No one enjoys visiting their GP. Experiencing a medical concern is a regular, if inconvenient, part of life – and more so now, with wait times for accessing primary healthcare pathways still unreasonably long. But the healthcare we do receive when reluctantly heading in to our local GP practice is a miracle of modern medicine. Most of the time, at least.
Every now and then, and especially with the NHS groaning under its own weight, mistakes are made. Healthcare providers are human, interdepartmental communication methods fallible, and errors a distinct possibility within the NHS’s creaking infrastructure. This is all the more prescient for women, whose concerns are often unheeded by a systemically-sexist system that undermines the lived reality of female bodies.
Self-advocation is hard to do when you have experts telling you what they think – but sometimes it’s a powerful tool, when a healthcare service seems to be falling short in its duty of care to you. If you’re worried about a medical error, here’s what you should consider doing.
Recognising the Signs of a Possible Error
If you think you’ve experienced some form of medical error, you think so for a reason. You’ve either noticed a symptom you were asked to look out for, experienced discomfort you weren’t expecting to experience, or are seeing unexpected side-effects in the aftermath of treatment – including, but not limited to, a failure to address the initial problem. Any and all of these are potential signs of medical error, and worth investigating.
Communicating Your Concerns
If you feel you’ve experienced the consequences of a medical error, your first port of call should be to arrange a follow-up appointment with your GP. These primary care facilitators are best-placed to allay your concerns, whether by investigating what you report or by reassuring you as to the recovery path you can expect to experience.
Keeping Detailed Records
Even before you make your first follow-up appointment, it’s important that you start taking detailed notes about your medical journey, and securing all documents relating to your condition, treatment and ensuing symptoms. This is useful documentation for bringing along to appointments, in order to catch new doctors up to speed on your journey and fast-track alternative means of treatment.
Documentation is also extremely important for the eventuality that you seek independent legal advice about your situation. In some cases, medical errors can be life-limiting events, costing you precious time, money or physical capability; in such cases, medical negligence solicitors can examine the facts of your case through your detailed records, and tell you whether or not there is any potential for compensation.
Seeking a Second Opinion
If you exhaust your options with your current primary care GP, then you have every right to ask for a second opinion from another practitioner. A fresh set of eyes on your case can get you taken more seriously, particularly where the first GP may have been responsible for the medical error you experienced.
Image by Drazen Zigic on Freepik
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