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A positive GP experience

Cra1gyD

Hi guys, I have seen a lot of people on this forum who had bad experiences at their GPs when going for an initial diagnosis. While this is clearly not the way it should be an unwanted side effect is that it can make those of us who have not been diagnosed yet to be reluctant to follow the process. So I thought I would talk about my positive experience with my GP the other day.

I ended up running late for my appointment (obviously I hate being late for anything) which was adding to my stress levels over the appointment anyway so when I turned up I wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind. When I got there my doctor didn't know why I had booked an appointment (despite me telling them when I booked it) but was instantly sympathetic. I started talking and when I began to struggle he asked the right questions to get me going again. He only interrupted me when he wanted extra details and he took loads of notes. He appeared to know enough on the subject of autism and thought it important to get adults diagnosed so he is referring me.

The only down sides are things that he could do nothing about; that appointments are limited to 20 mins (nowhere near long enough really) and that there is a 12 month waiting list for a referral. However I have taken the view that I have been like this for 36 years, what's another 12 months and a diagnosis isn't actually going to change my brain being wired this way. 

So maybe I got lucky with my GP, but it can be like it should be!

  • I too had a very positive experience going to my GP for a referral, so indeed it isn't always a battle (and certainly shouldn't be!). She could see I had done my homework (I had 3 pages of notes) and to be honest I didn't really have to explain myself at all beyond that I thought I was probably on the autistic spectrum, and she instantly went 'okay, we'll do you a referral'. In and out with her having dictated the referral letter whilst I was there-and taken my notes to include in it-in less than 10 minutes. My surgery is affiliated with my uni though (it's a regular NHS practice and you don't have to be a student to register there, but it is where they encourage all the students to register and it's practically on campus) so I wonder if that had an impact as they must be more used to having people ask about that sort of thing more than average.

    The waiting times in my area are not too bad, I've been waiting since May, and I think assessment should be coming up fairly soon (my mum's just been contacted to arrange getting some info from her via email, so hopefully I should be hearing something imminently...)

  • It's nice to hear about your positive experience. Although I'm well aware of the difficulties that some people have, I was fortunate with the GP that I had when an assessment was suggested by the mental health team. She was very pro-active in getting me my referral, and it's just as well, as the first two attempts were rejected by the CCG; we had no local NHS unit at the time, so discretionary CCG funding was needed. As soon as the NHS unit that assessed me opened, she was straight on the case, advising me that this new option was available and getting me promptly referred. Sadly, she left the practice not long after my successful referral; the best GP I've seen since then turned out to be a locum!

    I also got lucky with local mental health counselling prior to my assessment. I had been unsure whether to have CBT again after previous counsellors had not been able to achieve very much, but decided in the end to give it a go again. At the first session, I mentioned that I had been advised that I might be autistic and was trying to get referred. The counsellor remembered that she had a colleague who'd worked with autistic people before and offered to see if she could swap cases, which she did. Seeing a counsellor with autism experience was a much better experience than I'd had before with CBT, and I made some very worthwhile progress working on my poor emotion recognition and stress management.

  • Great to hear that you got a positive experience! It seems like you found a really good GP.

  • To be fair, I think the receptionist I was talking to when I booked the appointment ensured I saw the right doctor as I explained why I wanted an appointment. It is important to say why you want to see a doctor.