To love that my hospital appointment was over phone

[AskAwayAgain]

I had a phone appointment with my Consultant this morning. It took no more than 10 minutes. I knew there would be no need for a physical examination, it was a check in appointment to see how treatment was going and whether any changes needed to happen. The conclusion was to carry on and see me again in six months time.

I bloody love this way of delivering medical care. Before I had to take half a day off work to travel to and from the hospital, to sit in the waiting room, and then to see the Consultant for 10 minutes. I work full-time and its always difficult working and having lots of time off for appointments. So this is brilliant. Ten minutes on the phone then back to work.

Thank you, that is reassuring to hear. I hope I didn’t sound critical of the Oncology team (I know I did!), it was just a worry to me. It makes more sense now that you have explained it to me.

I feel very lucky that my GP surgery seem to be taking a common sense approach to phone calls. When I had issues with vertigo, that was dealt with over the phone and I really liked it. When I found a lump on my breast, I was in the surgery seeing my GP that afternoon. It did turn out to be breast cancer (thankfully I'm cancer free now), and to start with all my appointments were face to face. Now I just need monthly check ins with the oncologist to see how I'm doing and whether side effects are under control, they're over the phone and I'm so grateful. Its a long journey to the hospital and I get very tired. I would imagine though that its much harder for people working. When I was teaching, I wouldn't have been able to drop everything for a phone call.

I hate phone medical appointments. I can't really hear well enough for them to be useful, but I'm not deaf enough that people expect to have problems. I could get them to phone through the BT team that would convert it to text for me, but I don't have my own number for it as I don't usually rely on that service.

I use the live transcribe on my phone.

Most phones have live transcribe now

Yes, but I wouldn't rely on it to be accurate for a medical appointment. Automatic transcriptions have come on leaps and bounds, but still have their limitations. Especially with less common words such as medical terminology.

It depends very much what the appointment is. For straightforward things Iike medication reviews I'm all for it. It's much better to have the "So has your lifelong condition got better yet? No? OK, so you still need your lifelong medication then, I'll renew the repeat" conversation in 2 minutes over the phone rather than waste a big chunk of my day going to the surgery. But physio over the phone was pretty useless to be honest.
And it also depends on the patient. Our asthma nurse knows me and DS well so she knows he has good inhaler technique, can do an accurate peak flow etc and that I am a reliable assesor of his progress, so it was perfectly safe for her to do his recent post medication change appointment on the phone. For a more recently diagnosed patient she might however want to see them face to face, actually watch them do their peak flow and so on. There is no one size fits all answer.

I hate phone screening. Waiting for a random phone call when you are busy at work. I just want to have a f2f appointment at a fixed time and get the physical reassurance.

But I can see I’m in the minority here. Which I didn’t expect to be!

it was never even considered prior to covid
our department went through all the follow ups on the phone and made a huge dent in the waiting list

In 2021 my Mum was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer - she never saw a consultant face to face - her appts were online. She had tests in hospital and then was spoken to by the consultant at home. They recommended she have chemo - she had one session and it killed her.
I truly believe if she had seen a consultant on person they would have recommended she not try the chemo but they never watched her walk into a room or her strength or demeanour.
sadly people are being failed by this sea change to online appts. We need to get back to an equilibrium where the right people are being seen in person.
As with many things - it’s not a one size fits all approach that will work.

I have so many appointments that take place in a doctor’s office, not an exam room. We just discuss my latest test results, make sure I don’t have any issues to bring up, and make sure my meds are all prescribed. Video chats are so much more efficient. I love when they are available and always choose that option.

I’m heading to another specialty appointment tomorrow where the doctor is unlikely to touch me or examine me in any way and I am just annoyed that I have to make the trip again. This particular practice doesn’t do anything virtually.

I can see it has its place, the problem is that someone else is deeming who is worthy of a face to face and that's not ok.

I have actively avoided my GP for 3 years now because of this system where you rarely get to be seen in person.

I'm autistic and phone calls are not enough for me. I need a face to face for anything unpredictable. Unfortunately it's a case of tough shit because it's not me who decides what I need, it's an absolute stranger. Bizarre.

I agree that some follow up appointments on the phone are great. My mum has had squamous cell carcinomas removed over the years and she has Alzheimer's. Getting her to the hospital for checkups is a total nightmare. Near the start of the Pandemic I had a quick phone call from the dermatologist asking if her skin had healed, if there was evidence of any more lesions (all of which I had flagged up in the first place) and asking me to keep an eye on her (granny - suck eggs etc😅) End of call. So much less stress and hassle.

I love them too. Esp now I have a young child

I really like telephone appointments with my GP for my annual review of medication. I have to have bloods done the week before and I keep a home diary of BP readings. We have a chat and if anything the GP has more time to talk than a f2f situation knowing the next person is in the waiting room waiting to be seen.
I am more relaxed and less fazed because I am at home for the appointment. Having the choice is the key thing here.

However, doctors and consultants can visually pick up signs that a patient, who is telling them has been feeling a bit off, actually has yellow-tinted skin, or looks tired, or looks physically ill and is showing subtle signs of cancer. We need these physical cues and people NEED to be seen face-to-face - when it is not for the sort of long-term, routine appointment chronic conditions that you are talking about.

@Kazzyhoward DH has (had, maybe) cancer so I know exactly what you mean. After the last scan we got a phone call the morning of his in person appointment to say Dr X asked if he'd like to change to a phone appointment which we basically took as prior notification that everything was good, correctly as it turned out. His clinic is always running 1-2 hours behind and we live half an hour from the hospital meaning an in person appointment basically takes up half a day, so if there's no need to be there in person it's generally better not to. But I do think sometimes they forget that the uncertainty of cancer makes people read all sorts of things into the most innocent admin things or turns of phrase.

There seems to be a trust-wide rule where I live that phone appointments
are offered rather than imposed. DH is always asked if he's happy with one. I was able to ask for an in person one when I thought I had a breast lump. And actually DH was diagnosed after he went to the GP with something fairly innocuous sounding and the GP noticed he looked a bit pale - you wouldn't get that on the phone. So I think it has to be an option rather than a flat out rule.

I trust it far more than my shitty hearing.

Try it first before you dismiss it without even trying it out.

As with anything, you can always ask for clarification.

@50shadesofneigh Sure and my GP is happy to do face to face, its up to you. Most consultant appointments though are like mine where it is simply the results of tests and what the patient says that guides them. I would have to be close to dying before you could see visible signs my chronic illness is worse, and I would have much more alarming symptoms before that happened. Lots of serious illnesses have no visible symptoms just from someone sitting in a chair.