Welcome to this week's waffle, which, now that the various summer exam results are in, focuses on the prospect of young adults potentially moving on to pastures new.
This theme is close to home for us this year, and it's a funny old mixed bag of emotions! Excitement first and foremost, at seeing young people embracing the next adventure. A side order of 'seriously, how much??' when we get presented with the bill for digs and the long shopping list of 'essentials'. Also a little bit of anticipation at how our offspring will fare in what we might term the 'shallow waters' or 'paddling pool' of grown-up independent living.
Of course, it's so different these days – everyone is constantly locatable and contactable, never separated from our digital 'dog tags'. This generation of students is unlikely to feel the desolation of losing 56 hours to a nasty bout of food poisoning from an ill-advised 1am kebab van visit, yet no one even realising you were M.I.A.... (to give a purely hypothetical example...).
But, on the other hand, as a parent, the ability to remotely check can actually generate more anxiety! What happens, again hypothetically, when you idly check for your precious chick's location one night (just before bedtime, because that's the ideal time to start worrying), only for 'Find My' to report that they aren't in fact anywhere... or that they are somewhere entirely unexpected, and a quick AI check informs you that no, that is not a salubrious postcode... and there you are, staring at the ceiling at 3.53am, wishing you had chosen blissful ignorance instead.
But let's move on and focus on the positive, which is that all this connectivity allows Winchester GP to continue supporting our student patients even when they are further afield, including snappy remote prescribing via Signature RX, as long as they are still in the UK. By booking with us, your loved one can get straight to talking to a friendly, familiar, human doctor, with full access to the existing notes with us. Ideally they will book in with us, before running the 'could this be cancer... or a heart attack' Google search.
Remote consultations are available to both subscriber and pay-as-you-go patients. Unsurprisingly, at this budget-heavy stage of life, many parents choose the subscription for its affordable monthly payments and free repeat prescriptions; particularly handy if that student overdraft facility is a little stretched by end of term! Subscribers also get priority booking, and the option to trade in some unused appointments at the end of the year.
To read more about the many other benefits of a subscription with Winchester GP, click here
Wishing you all a wonderful week! :-)
Gemma, Tom and all at Winchester GP