Neglected students have spoken out against the abysmal treatment they have received at the hands of the University Health Centre. Students have told Vision they were angry and that they felt humiliated when dealing with staff about delicate issues. On multiple occasions they have even been forced to seek appropriate medical assistance at off-campus facilities.
Mary*, a second year Psychology student, was made to wait for 90 minutes at the GUM drop-in clinic, only to be told that she would have to make a separate appointment at a clinic on Monkgate as the health centre could not deal with symptomatic Chlamydia. The Health Centre claimed that they could not offer across the counter medicine, but did not even give her a prescription for an off-campus pharmacy, which they are fully licensed to do.
She claims that the medical staff at the Health Centre were dismissive of her concerns. “I felt embarrassed and confused… I was made to feel extremely uncomfortable, but the staff at the GUM clinic in town were really friendly, and understood what I was going through.”
Numerous other students have come forward with similar problems. Third year vegetarian, Sarah*, spoke of how staff at the health centre were contemptuous of her lifestyle choice. “I was asked how long I was planning on being a vegetarian for. The doctor was patronising throughout and continually belittled my belief system.”
Concerns have also been raised over the ability of the Health Centre to effectively diagnose physical problems. Tina*, a first year music student with a history of joint probelms, went to the practice with wrist pain and was told that no tests would be necessary. The problem was persistent however, and on seeking a consultation with her home surgery, she had a blood test that led to fast and effective treatment. “The uni health centre told me just to stop playing my instrument – if I had listened to them I may have had to do so permanently.”
Second year Politics student Alan* sought advice from the Health Centre regarding a lifelong sexual condition. One of the doctors there assumed without asking that he was sexually immature and Alan was told that the problem would “treat itself.” It did not, and Alan has since consulted another doctor, who recommended to him a readily available course of steroid cream that quickly treated the problem.
First year Steve* hurt his thumb playing rugby, and was told by the surgery that it was merely a strain. His thumb turned purple overnight and he was urged to go to A&E by friends, where he was informed that it was in fact broken.
In response to similar complaints from students about the standard of treatment at the health centre last year, YUSU conducted a survey with 89 respondents. Among other things, respondents were asked if they had any positive or negative experiences with the Health Centre. They were also encouraged to give examples of how the service could be improved.
Over half the female respondents to this section claimed they had had solely negative experiences, with one third claiming the service was mixed. Only two women taking the survey said they had had solely positive experiences.
The figures were slightly more positive for the male students who completed this section. One quarter mentioned just negative experiences, one quarter just positive ones, with the rest giving both positive and negative responses.
Furthermore, the number of drop-in and emergency slots was singled out as an area where there was room for improvement. The survey report also stated that there was “noticeable concern” at the need to disclose symptoms at the reception and the lack of privacy that this entails.
Vision contacted the surgery but the Practice Manager, Brenda Mumby was unavailable for comment. The receptionist on duty did however say that it is not standard procedure to ask patients for symptoms at the reception desk.
The practice’s very own year on year survey from 2005 to 2008 shows the University Health Centre consistently scoring lower than the other surgeries in Wenlock Terrace and Hull Road. On most measures the surgery also scored markedly below the national benchmark.
For 2008, the satisfaction with the receptionists was 63%, while the national benchmark was at 75%. Similarly, the target of satisfaction with how well the doctor puts the patient at ease was 78% while it was 74% in the University Health Centre. The biggest disparity was in the service provided when phoning in to the clinic for advice. The health centre had a 38% satisfaction rate in 2008, 18 points less than the national benchmark and 22 and 34 points less than Wenlock Terrace and Hull Road respectively.
“The health centre is contracted to provide a service to students on campus; it has a significant duty of care and complaints that it’s failing in that are worrying,” states YUSU Welfare Officer Ben Humphrys. He recognises that although last year’s survey was a good first step, it did not provide the information needed to make substantial changes. YUSU are therefore launching a larger survey this year, where Humphrys also hopes to hold focus groups to “drill down the issues to provide actions from which we can make progress.”
“We’re pleased they have agreed to take part in a consultation, of which this week’s survey is one strand, to address underlying issues and we look forward to forming a better service for students over the coming months.”
*Names have been changed to protect students’ identities
I agree that getting an appointment can be a real struggle, and the receptionists aren’t always that keen to help. I’ve seen three different doctors here – the first was rude, uninterested and made it clear he thought I was stupid. The second was one of the most patronising people I’ve met, but he did make more of an effort. The doctor I currently see is possibly the best I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot!) – he’s extremely patient, very understanding, listens intently and then acts on what you say. I really feel like he actually cares and wants to help. If you want something sorting, see DOCTOR LETHEM!
to be fair they’ve always been lovely to me but i’ve always been nice to them. i’ve seen real aholes in the medical centre, so i wonder how many of these will be the opinionated twats who rant and rave about the poor service? so many gap yahs horrified that they can’t get an appointment instantly for their ingrown toenail, or a repeat prescription within the same hour…
i once had to wait 40 minutes behind some twat whilst he argued and argued to be seen immediately, nothing is that urgent and if it was you’d go to A&E surely?! all i wanted to do was pick up a prescription. :/
As a retired member of staff who worked on campus for 30 years, I think Vision really need to look at the bigger picture here. Why is the service from the Health Centre 2nd rate ? Because it isn’t really a campus Health Centre in anything but name. It is one surgery of a group practice. Most Universities have dedicated Health Centres with full time staff. Doctors and nurses employed by the University. I’ve always felt that dealing with students who are living away from home for the 1st time is a speciality area, not really ideal for an overworked GP popping in to a surgery twice a day. Full time staff would know what issues were having to be dealt with on a regular basis. Plus there continues to be the vexed question of medical emergencies on campus. Patients have to drive right across the city to A+E because for most of the day there are no doctors around. Compare this situation to Leeds university Health centre. I have to admit that many of my colleagues do NOT agree with this analysis. This is a purely personal opinion.
I often take my Mum to the Wenlock Terrace surgery and everything about it is just better. When you consider that both Wenlock and the Uni are part of the same practice group you have to wonder whether the fact that the Uni surgery caters for students is the key problem. I have walked into the same Doctor’s room at both places and felt that I was treated so much better at Wenlock.
I always get the impresion that on campus, the staff assume we’ve done something wrong or are feigning illness for some study-related reason.
@dddd: I get that there are twats about that are going to be giving some of the bad feedback. However, as someone who has experienced the patronising, uncaring ‘Doctorly’ attitude of atleast one of the doctors at the health centre, IN SPITE OF being nice, stoical and ready to wait my turn.
Having gone to the health centre 4 times for the same unresolved problem, the final doctor I bothered to see was quick to tell me that this was just a problem some people have, and there’s nothing to be done about it. When pointing out that the literature stated otherwise, I was given a resentful and condescending reply and quickly ushered out. Needless to say I ignored him, and followed what the literature said and now I’m magically better.
I haven’t had all that many issues with the health centre (no more than any other health centre anyway) but the attitude needs to change. Contrary to the Doctors’ opinions, we are not all a bunch of hypochondriac assholes who want to waste their time.
* I disagree that this is the grounds for the majority of complaints.
but the doctors feel like that, and behave like that, because they’ve had to put up with so many hypochondriac arseholes who waste their time. thy didn’t all graduate, etc etc, go into surgery thinking ‘yeah let’s belittle this student for worrying about xyz cos it’d be jokes’ they just assume we’re all the same twats and they just want us to leave them alone.
i get it treated differently all of the time, some porters have a diva attitude that needs readdressing; when applying for jobs i got told that they didn’t think i was a student because i wasn’t up myself, etc. it’s the same reason local landlords are being banned/restricted in the number of houses they buy to rent to students; the deramore hate us all; we are the architects of our own demise, all the shit we get is OUR fault as a student body. obviously victims (i.e: decent students tarred with the same brush) will think it’s unfair, but you can hardly argue that it’s unreasonable for real adults/non-students to feel like this towards us!
they’ve had to put up with people who drink so much they make themselves properly ill, people who don’t eat properly so become ill, etc. there’s only so much sympathy you can dish out, especially when you’re being torn between two practices.
“There’s only so much sympathy you can dish out.”
Sorry, but no. Regardless of how many hypochondriacs the health centre has had to deal with (and I’m sure there are some), it’s not up to the doctors to decide whether or not to be sympathetic to a student’s condition (or belief in a condition). ALL patients, and I can’t stress this enough, are entitled to be treated with respect and dignity.
This isn’t just a matter of ‘oh, the doctors are getting paid to do it, they should put up with it’, it’s a fundamental question regarding the responsibility of the doctor to take his patients on a case by case basis rather than automatically assuming that they’re all asshole silver spoon cry babies. If the problem is genuinely all in the patient’s mind then of course the doctor is allowed, obliged even, to tell them so, but in the stories mentioned in the article this wasn’t happening. Alan, the student with the lifelong sexual health condition, after telling the doctor that he was sexually active, was ASSUMED to be sexually immature, and the diagnosis was based on this assumption. No questions were asked as to how long he had been in a sexual relationship
Being torn between two practices is no excuse – the vast majority of doctors (NHS or private) have a phenomenal workload and regularly have to deal with difficult characters, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be accused of malpractice or negligence if they give a patient legitimate grounds to do so. I’m not suggesting that how the doctors at the health centre behaved was tantamount to malpractice or negligence, just that if there’s a definite problem with their attitude they can’t just fob off the blame onto us and their hectic work life.
The second graph (only one in the online version?) really says it all. When you have a national benchmark and the other practices are above and we’re missing by 20%, there’s a problem.
Everyone knows that the health centre is pretty shabby. It can’t do the job that it’s supposed to do. David Lindsey makes the valid point that it’s not a proper health centre but it *really is*. Maybe the long-term staff can use proper health centres but students tend to have the choice of this or the hospital and we’re reliant upon the health centre as much as anyone in Leeds is reliant upon theirs.
No, it’s not a proper centre. But it SHOULD BE. No, staff don’t always treat students with respect, but they SHOULD. No, students don’t always go there with the right attitude and/or with a real illness; but they SHOULD. Sometimes you can’t change things and sometimes you can. If the university cared about student health then we’d be seeing a proper plan for a real health centre/pharmacy on Hes East. But it’s not in the plans and you have to wonder why..
@dddd: not sure why you feel the need to defend the health centre/doctors in general (belief in the system? defiant optimism?..) but there is no excuse for the kind of attitudes that I have witnessed. The doctor is there to listen to your problem and fix it (if possible), rather than make assumptions, UNLESS THERE IS GOOD REASON TO, that the student is a hypochondriac.
Not to mention the fact that my doctor told me that, ‘If this was happening to a guy, this would be much more serious and would be dealt with straight away’ (In spite of the symptoms being pretty much similar for guys/girls) and then affectively tried to guilt me into agreeing with his belief that I was wasting his time.
I visited the doctors in January when I had a sore foot, the doctor told me i had tendonitis and then started typing at his computer, i had to ask questions to get very little further information from him, and he smirked when he gave me the answers and was very condescending and dismissive of my questions, to the point of rudeness. After several questions he said he would have to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon, after more questions he briefly explained what they would do. In order to be referred to the orthopedic surgeon I had to check my insurance details and leave a message at reception, which i did as soon as i got out and left the message with the receptionist who I watched write it down in the messages book. When I went home I ended up ringing NHS direct as I didn’t feel I had any information as to what I was supposed to do. It is now June and I still haven’t recieved a letter telling me when to see the orthapedic surgeon, I’m guessing he forgot to refer me. I’m going through a GP at home now instead.
When I went to the health clinic, the doctor said that my problem would ‘sort itself in the real world’. I don’t care if he is nice or sympathetic to me, I just want to know whether he can treat it or not. I’d also appreciate not being treated like a naughty child.
After several questions he said he would have to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon, after more questions he briefly explained what they would do. In order to be referred to the orthopedic surgeon I had to check my insurance details and leave a message at reception, which i did as soon as i got out and left the message with the receptionist who I watched write it down in the messages book.