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Anyone else hate doctor's telephone appointments?

DeeMo

Hi, 

I'd be grateful to know I'm not alone or to have any of your advice!  Does anyone else autistic really struggle with the GPs/doctors wanting to do all their consultation on phones? For me, as someone autistic it is a little like mental torture.

You ring up the practice, say you need to speak to a doctor. Then the practice book you an 'appointment' for a doctor to ring on a specific day 'sometime' between 9-5pm! First of all, the unpredictable element of the phone call, with no timed slot makes my heart race all day waiting for the call. Then when they ring, understanding someone you have never met with audio only, no visual signals or faces for aiding understanding. Then also just the feeling of not being 'seen' or listened too when it is a phone call.Not the most reassuring. They totally rely on your linguistic skills to explain your symptoms, and without seeing you, or examining I always worry that they will miss something.

Then just the plain indignity which I think is universal for neurotypicals and autistic of possibly having to talk about your intimate health problem to your doctor , speaking on a  mobile on a street corner!  Unless you are willing to stay by your phone all day in the privacy of your home. Or the impossibility for people who work like myself and can't answer the phone. The list goes on.

I have tried to ask the GPs for reasonable adjustments and have a face to face appointment. But every time I have to explain myself again from the beginning each time. And then that's only for routine appointments. For urgent appointments, its still a ring back. I have physical disabilities and issues that demand more regular input from doctors, but due to it being so autistic unfriendly, I am hardly in touch. 

Thanks Relaxed️

Parents

  • Can't stand phone appointments generally. I can't even stand phoning the GPs surgery to make the appointment, especially if I have to try multiple times before I can through (often only to be told that all the appointments have already gone anyway). I'm terrible at understanding what people are saying at the phone at the best of times, and its worse when I'm in a noisy place. Plus I speak pretty quickly and when I'm nervous I have a tendency to gabble so they don't seem to catch half of what I say anyway, made worse if I'm speaking quietly because I'm trying to be discreet and don't want to be overheard. Our surgery gives you a specific time, but then says the doctor might actually two hours before or after that time, which is ludicrous. I spend the whole day terrified that I'm going to be out or on the loo when they call or my phone won't have signal. It makes me so anxious. I've emailed the surgery and begged for a face to face appointment because I couldn't deal with the phone call, but the only response I got was I needed to phone the surgery to book a phone appointment to discuss it Disappointed

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  • Can't stand phone appointments generally. I can't even stand phoning the GPs surgery to make the appointment, especially if I have to try multiple times before I can through (often only to be told that all the appointments have already gone anyway). I'm terrible at understanding what people are saying at the phone at the best of times, and its worse when I'm in a noisy place. Plus I speak pretty quickly and when I'm nervous I have a tendency to gabble so they don't seem to catch half of what I say anyway, made worse if I'm speaking quietly because I'm trying to be discreet and don't want to be overheard. Our surgery gives you a specific time, but then says the doctor might actually two hours before or after that time, which is ludicrous. I spend the whole day terrified that I'm going to be out or on the loo when they call or my phone won't have signal. It makes me so anxious. I've emailed the surgery and begged for a face to face appointment because I couldn't deal with the phone call, but the only response I got was I needed to phone the surgery to book a phone appointment to discuss it Disappointed

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