The Netmums Podcast - S11 Ep7: Dr Ellie Cannon: How to spot REAL health problems ... and fix them

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

Dr. Ellie Cannon is everyone's favorite doctor-next-door, known for her candid advice in the Mail on Sunday's health pages. This episode of the Netmums podcast is sponsored by NHS England.   Prescribing knowledge with a dose of humour, she's the go-to GP for all things health and NHS-related. She talks to co-hosts Wendy and Alison about how to stay healthy, how to spot when your kids are REALLY ill, how to get medical help when you need it, plus whether to worry about the new Covid variant. This series of the Netmums podcast is produced by Decibelle Creative. 

You're listening to The Netmums Podcast with me, Wendy Gollich, and me, Alison Perry. Coming up on this week's show... I actually don't find it too annoying, I have to say. There's definitely moments when it has been annoying, and that's usually because something else is going on. You know, at the same time, I've been in situations where my kids are in primary school where I want to be concentrating on the school play and somebody's asking me about their rash. But before all of that, this episode is brought to you by NHS England. The NHS in England is making changes to the way you access help and receive the care you need from your general practice to improve your experience. A new campaign is raising awareness of the different health

professionals in general practice teams who are helping patients get the right care more easily first time. Many general practices have a range of health professionals who can help you. It's not just GPs. Across the country, patients can access nurses, physiotherapists, clinical pharmacists, mental health practitioners, paramedics, social prescribers and health and wellbeing coaches according to the care they need. When you contact your general practice, you may be asked some questions about your health issue by the reception team in confidence so that you can be directed to the right care from the right health professional. By giving the practice as much information as possible about why you need an appointment, they can get you the right care from a range of health professionals,

and often more quickly and easily. For more information, visit nhs.uk slash gpservices. Hello everybody, welcome to a new episode. I want to talk about mental load today. My mental load particularly, but mum's and dad's mental load in autumn. There was lots of stuff in the press in September about mental load and I felt really pleased to see it and really like screaming because it's the first year I've ever seen it but it's not the first year I've had the mental load but I don't know about you Alison I feel like this year more than most it's kind of carrying on into autumn there is just so much to do there's so much to do

but you know what I feel quite encouraged because with my two little ones starting primary school recently I've noticed a real change, a real difference in how many dads are joining the school WhatsApp group. And I feel like maybe that's a sign that the mental load is finally being spread evenly between mums and dads. It's not just being left to the mums to do. So that's quite encouraging, I felt. See, my husband doesn't listen to this podcast,

so i can say that it is categorically not bloody shared in my house that's for sure right tell us who we've got i don't know if she can help us with the mental load but she might help me with my sore throat well i feel like she's an all-round wonder woman so let's give her a try because we're joined today by someone who you will know well if you read the mail on Sunday or watch this morning. Dr Ellie Cannon is a GP and a regular face on telly and in the news giving us brilliant health advice. She's also a mum, an author and a public speaker amongst other things. So Dr Ellie, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to be here. And I'm going to go straight off script straight away. First question, how's your mental load Ellie? Well, you see, I'm at a

sort of slightly different stage of parenting. So I have one about to start university this weekend and one who's just started sixth form. and you would think maybe when you don't have little ones and you don't have the primary school whatsapp that maybe the mental load goes down and i've got very sad news for you and your listeners which is the mental load does not go down I'm sorry to tell you what does go down though what does get better is obviously as they're older there is more time in the day to do things you know my son who's in sixth form he's out of the house from seven till five you know which is very different from a primary school primary school hours isn't it but um yes yeah sorry about the mental load thing but I don't think it's going to change for anybody

very much anytime soon and how are you feeling about your eldest going into going to university because I've I know quite a few friends who are at the same stage and it seems like a pretty heart-wrenching moment to send them off yeah especially if you think about this generation of kids so she's 19 already and if you think about her her particular cohort they're the group of kids who didn't do GCSEs because of the pandemic then they were sort of at home a huge amount obviously in lockdown and really sort of even throughout sort of her whole sort of sixth form experience you know at home a lot so it is it's it's a big big change but I am so thrilled for this group of kids who are now able to hopefully live their lives and go off and do what they're supposed to

be doing whether they're university or college or apprenticeships whatever it is but they had such a hard time in their last few years of school so I'm just really really excited for them all. Now it's that time we're just creeping into winter after a glorious Indian summer and it's cough and cold season and as parents it can be hard to know when to keep your child off school do you send them in and risk spreading the loggies and the germs or do you keep them off from rest which then scuppers your working day so what's your view as a parent and what's your view as a doctor? Well, I mean, your question really hits the nail on the head and that's what's the really difficult balance. So if they're sort of fine and jumping around, but they have got a bit of a cold or they have got a bit of a cough,

but they don't have a temperature and they're not really that different from themselves then they should be going to school because there's no reason not to all those infections are going to be passed on to each other anyway and often you're infectious before you've even got the coughs and the sneezes anyway and so that's absolutely fine obviously if they've got the start of a temperature, if they're starting to not feel themselves, appetite going a bit funny like it can do, then they do need to be at home. Again, not so much because of the infectiousness, but more because as adults, as kids, we need rest when we're not well. So sitting for a five-year-old sitting for the whole day at school trying to listen to the teacher and going out to play and all of that sort of stuff it's really tiring so they do need to be at home to recuperate. It's a really hard balance I'll say what I always say which is nobody knows their kids like parents do and really whatever decision you make is the right

one and sometimes that is a family based decision actually because you've got to go to work and they don't seem that unwell so they go to school and that's absolutely fine yeah um as a mom of three kids we're just getting all three of them this week are getting coughs and colds and sniffles. And my first go-to thing as a parent, never mind them, they're fine, is getting myself sorted with that first offence, you know, that you can buy just from the pharmacy. I immediately, as soon as one of them sneezes, I'm like, I need first offence because I need to be well to look after them

because it's the worst thing ever, isn't when all of you are sick absolutely so my first thing i go to um is early nights and my kids even at their old teenage age will sort of groan hearing me say that because i really think sleep is so restorative and it's so good when kids have got a virus or you know when, when we've got a virus, it really, really does help. So even if they're going to school, if you can get them into bed half an hour earlier, an hour earlier, you know, change things up a bit just so they get that bit more rest, then it can really make a difference. Yeah. So coughs and colds, we can handle that, can't we? But we've seen headlines about the new COVID variant. I saw you tweeting about it as well recently dr ellie um how worried should we be about this i don't think we should be um that worried about it i don't even think from what i've read that it's become what they used to call a variant of concern even yet

um i think they i don't know who they are, but I think they have learned their lesson from the past and know that when these new variants come up, then we do need to be alert and make active changes. So for example, they've moved the vaccination programme early, which to me seems really sensible because we know that the vaccination program worked to get us out of all of that COVID mess that we were in. So I don't think we should be worried. Viruses, as we know from COVID, but also all the viruses I see all the time in my clinic, change, they mutate, there are variants. I think it's good we're aware of it. COVID, from what I've seen, because I still see COVID in clinic, I still speak to patients with COVID. Even for my really vulnerable patients,

like my elderly patients, it really has not been serious in the last few weeks. It has been people who've managed it at home. I've had a few elderly people who didn't even know they had COVID, actually, because they were fine with it. But when they were in hospital and had routine testing, we're told they had COVID. So that tells you really, it's a different beast to the one that it was. And I would just advise anybody who's eligible to get their vaccination, I'm going to do that. Because we know that was always the answer, really. And what can we do? I guess you get asked this question all the time. What can we do to boost our immunity and boost our kids' immunity? But there are old wives tales and there are home remedies.

What are the things that you swear by to treat sick kids at home and help prevent stuff other than sleep, which you've already brilliantly told us? Anyone who tells me to go to bed more often i'm well in for that that's fine yes exactly i thought that might be popular with with mums and dads um so yeah it's a it's a really really good topic because there's a lot of stuff talked about boosting your immune system and I don't really know if it does boost your immune system. So lots of supplements and lots of ideas and, and all these sorts of things. And people need to know really that your immune system is a whole host of different things in your body, like your skin is part of your immune system, your blood cells are part of your immune system, there's all different aspects of it. So things that keep you healthy that we know keep us

well are going to be things that boost our immune system. So as you said, I mentioned sleep. Sleep is really good for our immune system. We know that exercises, so regularly us, regularly walking, regularly exercising. Likewise for the kids they're you know getting in some walking getting in some activity that's really good obviously eating a well-balanced diet of course that's good for our immune system having a glass of orange juice every day vitamin c is one of the few supplements that is genuinely proven to actually boost your immune system. So really just sort of sensible, healthy lifestyles, to be honest. Some people, some kids, and this is a phenomenon I've seen in general practice for 15 years, some kids just get more coughs and colds. As long as they're getting over them and they're

getting better, then there's nothing wrong with their immune system it's just bad luck it's just how they socialize with kids how they see kids it's just a numbers game really they happen to be coming into contact with lots of viruses and some kids are just like that and that's you know that's how it is and we can often often second and third children are worse off because their older sibling older siblings are bringing you know all the bugs home even from when they're sort of like one or two or whatever um a child in nursery a child in daycare is probably going to have one virus a month at least um so the how many you get how many bugs you get is not really reflective of your immune system. As long as you're getting over the bugs, then there's nothing to worry about.

Other than enduring them. Yes, your sanity. Other than enduring them, which is why I say we're all best off just to go to sleep and ignore it all. No, I'm joking. Yeah, love it um now we had sarah beanie on the podcast a few weeks ago and she was talking about how friends are always asking her for property and renovation advice and we spoke about how all of our gp friends um we ask them questions all the time so what i'd like to know from you is, does this happen to you? And how annoying is it really? So I think that's obviously really dependent on the sort of person you are. Now,

I'm a massive extrovert, which is why I've ended up being a GP on telly and sort of talking to people all the time. And probably why I ended up being a GP in the first place. I like talking to people. And I've also always enjoyed explaining health and GP stuff to non doctors. So I'm, I'm not married to a doctor, a lot of my friends are not doctors, I'm sort of quite used to that, really. So I actually don't find it too annoying, I have to say. And there's definitely moments when it has been annoying and that's usually because something else is going on you know at the same time I've been in situations where my kids are in primary school where I want to be concentrating on the school play and somebody's asking asking me about their rash and you know that's just inappropriate timing but generally speaking

I don't really mind I think I'm at the stage of my career as well where I sort of like working through things with people and like I'm picking it and I'm quite boundaried as a person so if it's not a good time I'll say to people you know actually I'm not available or I'm just really mature about it and I just air the message that they send me so you must be pretty good at multitasking and juggling what are your kind of multitasking and juggling tips for fitting in family life with a busy career oh that's that's yeah really sort of like nice question so basically so I always worked part time as a GP because originally I was sort of obviously looking after my kids the rest of the time um and so and then that part time became because I was managing it with my media work as

well so that sort of works quite nicely so first of all I think variety anyway is really protective for people. So I think if I was in a GP studio or a TV studio every day, that's all you've got to focus on. And if that's not going well, then you don't sort of feel so great. Whereas the beauty of doing lots of different things is, you know, what it's like having that change and variety is so good for all of us. I think variety is really good. I think I'm quite kind to myself. So I don't do a lot of cooking or food preparation. So it's not that I sort of like pull, you know, frozen food out of the freezer,

although actually I do do that. But, you know, my other half cooks I'm quite sort of like kind to myself you know like food doesn't have to be any sort of big deal if it's eggs on toast it's eggs on toast so I'm sort of quite kind to myself about things like that and quite sort of honest with the kids about things like that you know yeah actually the shopping hasn't been done but it'll probably be done tomorrow and we'll all survive and that's fine and so I think I've got things that I really really prioritize so I really really prioritize anything to do with my kids

school and and education and things like that and obviously their happiness I really you know over things like you know nobody's vacuumed for a week I sort of think well that'll that'll that's fine that can that can pass I would be I think I would be happier and healthier if I managed to prioritize myself exercising and I do sort of but I'm not great at fitting that in and i think i think that's something that you know i've probably been trying to improve that for 20 years you and me both ellie have a wheel this episode is brought to you by nhs england the nhs in england is making changes to the way you access help and receive the care you need from your general practice to improve your experience. A new campaign is raising awareness of the different health

professionals in general practice teams who are helping patients get the right care more easily first time. Many general practices have a range of health professionals who can help you. It's not just GPs. Across the country, patients can access nurses, physiotherapists, clinical pharmacists, mental health practitioners, paramedics, social prescribers and health and wellbeing coaches according to the care they need. When you contact your general practice, you may be asked some questions about your health issue by the reception team in confidence so that you can be directed to the right care from the right health professional. By giving the practice as much

information as possible about why you need an appointment, they can get you the right care from a range of health professionals and often more quickly and easily. For more information, visit nhs.uk slash gp services so dr ellie tell us about the nhs help us help you campaign yeah of course so this is really exciting so basically the point is that um the nhs is really improving the way that all of us can access help and get sort of the right care from general practice. And what we really want people to understand is that general practice teams are more than just me. So they're more than just a GP. There's a lot of health professionals within a general practice nowadays, and also within like the wider communities people sort of around and in community services that can help so for example um if you if you have more of a social issue so i see a lot of patients with maybe a problem to do with their housing um or a problem

to do with um they're trying to sort of sort out their benefits for example so general practices now like I have in my practice might have somebody called a social prescriber so she knows locally what services are available she knows when systems advice is there she can sort of write letters if people need letters written for them. So it is really beneficial. And that's why now more so than ever, we want reception teams to be able to ask you questions about your condition. So you can sort of go to the right person, really. And we, you know, the reception teams are trained so that they know sort of who to send you to. So for example, there will be practices where there will be

what's called a first contact physiotherapist. So if you're going in with a sore elbow, and they know that's something that the physiotherapist can deal with, if you've given them that information, they'll be able to say to you, well, don't wait for a GP appointment, we could actually have you seeing a physiotherapist and you know, you can bypass that stage. So it's really important to give all of that information. And of course, everything you say to them is confidential, just like it would be if you said it to me if you think about somebody with elbow pain um of course if it's a problem that's ongoing and you need to be referred then of course you would speak to a gp but physiotherapists quite frankly are better specialists in in sort of joints and muscles and

what we call the musculoskeletal system than a GP. And they're more than capable. They're experts in diagnosing that type of thing. So you're seeing somebody equivalent, if not better, to be honest. Now, you mentioned that the reception staff will be asking more questions. And I have to admit, the first time that I rang my surgery and the reception staff were asking me questions, I was quite thrown. And I guess, would you say, obviously you mentioned it's all completely confidential. And we're so used to feeling comfortable talking to a GP and we know that's not going to go any further. So do you think it's almost like a mindset change that we need to have that same feeling of trust towards the reception staff now as well?

Yes, I think so. And I think that, you know, I think that reception teams, obviously, I know from the other side of the desk, do a fantastic job and often know patients, know families. They sort of they know sort of logistics of things as well um and we they're trained now um you know in actually understanding which local service you might need so they can actually really help you um it does need a it does need a sea change you're absolutely right of course people people know that everything is confidential within their GP room, within their doctor consultation. recently, where it showed that sort of three quarters of people in England, you know, really felt confident that they knew what the receptionists do in a general practice. But actually, a lot of people were completely unaware, as you said, that they're trained to assess the information you provide. So to give you an idea, a receptionist knows if people phone up and mention chest pain, for example, or shortness of breath, then, you know, that's very important to be dealt with very urgently. And there are sort of lots of things like that, that reception teams are trained to know. And then at the other end of the sort of the other end of the scale with

much less important things, that can really save you so much time. Because I mean, we work a lot now with community pharmacy, for example. So your local pharmacist where you would pick up your prescription or buy things, but they can also deal with some medical problems, for example, things to do with your ear or minor skin rashes or all these sorts of things. So you're talking to your receptionist, you say to them, you know, it's about sort of an itching in my ear, for example. And they say to you, well, it's so good that you've told me that because I know that the community pharmacist next door can actually help you. So it really, I think it can really benefit patients and it can really take the pressure off all of us as patients and families because you just be directed to the right place. So you've mentioned the kinds of professionals that we might start seeing in our GP, like a physio or someone from social care which health professionals work at your practice and have you as a GP noticed a difference by having them as part of the wider team? Yeah so we're quite lucky in my general practice actually so obviously we've got the sort

of health professionals people would expect so we've got GPs and nurses who do sort of all the things that you would expect. Then we have somebody who, as I've mentioned, is called a social prescriber. So she knows all of the sort of community services locally. She will know the charity partners locally. So as an example, if we wanted somebody, if we wanted an elderly patient to start doing some exercise, for example, she would know what was available in the local community centre to help that person get into an exercise class. See, my GP is a diabetic pharmacist. So you can go and see her if you're diabetic. There are just so doing that within a GP surgery. So obviously, incredibly highly trained, great. I'm sure far better than a GP actually, all the medical emergencies. And you know, a lot of the medical issues, clinical pharmacists, as I said, so they're quite different from pharmacists who are in a pharmacy or in a hospital. They're people who are, you know, changing your medication if you don't like your blood pressure tablets or treating acne or things that are very, you know, treated very, very

medically. You know, one of your pills is giving you side effects, so change you on to another one. So there's, you know, it is great having that whole sort of wealth of experience, really. So if anybody listening, like Wendy, wants to know more about this, where can they head to? Well, if you're in your general practice or trying to make an appointment, then it is really worth asking what health professionals are available, because I think we're all quite excited about these changes. I think people will be really happy to tell you and it will be different in different places so there isn't a physiotherapist for example where I work but there might be in another one but generally speaking anybody can go and have a look at

nhs.uk slash gp services and it explains about all these different types of health care professionals but it's worth looking on your practice website most general practices now will have a practice website and they will explain who the different um personnel are and finally dr ellie back to frazzled parents during winter i can tell i am a frazzled parent during autumn who's preparing to be winter frazzled. So many of us can be running on empty. What should we be doing to look after ourselves so that we don't end up knocking on your door? Well, you know what I'm going to say? I'm going to say get a good night's sleep, which is obviously a bit silly for people with young children, because sometimes they do obviously still wake you up overnight and early mornings and all of that. the space for exercise for about 20 years. I haven't quite managed it yet. You have to try and ring fence some space for yourself. I think you have to prioritize, as I've said, what is

important and what isn't. We all know, you know, I could harp on for hours about diet and exercise. We all know that if we eat well, if we look after ourselves, if we start the morning, not with anything, you know, from a cookbook, but if we start the morning, not with anything, you know, from a cookbook, but if we start the morning properly with a proper breakfast and we're making sure we drink water through the day and just getting a bit of movement, we all know that we all feel better if we manage to do that. Even if the school runs terrible and traffic's terrible and you can't find you know p kit and all of that if we are doing those small things to look after ourselves um then you know we we all feel better ellie said i can go to bed and i don't it's here it's recorded is it. I don't have to do that. I'll sign it for you. It's so, absolutely. We can have it as an official document.

Doctor's orders. Yeah, definitely no hoovering and definitely lots of napping. Boom. I love it. I love it. Dr. Ellie, it has been wonderful to talk to you. Thank you so much for joining us today. And thank you from all of us here in Netmums. Thank you, Ellie. Thank you. talk to you thank you so much for joining us today and thank you from all of us here in netmums thank you