What are your expectations for your annual health review?
I usually just have my blood taken and the doctor just calls to say if it was good or not. It would be nice to also have a conversation on some lifestyle changes I could make, and how to improve my condition.
We work with a range of local organisations supporting communities experiencing health inequalities. As the Diverse Communities Health Voice partnership, we work together to gather insight from residents.
This year, we've been gathering feedback from people living with long-term health conditions. We spoke to them about their experiences of their long-term condition review or annual health check. Over 500 people shared their views and most had a pretty clear idea of what their expectations were.
People told us that they expected to receive tests and checks. They were most concerned with making sure their conditions hadn’t deteriorated and that their medication and/or treatment plan was still appropriate. They saw the review as a chance to receive reassurance that they were keeping on top of their conditions. Some people pointed out the value of good news and positive feedback.
However, many people told us they wanted more from the review than reassurance that their condition had not deteriorated. They wanted to actively improve their health. Some felt that reviews would be improved if there was a greater emphasis on prevention, to stop new problems emerging, rather than limiting them to management of the existing condition. People also said they would value practical advice about living with their condition.
Patients wanted a greater understanding of the symptoms they might reasonably expect to experience as a result of their condition(s), so they did not suffer unnecessary additional stress. Some patients wanted better access to their medical history. Others said that they expected their annual review to facilitate referrals to secondary care. A number of people said they would value a greater degree of interaction than they experienced currently.
“I would like to know if I am using the right inhalers and in the right way. I would also like to know how to keep myself well in the heat as that is when I have the most flare ups, and how to manage them.” - Female resident with asthma
"I would like information regarding staying fit and healthy, not just medication. I have been informed by phone that I can be provided with statins if I wish, but no explanation’s been given as to why I need to take statins." - Female resident with high blood pressure
Patients need to be given information in the right way and at the right time
Good quality information empowers residents with long-term conditions to take charge of their health. Feedback indicated that patients wanted more information about the management of their conditions as part of their annual review. Partner organisations told us that there is plenty of information out there but patients need to go online to access it. There are many websites to look at and it is not necessarily clear which websites are the trusted ones. This can be very confusing for people, particularly if English is not your first language.
A much better approach would be for the doctor or other health professional to give patients this information at the time of the review. This would validate the information (feedback from residents made it clear that there was a lot of respect for the knowledge of the GP). It would also allow the patient to ask questions to check their understanding. Ideally, printed information would be given to the patient at the same time, so they have something they can refer to later to refresh their memory of the conversation.
