Is 7 minutes enough time to see your GP?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1354640/Doctors-advice-How-best-GP-7-minutes.html

This DM article highlights the ludicrously short amount of time you are allowed to see your GP. It is the one thing that all my patients complain about. Many people also have more than one problem and this is when things start to get complicated. Supposing you have headaches, IBS and feel tired – three very normal symptoms that millions of people are suffering from. How does the GP get to grips with this within the ten minutes allotted to you. Double appointments are rare – our surgery doesnt do them anymore full stop. If you go in with multiple symptoms some of the symptoms may be caused by just one thing. Let’s take for example IBS, whats causing the IBS, could be causing the headaches and the tiredness and no GP can work all that out in such a short space of time. Which is why we need more time. Much more time. I think it needs to be quarter of an hour at least. I’m lucky – after an hour to an hour and a half, I’m getting a really good picture of what is going on, know what the person is eating, know their lifestyles, their stresses, their worries etc. It makes things a whole lot easier.

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