Beware Dr Google’s diagnosis, says Dr Zahid Chauhan

It has caused nothing short of a revolution in communication and how we share information, but when it comes to diagnosing illness, it is always better to wait for a GP appointment than to trust the internet.

If you chance buying drugs online without the consent of a trusted pharmacist, you are putting your health at mortal peril.

A national survey showed that 11% of people in Britain turned straight to the Internet to self-diagnose, preferring it even to speaking with their family or friends. And certainly, sites such as NHS Choices are a worthy first port of call for everything from injuries to illnesses (but you will note that they often refer patients to their local practice or in emergency, A&E).

Many so-called health sites though, are a web of misinformation and even deceit, designed to cause panic and sell a product. Remember, this is a world-wide web; and healthcare is privately funded in other countries.

Britain now has a population which we in the NHS call, “the worried well”. This is a group who upon examining worse-case scenarios online, panic and then demand emergency treatment often at our hospitals. 

Such is the anxiety created by such sites, that authorities in the United States have even invented a condition called, 'Cybercondria' caused by 'the unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptoms based on review of search results online'.

GPs do not just diagnose based on the symptoms we see. Experience and years of training also guide us to dispensing the treatment you require.

Pharmacists too have a level of expertise and personal interest in your health. Unlike barely legal sites and the dark web, they will not dispense pain killers or anti-depressants like sweeties.

A recent national newspaper enquiry showed that obtaining antibiotics was as easy as having pizza delivered to your home.

I work closely with a charity named Antibiotic Research UK (ANTRUK), who will tell you that misusing and overusing antibiotics can result in bacteria in your body becoming resistant to life saving drugs.

In other words, a few pounds given to an illicit health site, could cost you your life.   

The internet should be utilised to help patients, not scaremonger and sell questionable products.

Some of you may have had an online NHS appointment or ordered your legitimate prescriptions through the surgery or the pharmacy online. These are the types of innovation that will help cut costs and ensure the safest healthcare for all.  

Genuinely, I can understand the frustration of not being able to see a GP immediately.

Politically, I have called for far more resources to be deployed into primary care.

I am also encouraged by the imaginative ways surgeries have reduced queues through telephone triage schemes.

If we believe your condition is an emergency, your NHS will always see you as quickly as is humanly possible.

The human being you see will have your health and wellbeing at heart - and won’t be online to simply empty your wallet.