Hearing the views and experiences of students on visiting GP

Healthwatch Oxfordshire wanted to understand the experiences of young people visiting their GP in the South East locality of Oxfordshire and wanted to collect information that would enable patient and participant groups (PPGs) to support their practices in developing resources to improve the experience for them.

Healthwatch held several focus groups with students from Years 8 and 9. Topics that were covered were the attitude of staff, GP environment, confidentiality, contacting the practice, decisions made, and complaints. The findings and outcomes are intended to support GP Practices in understanding and improving systems, practices and provision in the Primary Care setting for this age range.

The feedback received was useful and demonstrated a broad mix of views. For example, many students thought the self-check-in in Surgeries is not user friendly and some of the waiting rooms could be re-designed with better resources and seating arrangements. A proportion of responses demonstrated that perceptions of being a minor resulted in reliance on parental input both in terms of booking the appointment, confidentiality issues and communication with the GP during the consultation. This means that some private health issues might not be addressed.

Healthwatch made several recommendations about how GP practices could make improvements to their practice for teenagers. The Local CCGs are also informed about the findings.