How to make the most of your medical appointments

One of the saddest (and yet not surprising) things I’ve heard over the years in my conversations with chronically ill people is how many people have had negative experiences with medical professionals.I wanted to talk to someone who has experience on both sides of the doctor-patient relationship. And with that in mind, I’m delighted to share a chat I recently had with Hannah Barham-Brown, a chronically ill GP and disability activist.In this episode, we discuss:* The challenges facing doctors in our overstretched, underfunded system * What impact this has on patients* How doctors can create a space for patients to be open, honest and supported* Why we need to have an honest conversation about expectations* How, as a patient, can we get the best out of very short doctor's appointment * How to best communicate what you want from an appointment * How to advocate for yourself * How medics can learn from patient feedback * What to do if you have a negative experience with a doctorAnd lots more! This is an episode for both patients and medics - and I hope you learn as much from it as I did.--Read the transcript here.You can follow Hannah’s work here, and if you have time, I recommend watching her two TedTalks. You can find them here and here.Thanks to my brilliant producer Philly Guillou at OG Podcasts, to Lucy Dove for the episode art, and to Amit Rai for my intro music. In case you missed the last couple of episodes of The Rest Room: we talked about navigating work when you live with chronic illness and took a peek inside a chronic illness-friendly workplace. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit natashalipman.substack.com