Can't get a doctor's appointment?

If so, you are not alone!

The health insurers, National Friendly, recently conducted a survey to investigate the public’s attitude towards the NHS and the service they receive from their GPs. From the findings 21% of those surveyed felt they were unable to access Doctor’s appointments within a suitable timeframe. This frequently meant that a vast proportion of those surveyed (83% in fact) admitted to researching their symptoms on the internet before even arriving at the Doctor’s surgery.

Since it is commonly believed that the10-minute allotted appointment time is not long enough and GPs are often deemed too dismissive when discussing their patient’s health concerns, it comes as no surprise to find that 28% of the survey participants felt more comfortable listening to a diagnosis from a colleague or friend than actually visiting their GP. 

With British lifestyles becoming far more hectic over recent years, the emerging theme from the research suggests that the public are looking for faster and more informative ways of answering their health queries with 35% of those questioned feeling that the internet fulfills this requirement. 

But with the public placing so much emphasis on generic internet websites or untrained friends, surely this is the time for the NHS to actively inform the public about other therapies, including homeopathy, that are readily available to them.

(National Friendly website; Stylist magazine)

This article was originally published in April 2010 in 'Homeopathy, Healthy Medicine', the free newsletter published by ARH, and available at http://www.a-r-h.org/publications.htm