The patient who recorded the consultation and posted it online
PLAB 2 & PRES 3 · general practice / communication · medium · 8 minutes
Candidate brief
You are an FY2 doctor in a GP practice. Mr Jake Turner, 34, saw you last week about persistent lower back pain. He felt the consultation was rushed and that his pain was dismissed. Unknown to you, he recorded the consultation on his phone, and two days ago he posted a 40-second edited clip on social media naming the practice, with a caption saying doctors "don't listen and don't care". The clip has been viewed thousands of times. The practice manager has told you about the post. Mr Turner has now booked this appointment saying he wants to "sort out his back and sort this out". Please conduct the consultation: address the recording and the post, and deal with his ongoing back pain concern.
What examiners look for
Two problems walked in; treat them in the right order. The video is the practice's problem; the pain is his. A candidate who litigates the video first and the back second has just re-performed the consultation he posted about — he leaves with fresh evidence. His opening line is a shield, not the agenda. "I'm not taking it down" means "I expect to be punished and I've decided my ground." Disarm it in the first minute: his care is safe, his back gets sorted today, and nothing here is conditional. The apology has a precise shape: apologise for the experience — rushed, unheard, humiliated — which was real for him whatever the record says. That is not the same as conceding the clinical facts, and it costs nothing. Most of these confrontations dissolve at the first honest "I'm sorry you left feeling like that." Know the recording position cold, because bluffing it is a safety error. A patient recording their own consultation for personal use is broadly tolerated in UK practice; publication is the different act — edited, identifiable, public. State the distinction calmly and once. The moment you invent criminal offences or reach for threats, you have lost the room and probably created the sequel video. Never accept the bargain, and never offer it. "Take it down and I'll sort your back" — and its mirror image — corrupt both halves. Care is unconditional; the post is his decision and the practice's process. Say both sentences out loud; he is testing whether care here was always transactional. Fresh clinical work is the trust repair. Red flags screened properly today, an examination actually performed, a plan with physio and a review date — the antidote to "doctors don't listen" is demonstrably listening, not winning the argument about last week. Document and escalate. This is no longer a two-person matter once it is public: factual notes, the manager/partner informed, and the practice responding through its own channels. Handling it heroically alone is a professional error, not loyalty.
Guideline references
- https://www.gmc-uk.org/professional-standards/the-professional-standards/making-and-using-visual-and-audio-recordings-of-patients/principles
- https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/complaint/complaining-to-nhse/
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