Maximising Your 10 Minutes

Some easy tips to help you make the most of your appointment.

Please DO

Dive straight in

• Our doctors are here to help so don’t be shy; they can only help if you give them some guidance on where to help, so get stuck in.
• If it’s an emotional problem you are dealing with, it can be tough to open up.  Just remember our doctors are chief listeners and want to hear how you are doing.

List you items for discussion first

• It is much easier for doctors to plan their consultation knowing all that they need to discuss from the outset.

Be descriptive and precise

• Help our doctors help you by giving them a good history
• What time and when did things happened?
• What symptoms do you have? E.g. is it a sharp stabbing pain or dull aching pain?
• What can’t you do now compared to when you are well?

Make the most of the whole team

• Many services don’t require the GP first
• Self-referrals? – Ask at reception or look on our self-referrals page
• Travel advice? – Ask for the nurse
• Advice on your children’s’ health? – See the health visitor

For more information about other services ask at reception or take a look at our Services tab above

Please DON’T

Have long lists of problems

• Try and stick to one item you want to discuss, at a maximum two items.
• It is tough in 10 mins for your GP to effectively discuss more than 1 or 2 items.
• If you have more to discuss, please book a double appointment so your items can be properly addressed.

Anticipate all to be solved in one visit

• The world of medicine is a complex one.
• Many issues are ongoing and require monitoring, patience and maintenance with help from the whole team.
• Referrals to a specialist may also be necessary which can take time.

Expect the world from our GPs

• GPs have a lot to do alongside seeing patients. They are constantly multi-tasking and will often have large to do lists.
• Patient care is the foremost important area of a GP’s work but this also includes: Home visits, updating patient notes and prescriptions, phone calls from the hospital or other healthcare professionals, urgent letters and reports, emergency phone consultations etc. They need to do all that in order to provide a top level of care to all patients, including you.

We will always do our upmost to provide the best possible care to all our patients. This will however require teamwork from both you the patient and us, the team here at Sonning Common Health Centre. An easy thing you can do to help is to try and remember these above tips. You do your part and we will do ours.

Appointments

When we are open