Family Physician
One doctor for the whole family, for everyday illness, long-term conditions, check-ups and referral to the right specialist
What is family physician?
A family physician is the doctor you go to first, for every member of the household and at every age. They treat the common illnesses that make up most visits to a doctor, look after long-term conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid disease and asthma, keep vaccinations and screening on schedule, and decide when a problem needs a specialist and which one.
What a family physician adds over seeing a different doctor each time is continuity. Your physician holds your history, your medicines, your past test results and the conditions that run in your family, so a new complaint is read against all of it. That is how an interaction between two prescriptions is caught, how a slow change in a blood test is noticed over years, and how a referral goes to the right specialist with the right question.
Your care coordinator matches your family with a physician and arranges the consults, follow-ups and any tests your physician orders.
What it involves
The first consult takes the longest. Your physician takes a full history: current complaints, past illnesses and operations, every medicine and supplement you take, allergies, vaccinations, and the illnesses of your parents and siblings. They examine you, check your blood pressure, weight and pulse, and review any reports you bring, so bring old prescriptions and test results with you.
From that they agree a plan with you. A new illness is treated, and the tests needed to confirm it are ordered. A long-term condition gets targets, a medicine plan and a schedule for review. Screening that is due for your age and family history is listed, and vaccinations that are missing are scheduled.
Follow-up visits are shorter and are set by what is being looked after: every three months for a condition being brought under control, once or twice a year once it is stable, and whenever something new comes up in between. When a specialist is needed, your physician writes the referral with your history and results, and reviews what the specialist recommends so the plans for each problem fit together.
Recovery
A short illness is usually treated in one visit, with a review only if it has not settled in the time your physician gives you. Results of any tests ordered are reviewed with you at the next consult, or sooner if something needs acting on.
For a long-term condition the measure of progress is the target agreed at the start: a blood sugar, a blood pressure, a weight. Your physician adjusts the medicines at each review until the target is reached, then keeps the visits less frequent once it holds.
What decides the result is the gap between visits. Taking medicines as prescribed, keeping the follow-up dates and bringing every new prescription from another doctor to your physician is what lets them keep the whole picture accurate.
Questions about family physician
Can one family physician see everyone in my family?
Yes, and that is the point of having one. A family physician treats adults of every age and most childhood illness, so parents, children and grandparents can be seen by the same doctor, who then knows the conditions that run in the family and the illnesses going around the household. For a newborn or a child with a complex condition, your physician will involve a paediatrician alongside, and for pregnancy an obstetrician. Tell your care coordinator who in the family you want registered when you book.
When should I see a family physician and when a specialist?
Start with your family physician for anything new, unless it is an emergency. Most complaints are diagnosed and treated at that first visit, and for those that are not, your physician decides which specialist is needed and sends you with the history and tests already done, which saves a wasted visit to the wrong department. If you already see a specialist for a condition, keep doing so; your physician keeps track of what that specialist prescribes so it fits with your other medicines.
What should I bring to the first consult?
Every medicine you take, including supplements and anything bought without a prescription, either the strips themselves or a clear list with doses. Bring old prescriptions, discharge summaries and test reports from the last few years, and your vaccination record if you have one. A short list of the illnesses your parents and siblings have had helps too. With these your physician can build an accurate record at the first visit, and avoid repeating tests you have already had.
Talk to a care coordinator about family physician
Leave a number and a care coordinator calls you back with what the treatment involves and which hospital it would be at. They book a consult only if you want one