Eastlife January 2019

DIY Doctor
Written by Mike Garside
Struggling to get an appointment with
your GP? Why not try a home test? Mike
Garside, medical director at Valuemed,
a medical supply company, shares his
knowledge of self test kits…
It’s amazing what you can buy on the internet these days,
but despite Google’s, Amazon’s and Ebay’s best efforts
to provide a myriad of shopping opportunities and
options to all and everyone looking, if you don’t ask the
right questions, chances are you won’t know most of the
possibilities on offer to you in the UK.
Now before you all get uppity, no one is suggesting
these replace the good old NHS services we all love
and cherish, just that when you’re told the next routine
appointment is sometime past Easter, and you have
to ask what year, these home test kits may offer an
affordable, and convenient first screening option, that will
either put your mind at ease, or arm you with the “yes it is
an emergency” ammunition to get you past the dragon’s
school of doctor’s receptionist blocking tactics.
Now doctors have traditionally been terribly defensive
about patients testing themselves. This is partly protective
and partly pompous. Most also hate you Googling your
own symptoms and would gladly see the internet go
down for long periods, that is when they are not, “just
nipping out to consult a colleague”, which is code for
Googling your symptoms on their mobile out of sight.
I’m old enough to remember the professional concern
about the first home pregnancy tests. Could ladies
withstand the emotional stress and excitement of peeing
on the right end of the test kit, and then interpreting the
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