sufficient attention taken at the time.
So I think the GP needs to ask
questions as well in a way that nothing shocks them they just need to get those
questions out there and I often start by saying look I've been a GP for a long
time nothing you can say is going to shock or upset me but I really want to
get to the bottom of why you're here and what's going on or I just feel that
there could be a little bit more to that issue are you comfortable to tell me a
little bit more about what's going on those sorts of really open-ended
questions you don't want to use medical jargon you just want to get the patient
comfortable to talk to you
Look I mean I will always find the challenge of
general practice as being the need to refer almost day-to-day things in a
complex care arrangement through the general practice system as in referrals
to specialists because when you get in a position like mine you know that you
have to deal with a certain amount of specialists so the necessity for the
GP necessarily to be a gate keeper all the time is a problem it's a
physical inconvenience because you have to get there it can sometimes be a
financial inconvenience because if to pay to get there
One of the main challenges is having a GP because we're at the stage now where he is maybe a bit
younger than us for not very much younger he was a one-person practice and
was there all the time now he has gone into a group practice it only works
three days a week and is decreasing that and I have no idea how we're going
to replace him when he retires absolutely no idea how to even go
about it so I mean I guess maybe we'll ask him for a referral
I would like to see if someone has a 15 minute appointment or a 30 minute appointment
that they try to keep to those appointments
I think the number one thing I've found difficult with general practice is the ability to find a GP
that is free or bulk billed so I think the biggest problem I had in
the beginning trying to find a GP was that they were just trying to get me in
and out and didn't really build that connection so I think that's probably
the number one thing that GPs need to look at is building that connection