Comments my gp left on my health record

[watermelonlipbalm]

Hi all, I'm just wanting an opinion as to whether it was appropriate for a GP to note these comments on my health record.
I've only just really realised that you have access to your medical records via the NHS app so I was having a nosy through them this morning and I was just a bit shocked to see what a GP had wrote.
I had a telephone call with a GP a few weeks ago. I actually obtained the contact details from the practice as to how to put a complaint in about the doctor because she really upset me with her attitude towards me and my worries when we had our telephone appointment. Unfortunately I just haven't gotten around to actually write the email yet, but nevertheless, the conversation did leave me feeling upset.
I won't go into exact detail, but I've been really worried about bleeding between my periods. It was completely unusual for me, it started faintly but ended up being quite heavy and I was passing a few clots aswell. Last year I had some bleeding between my periods, albeit completely different to this. I spoke to the Doctor Who referred me for bloods and a scan immediately. So I don't think it's surprising for me to not expect this to happen again. So when I had a telephone call from her I requested this and she shot me down pretty much straight away. She said that she would want me to bleed for three cycles before they would investigate further. I was quite surprised and just said that I didn't really agree with this and I would like to have bloods and a scan like I did last time. She became very abrupt with me at this point and despite agreeing to refer me she made it abundantly clear she wasn't happy about doing it and even said to me "i'm not gonna sit here on the phone arguing with you when I have other patients to call". The conversation wasn't an argument. It was me expressing my concerns and her not reassuring me enough for me to feel happy leaving the call. Whenever you see Doctors on telly, online, in magazines they're are always telling you that they are happy to help your queries. I did not get the impression from this doctor. And it just really upset me.
Anyway going back to the app this morning I noticed that she noted that the call was "a difficult call". Now I know that that isn't exactly an offensive term, but I don't really see the relevance of putting that on my health record. The call was a difficult call because she was clearly in a bad mood that day and wasn't that interested in my concerns. It's frustrated me even more than what I already was at a worrying time for me. I'm just after opinions really. Is this a relevant thing to put on a health record?
I work with vulnerable customers albeit in the financial industry and not medical. We would never be allowed to make a comment like that on somebody's file. You can only really state facts and not opinion. I mean I suppose is a fact that it was a difficult call, but I don't really see what relevance that has to my health and why it should be documented for other professionals to read. Insinuating that I was the one being difficult and not her which is what the issue actually was.

A few years ago my mum was in hospital for a routine operation. She was very content after the op, saying how lovely the nurses were etc, but on one visit my dad picked up her notes that were hanging on the end of the bed and they were shocked to find her described basically as a right PITA!!

We laughed about it later as she can be very demanding and I think she was probably treating the nurses a bit like servants...

I had no idea you could see your records on the app, but I don't think I'd like to read mine!

Women’s healthcare is shocking. You’re not believed, you don’t get the tests you need, you get dismissed as hysterical/histrionic/difficult, things are made for male bodies
infuriating

I have no advice to offer on your health issues but there is absolutely nothing wrong with your GP describing the call as ‘difficult’ on your notes. It’s not offensive or disrespectful and it’s accurate. Your medical notes are there to help other medical professionals who might treat you in future. It is helpful for them to be aware if you have previously been distressed or angry or dissatisfied with your treatment or diagnosis, so they can be sensitive to that.

Patients can ask to read their own notes, of course, but that isn’t the actual purpose of them. They don’t have to be flattering.

I'm in agreement with you OP. Gynae issues are often fobbed off by GPs to the extent they miss things. You absolutely did the right thing, and for those who think the medical profession are holier than thou and never make mistakes - they do.

I don't think YABU and healthcare professionals do have a shorthand they include on notes to advise others of 'easy' and 'difficult' patients. It's a reflection of them, not you, but it will inform how others treat you in the future. It's unfair and uncessary, but I don't think there's anything you can do about it in reality. I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I would invest time in finding a new GP rather than complaining.

I wanted to know if it was normal for comments about behaviour and the tone of the call to be noted on the file, as I noted in my OP.

Most have said yes, some have said no, and others have gone off topic and just talked about my health.

If it's a normal thing to write on your health record then allbeit, but I didn't know this as I've never seen health records before.

I am however not keen on people changing the narrative of the conversation I had with the GP.

Completely off topic but how do you access your health records on the app? All I can see is medications/vaccinations ?

Me too, had a look online and apparently it's at the GPs discretion!

@watermelonlipbalm Yes it was very dismissive.

@watermelonlipbalm I've been led to believe by healthcare professionals that they're to take into consideration the 'whole patient' rather than just the issue the patient is presenting with. The idea being this can indicate any 'bigger picture' observations to be noted. So in answer to your question yes the noting of behaviour would be common in medical records.

It might also help highlight the health anxiety you mentioned you suffer from.

Thank you very much.
I completely agree with you. I had a really bad experience last year with breast feeding thrush. The doctor kept giving me steroid cream refusing to take a swab, went on for a few months. I was in absolute agony. I ended up nearly on an iv antibiotics with mastitis caused by a Blocked duct which was caused by the thrush and 6 months of anti fungal treatment to get rid of it all. I have never been so unwell in my life. I only got somewhere with it when I referred myself to the infant feeding team who pushed for swabs for me. This went on for about 4 months.
I know I've digressed a little but this is probably a reason why I feel it's important to ask questions when you're unsure.

Mine are notoriously secretive about stuff like this (think not telling you specific values on blood tests) so I guess I shouldn't be suprised. Fantastic in most other ways though.

But…you were unpleasant? You’ve just described being extremely unpleasant!

@watermelonlipbalm okay, that's helpful. To answer your question, this would not be an unusual thing to note in records. It relates to the tone of the call, as you very correctly say, not to the idea that you have behaved in a difficult way. The GP likely found the call difficult and it does sound like you found it difficult too.

It would be a relatively routine thing to note in this sort of circumstance and I can also understand why patients would not automatically know that doctors would record this information, as we don't routinely see our own notes. So you being initially surprised or concerned by it makes sense - but it also seems to be an accurate statement about the call itself (based on your account of the call - I'm not trying to project context etc). If you agree that the call was difficult then I would not complain - if you do not agree that the call was difficult then you could ask for an addendum to be added to the notes of the consultation to that effect.

OP you really aren’t presenting well at all. What do you hope to gain from complaining about her?

For people who have mentioned that the GP might "lose her job" or "get into trouble", she won't because she hasn't done anything wrong.
A minor complaint from the OP won't have that sort of power.

Nor will the GP get extra "support" whatever the OP means by this; just the sort of meaningless phrase that gets trotted out. Obviously, the best support would be for the NHS to provide more time to deal with patients... I doubt she has the time for "retraining".

The cumulative effect of the stresses of her job, including pointless complaints, may make the GP choose to leave, sadly, but that's quite different.

You said yourself it was a difficult call. She didn't say YOU were difficult. You're way overthinking this.

I'm just wanting an opinion as to whether it was appropriate for a GP to note these comments on my health record

Yes, it’s appropriate. It sounds like it was a difficult call and that was noted.

You aren’t coming across as massively reasonable on this thread, so I imagine the call was quite trying for her. She has my sympathies. The idea that anyone would think if was appropriate to complain about this is genuinely astonishing.

The problem is that medical professionals often write in 'code' to each other to tell other medical professionals things in a way which won't cause offense or lawsuits if seen by the patient themselves.

So all the people saying "well it was a difficult call' aren't realising that noting it is a red flag about the disposition of the patient.

I only found this out when I had a referral letter for a specialist and the introduction went on about "my patient is a very pleasant lady" in flowery terms for the first paragraph and I asked my friend who is a GP why I was being described as a 'lady' and what had me being pleasant to do with getting my leg seen to.

She then told me not to worry it was code for the specialist that I was a nice patient who was genuine and not going to be any trouble.

OP, I don’t know why you posted in AIBU, since in your opinion, you have clearly never been unreasonable in your life.

You have to fill in some forms and apply to have access. Everyone is entitled to it, but it's not there by default, as not everyone wants to be faced with information about their health that they might not be aware of. When you apply it warns you that there might be information there that could be hard to read, and you need to agree to take responsibility for that.

My surgery has a link that you can click on to ask for access. It takes a few weeks before you get it. Someone had to check through first to ensure that there's no information there with implications for another person (not the medical staff themselves, but maybe a family member whose called then with a concern about you or something like that) whose confidentiality needs to be respected.

Hopefully this helps @1blossomtree too

Honestly people on here think we need to bow to doctors and if we have fears or concerns there’s something wrong with us (see above: someone saying the pp was “very unpleasant” because they were afraid of something being done to them and reacted, AND APOLOGISED FOR IT).

I’m so glad you’ve never had to fight to get treatment because you were disbelieved and left for almost a year seriously unwell when it could have been resolved much sooner. I’m so glad you were never fobbed off and treated with what I can only describe as disdain, and still have to advocate for yourself at times of vulnerability. I’m so glad you’ve never worked in the NHS and saw how some healthcare professionals talk about patients sometimes. I’ve had experience of all 3 and I can only hope you never have reason to change your view.

thanks @saraclara !

So, he called you a ‘pleasant lady’ because he thought you were nice and not stressful to deal with. That’s not coded language, in any way. That’s just straightforward use of the English language.

What a Silly comment 😴
I was asking about the comments on the health records but the majority didn't read the OP correctly.
Many have also explained that it is normal to write comments like that and explained why so that's fine.