Sharing medical appointments with others.

I must say that my memory of ante-natal classes is that they were entirely useless. An opinion shared by everyone else in the group when we met each other now and again after our children were born. May be we were just unlucky.

But with antenatal classes, they were not instead of visits to the GP but as well as.

And like antenatal classes, group condition management classes do not replace ALL 1:1 appointments
They are not for diagnostics, referrals or prescriptions etc.

They have better outcomes than the same information being delivered by other means.

The alternative of going to your GP for what is (already in many areas) replaced by group sessions means less consistency and less contact time with the multidisciplinary team.

It sinks in much better to have the info delivered in longer planned group sessions than having a tonne of leaflets chucked at you in a 15min gp session. With group sessions you have more time to digest it all, usually weekly over 4-8 weeks, so less information overload

Apologies for the long post.
I attended a fatigue management group for people with rheumatoid arthritis. It comprised six two hour sessions and was managed by health professionals.
Initially I was a bit wary, but I was in so much pain that I decided to give it a go.

There were no confidentiality problems, no-one in the group knew each other, as the members of the group attended different hospitals.
It was so good to share how I was feeling. Rather than worry my husband and family , I kept how awful I was suffering to myself.

We were given strategies to help manage pain and fatigue, disturbed sleep due to high pain levels, and explanations of why we were experiencing various symptoms. Also we received information on how to work with our employers to manage our conditions.

It was so enlightening One of the worst symptoms of RA is brain fog. I thought I was going mad, as sometimes I just couldn't focus and was constantly forgetting things. It turned out, the other eleven participants had experienced the same thing. I had no idea that brain fog was part of having RA.

We were all able to support each other. There was a young teacher who was struggling, but didn't want to tell her HT how unwell she was, so would put "viral infection" on her sick line, every time she was off.
At that time I was in the process of being medically retired from teaching and I was able to show her how covering up in my own situation had been detrimental to my own health and mental wellbeing.
She found the courage to "come clean", which resulted in a meeting with occupational health, who organised lots of support for her.

It certainly isn't a substitute for a one to one sessions with a Dr, but its a sensible way to disseminate information and offer support to people suffering the same condition, who may be finding it difficult to access a medical professional on a regular basis.

I had been in a very dark place and I definitely benefitted from the sessions, knowing I could contact someone, when an appointment with my consultant was difficult to obtain.

The only new thing about this is that GPs have caught onto it! Information and therapy groups have been running for decades in the NHS. As a speech and language therapist, I was involved in running groups for people with dysphasia after stroke/brain trauma, parents of autistic children, parents of children with delayed/disordered language, to name but a few. My physio and occupational therapy colleagues did the same (different emphasis, obviously). Sometimes we ran multi-disciplinary groups. Sometimes they were diagnostic, and we videoed the interaction to discuss with patients/parents/carers later. Attendees never had to discuss personal details, but they derived great support from each other. Nobody was compelled to come. What is the problem?

I’ve already been to one here in NI for managing back pain. It was fine. Probably wouldn’t have got much more from going to the doctor to be honest and they seem to be geared towards helping yourself which makes perfect sense rather than take drugs for everything.

It would depend on what medical problem I had. I would not wish to discuss anything highly personal but can see it might help for some general conditions.

The health system is there as a necessary service. To treat sick people.
I need treatment , medication, scans, my consultant.
I've nothing in common with others who have multiple sclerosis, physically or socially.

Are people who work full time or have busy lives going to have an opportunity to attend an evening meeting? Of course not. They'll be given the privilege of the normal quicker one to one appointments.
Just herd the unemployed and the retired into a time saving daytime second rate service. After all what else have they got to do with their day.

Reactive medicine is a false economy all around.

These groups improve outcomes, reduce relapses and flair ups, and help people to not get to the point where they NEED more treatment.

Preventative medicine is win-win.

I agree notanan. They are not an alternative to one to one consultations, in my opinion, they complement each other.
Gmelon, like you, I too need treatment, medication, scans and my consultant for my multiple conditioner, but I looked upon this opportunity as a bonus.
It's not for everyone, but it certainly helped me. My RA consultant certainly couldn't devote all his valuable time to answering my many questions. This group allowed me to do so and I'm glad I was given this opportunity.

For chronic conditions, diabetes, arthritis, depression, group consultations with a specialist nurse or doctor could work well and sharing experience with others helps many cope . It's the specialist aspect that is the advantage, in my experience a specialist nurse is much better than newly qualified GP, or an overworked old one

I wouldn't want to do this with anything that was very personal but OTOH would it be a comfort to know that others share your condition and could offer support, such as ideas to help cope with it?

I wouldn't be happy to find details of my health condition and consultation plastered in a Tweet for all to read!

Confidentialty agreement my arse! It wouldn't deter someone who didn't give a fig.......

That wouldn't be possible due to GDPR regulations, so no need to worry about personal info plastered all over the internet.
The one's I have been to are general, no-one's personal details are discussed, unless the patient them self volunteers them.
I benefitted a great deal and there was always an opportunity to speak on a one to one basis with the health professional at the end.

Sory! ONES not one's, I'm a pedant!

The other people in the group will know that your first name is Mary and you have asthma. Less info actually than if they were behind you in the check in queue at your GP for a 1:1. You dont all pee in pots on front of each other it's not a prison camp!

People usually have lots of questions about the condition and local services etc for the professionals running the group. Sometimes people share that a treatment did or didn't work for them &why. Mostly people are there to listen/learn.

It already exists and works REALLY well for a lot of people. Health outcomes are better for people who attend Vs people who just book in for a 1:1 GP appointment as and when things go wrong. It is REALLY irresponsible of the media to twist it into some new awful thing & scaring people off from getting information about prevention/rehab/management

Well said, "Notanan"
There is not enough time at a GP or hospital appointment to ask all the questions you want to ask. Sometime you come out and remember something you failed to ask.
These sessions give you thinking time and sometimes another person's question triggers something you wanted to ask.
My RA clinic always runs late and appointments are like gold dust, so you feel you don't want to take up too much time.
I say; Don't knock it until you have tried it!

I wonder how the GP's who are expected run these groups feel about having to do it.It would be interesting to hear their point of view.

I still think that however good these groups are, they will soon start cutting the time they give to them, for all the reasons given for introducing them, lack of GPs, etc etc and within 5 years the groups will only last 30 minutes at most. Discussion will be limited. It will end up like queuing for the flu jab.

I wonder how the GP's who are expected run these groups feel about having to do it.It would be interesting to hear their point of view.

Far more satisfying professionally to be able to plan a good course of 1/2hr group sessions than to try to chuck all the required info @ people who have just been diagnosed in a 15 min slot, so that you can say you did and be "covered" legally (box ticking) even though you know its not really going in.....and repeat X times..

Running longer group sessions gives HCPs a chance to actually do what they went into the job to do: help people.

Groups like this have been running for years and have not been cut down as they are actually very cost and time effective.

It seems that patients and doctors are happy with the scheme and if they keep the sessions to 2 hours I am sure they could be very helpful. As I have said before, the cynic in me thinks that once they are established they will start start chipping at the length of the sessions and they will soon be like jabs for flu. Each person sees the nurse, gets the tests done and once everyone is seen they are all sent on their way.

Flu jabs dont need an actual appointment though? I line up for mine and dont see what more is needed?

Exactly, everyone will line up as if for a flu jab, except that they will have tests, not an injection. The only difference will be that they have to make an appointment to join the queue.

That's not what the groups are for.

I think they could be useful for certain conditions. I would welcone ond for ME/CFS and fibromyalgia. Perhaps the doctors would learn from them too and accept that ME actually does exist and cause multiple problems. However I think patients should be given a choice. Regarding flu jabs, our doctors here in my part of NIreland are concentrating on over 70s this year. The local pharmacy is charging £15. So those better off will have more chance of a winter without flu. The way forward for the NHS two tier system. frightening..