Drop the patronising TV ad

The current TV ad encouraging people to go to their GP or local hospital if they need to is extremely patronising. The public was initially discouraged from presenting at the health service when the lockdown began, being urged instead to phone NHS 24 or 111. My experience was that some health workers were personally fearful (understandably) and were discouraging of personal visits to health services. I visited a nurse practitioner at my GP surgery shortly before the lockdown and she was very anxious about being required to be at work. The day after lockdown I went back to the GP for a pre-arranged appointment, which was mandatory before I could be given an essential new medication. I had been unable to get through on the phone when trying to find out if I should still keep my appointment. Whilst the GP was lovely, the receptionist was very rude and implied I couldn’t possibly have phoned the surgery - until she saw my phone log. I think the SG/NHS possibly misjudged the strength of the message to ‘stay away’ in some quarters, or how seriously the public would take this. So by all means inform people that they CAN use their NHS, but don’t patronise us.

If SG/NHS wants people to resume using NHS, it needs to understand the wider reasons why people may have stayed away, including the strength of the original message to do so, and the fact that anxious health workers may have discouraged personal visits to health services. .