When I had the idea of writing this post I told a workmate of mine what I planned on calling it and he pointed out to me that within certain circles (this person is a website programmer) one may take this title as a reference to two fighting computer game characters but we know better than this don’t we?
After reading the post Nic wrote on Dr Carol Atmore, listening to her talkat the DY conference in person and subsequently chatting with her after her talk, it stuck me that I don’t often hear people in the ‘diabetes community’ (for want of a better word) talking about their GPs be it positively or otherwise. Because our focus is necessarily centered around the diabetes clinic, nurse educators, diateticians and endocronologists and the specialist care aspects that we get from those teams I feel like we often forget the role that primary healthcare plays in our treatment. With all the noise about Labtests of late and a best friend who is a GP is the UK this is something I’ve thought about a lot.
At the very start of Dr Atmore’s talk she admitted straight up that before her son was diagnosed she knew very little about diabetes which was amazing to hear her say. From our collective experiences I would think that admisson is failry representative of a lot of healthcare professionals from phlebotomists to GPs so it was quite amazing to hear from the horses mouth that this was certainly the case for Dr Atmore . That said though, there are also health care professionals out there who are absolute stars and this post is a thank you to them.
My GP is one of them.
When I first met Louise she asked me all about my medical history (as you would expect) but we seemed to spend a lot longer talking about how I felt being a diabetic, how I found the constant managing of my condition and then what she could do, if anything, to help me get/keep things under control. I would even get asked about how the plans I had made at the clinic were going (she had onbviously read the letters they send out) and every appointment felt a lot like a partnership where we both taught each other rather than the Dr vs. patient lecture that I was almost expectin. It was amazing!
I’ve had a lot of GPs over the years and one of them was even a Type 1 but I’ve never had anyone as onto it as her. When I switched to Glargine and went in to see her for a script she had done all this research about it and had lots of questions. The same was true when I was moving to a pump – away she went and did heaps of reading and info gathering so that when I saw her next she was asking me all about it including the technical stuff like basals, ISF and CHO counting etc. Not every GP would do that of their own accord and at times I felt like she knew just as much about it all as my endo did/does.
So, amidst the critism that we hear and the complaining that we all do about various aspects of being a diabetic I’d like to take a minute to thank people like Dr Louise Aldridge, my GP, for being so awesome.
Feel free to add your thanks as a comment below 
- Aaron
Posted in Medical Services
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Erena Tomoana wrote
What a great post and an awesome GP you have! I am equally as lucky with a GP who is also my diabetes specialist. Obviously she is qualified to do both and spends time every year in the states focussed on diabetes, spending time in their youth camps and learning about the latest over there (apparently they are so much more advanced than us here in little old NZ, about 1/3 of their diabetic population are on pumps). Switching from my local DHB to her was the best move I could’ve made for my health and control, I have learned things from her that I was never told at clinic and she is available 24/7 if I need anything – something I always battled with beforehand, sometimes waiting up to a week to have a call returned. Her committment and expertise in diabetes and the fact that she is also my GP is amazing, my diabetes is factored into undiabetes related health issues and vice versa, as often the relationship between the two is quite significant.
Most of her patients are also diabetic and the leaps and bounds we are all making in our care is amazing, we are quite an awesome diabetes community as we meet for education and social evenings with her 2-3 times a year, adults, children and their families of all ages (some who travel from other areas of the Nth Is to see her). was something I desperately needed as a person still feeling hard done by for being ‘cursed’ with diabetes, and previously unwilling to engage with other diabetics. Her committment to us is amazing, I can call her anytime (one drunk at 4am and stuck on the low 2-3’s!!!!).
I started on a pump 3 weeks ago and had my pump start session in the GP room next to hers and she borrowed the same pump from the rep to wear also for 5 days so she new exactly what and how it works. She phoned me every night and I was also able to contact her at anytime if my BG’s fluctuated too much.
This form of care is working wonders for me and I am in no doubt that thanks to my wonderful GP my quality of life/health has improved 1000% (something i wasn’t even aware was so bad til I got in control of it, having been diabetic for 16 years!), I am supported in every way to take control of my diabetes rather than the other way around, and ultimately I will be around and healthy alot longer than I would’ve been otherwise!!
Just thought I’d share, thanks for the opportunity!
Nic wrote
You guys are so lucky! I have to say I’ve never had a GP as amazing as that, although I moved around a lot when I was in the UK for seven years and also with their NHS healthcare system you often get rushed in and out as quickly as possible. I once had a GP refuse to prescribe me enough BG strips to allow for five blood tests a day – she thought two would be ample, and this is the very same woman who told me what an atrocity my HbA1c was! Anyway – this post is about positive GP experiences so I’ll stop and say – what AWESOME GPs you two have! And so cool that you’re so grateful.
Aaron Nolan wrote
Hi Erena,
That is SUCH a lovely thing to hear. We get so much bad news from so many sides it feels and to hear another story of someone doing so well honestly makes me smile from ear to ear! It’s one of the reasons Nic started the blog in the first place.
Please stay in touch and let us know how you are getting on.
- A