Do GPs have patients or consumers?

This was discussed during a recent collaborative workshop in Melbourne.

The answer is not straight forward. I think that Russell McGowan, from the Australian Consumers Forum, would say that he is always a person, much of the time is a consumer, and is sometimes a patient.

He is a patient when he is receiving medical care – but that doesn’t define who he is the rest of the time.

For much the same reason, Ralph Audehm reminds us that we no longer refer to ‘diabetics’ but to ‘people with diabetes’. There is much more that defines a person than to refer to them by one of the illnesses they may have.

I was reminded of this distinction by an article in today’s Eureka Street by Prof Frank Bowden of the ANU Medical School.

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What do you think?