Going to the doctor can take ages. Even for the most simple of visits you can be half an hour in the waiting room before your 5 minutes in the clinic. You know you need to be there, but doesn’t it sometimes feel like a more lengthy process than it needs to?
No longer the case at West Hampstead Medical Centre, where I went on Wednesday for a repeat prescription. As soon as I got through the door, I was taken in for my consultation. By a computer.
It went a bit like this.
Computer: “Enter your name.”
I did.
Computer: “Enter your date of birth.”
I did.
Computer: Various questions about my drinking and smoking habits.
I answered them all (truthfully).
Computer: “Stand on the scales.”
I did. My weight appeared on the screen.
Computer: “Stand against the wall ruler.”
I did. I entered my height and my BMI appeared on the screen.
Computer: “Stick your arm in the sleeve to your right.”
I did. My blood pressure and pulse appeared on the screen.
Computer: “You’re fine. We’ll sign your prescription and you can pick it up.”
Simples. And now I think about it, I’m not sure why I was so surprised. There tends to be something very traditional about trips to the doctor – you accept very easily anything that in another industry would seem like the Dark Ages. Even the LCD display that shows your name when the doctor is ready for you seems uncharacteristically futuristic in a room otherwise full of rows of grey old plastic chairs from the late seventies.
Presumably, the computer was expensive. But, presumably, having it in the corner of the waiting room conducting consultations saves a significant amount of nurse and doctor time, such that they can see more patients – patients who actually need a conversation, not just a repeat of a procedure they have been through many times before.
Yes, there are disadvantages. The nurse doesn’t see the whites of your eyes, and doesn’t have the opportunity to pick up on anything else that might be going on, or on any economical truths about your lifestyle. You could even argue that by making repeat prescriptions so easy, the surgery is not requiring the patient to engage with their health and medicine to the extent they might following a traditional style consultation.
But, in a world where healthcare professionals are stretched and pulled in different directions all day long, anything that lightens the burden of their workload, without detriment to the patient, has to be a good thing. That way, they have time to concentrate on more important issues. As for me, I was in and out of the surgery in 15 minutes.
And all this without a dancing paper clip. Bonus.
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