Audio file The Netmums Podcast - Doctor Ellie Cannon.mp3 Transcript 00:00:00 Wendy You're listening to the Net Mums podcast with me, Wendy Golledge. 00:00:03 Alison And me Alison Perry coming up on this week's show. 00:00:07 Dr. Ellie Cannon I actually don't find it too annoying 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 wanna be concentrating on the school play. And somebody's asking, asking me about their rash. 00:00:29 Wendy But before all of that, this episode is brought to you by the NHS England. 00:00:33 Alison 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. 00:00:53 Wendy 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 the health and well-being coaches, according to the care they need. 00:01:13 Alison 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. 00:01:24 Wendy You may not need to be seen by the GP and 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. 00:01:38 Alison For more information, visit nhs.uk/GPservices. 00:01:43 Wendy Hello everybody, welcome to a new episode. I want to talk about mental load today. My mental load particularly, but mums and dads 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. 00:02:18 Alison Yeah. There's so much to do, but do you know what? I feel quite encouraged because with my 2 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 that's quite encouraging. I felt. 00:02:46 Wendy 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. 00:03:00 Alison 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. Doctor 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 and amongst other things. So Doctor Ellie, welcome to the podcast. 00:03:25 Dr. Ellie Cannon Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to be here. 00:03:29 Wendy And I'm going to go straight off script straight away. First question, how's your mental load, Ellie? 00:03:35 Dr. Ellie Cannon Well, you see, I'm I'm 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. 00:04:03 Alison Don't. Don't do it. Don't do it. 00:04:10 Dr. Ellie Cannon Mental does not go down I'm sorry to tell you. What does go down, though what it 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 7 till five you know, which is very different from a primary school, primary school hours, isn't it? But yes. Yeah. Sorry about the mental load thing, but I don't think it's gonna change for anybody very much anytime soon. 00:04:38 Alison And how are you feeling about your eldest going into going to University? I've, I know quite a few friends who are at the same age and it seems like a pretty heart-wrenching moment to send them off on their own. 00:04:51 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yeah, well, especially if you think about this generation of kids. So she, she's 19 already. And if you think about her, her particular cohort, they're the group of kids who didn't do GCSE's 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 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 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. 00:05:42 Wendy 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 lurgies and the germs. Or do you keep them off from the rest, which then scuppers your working day? So what's your view as a parent and what's your view as a doctor? 00:06:08 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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. 00:06:41 Dr. Ellie Cannon OK. 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 getting 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 5-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. 00:07:17 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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. 00:07:38 Alison Yeah, I as a as a mum of of three kids, we're just getting the 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 defence. You know that you can you can buy just from the, at the pharmacy. I immediately as soon as one of them said. This is unlike only first defence because I need to be well to look after them because it's the worst thing ever, isn't it, when all of you are sick? 00:08:08 Dr. Ellie Cannon Absolutely. So my first thing I go to is early nights and my kids, even at their old teenage age, who will sort of groan hearing me say that cause I really think sleep is so restorative, and it's so good when kids have got a virus or, you know 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. 00:08:41 Alison Yeah, so coughs and colds, we can, we can handle that, can't we? But we've seen you had. We've seen headlines about the new COVID variant, and I saw you tweeting about it as well recently. Doctor. Ellie, how worried should we be about this? 00:08:56 Dr. Ellie Cannon I don't think we should be 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. 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 programme 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, ‘cause I still see COVID in clinic. I still, speak to patients with COVID, even for my really vulnerable patients and my elderly patients. It really has not been serious in the last few weeks, it has been people who've managed it at home. 00:10:04 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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 were told they had COVID. So that tells you really, it's a different beast to the one that it was. And, and I would just advise anybody who's eligible to get their vaccination. I'm gonna do that. Because we know that was always the answer really. 00:10:26 Wendy And what can we do? I guess you'll 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 or prevent stuff other than sleep, which you've already brilliantly told us. Anyone who tells me to go to bed more often, I'm... 00:10:47 Dr. Ellie Cannon Hmm yeah. 00:10:50 Wendy ..well, in for that, that's fine. 00:10:51 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yes, exactly. I I thought that might be popular with with mums and dads. 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 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 00:11:32 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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 if they're you know getting into some walking, getting into 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. 00:12:11 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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 systems. It's just bad luck. It's just how they socialise 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, and that's how it is and we can often, often second and third children are worse off because they're 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. 00:12:55 Dr. Ellie Cannon A child in nursery, a child in daycare, is probably going to have one virus a month at least. 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. 00:13:15 Wendy Other than enduring them 00:13:17 Alison Yes your sanity. 00:13:19 Dr. Ellie Cannon Other than enduring them, which is why I say, yeah, we're all best off just to go to sleep and ignore it all. No, we're joking. 00:13:28 Alison Yeah, love it. Now, we had Sarah Beaney on the podcast a few weeks ago, and she was talking about how friends are always asking her for property and renovation advice and and we… 00:13:38 Dr. Ellie Cannon Oh I bet 00:13:39 Alison ..spoke about how all of our GP friends, we asked 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? 00:13:50 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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. Not 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 there's definitely moments when it has been annoying. And that's usually because something else is going on. 00:14:32 Dr. Ellie Cannon You know, at the same time, I've been in situations where my kids are in primary school where I wanna 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 unpicking 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. 00:15:11 Wendy 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? 00:15:23 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yeah, that's that's, yeah, a 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. 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 in variety. It's so it's so good for all of us. I think variety is, is really, 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. 00:16:27 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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. 00:16:46 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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 I really, really prioritise. So I really, really prioritise anything to do with my kids school and and education and things like that. And obviously their happiness. I, you know, over things like, you know, nobody's vacuumed for a week. I sort of think, well, that all that, all that, that's fine, that can that can pass. I, I would be I think I would be happier and healthier if I managed to prioritise myself exercising. And I I do sort of but I, 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. 00:17:34 Wendy You and me both Ellies 00:17:36 Alison Haven’t we all. 00:17:39 Wendy This episode is brought to you by the NHS England. 00:17:42 Alison 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. 00:18:01 Wendy Many general practices have a range of health professionals who can help you. It's not just GP's. Across the country patients can access nurses, physiotherapists, clinical pharmacists, mental health practitioners, paramedics, social prescribers and the health and well-being coaches, according to the care they need. 00:18:21 Alison 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. 00:18:33 Wendy You may not need to be seen by a GP and 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. 00:18:46 Alison For more information, visit nhs.uk/GP services. 00:18:54 Alison So Doctor Ellie, tell us about the NHS. Help us help you campaign. 00:19:00 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yeah, of course. So this is really exciting. So basically the point is that the NHS is really improving the way that all of us can access help. nd 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 the 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 service that can help. 00:19:34 Dr. Ellie Cannon And, 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, go to the right person really and we you know the reception teams are trained so that they know, sort of, who to 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. 00:20:34 Wendy So it means we won't always get to see a GP and I guess some people might worry they're not getting the best care because of that. But these changes have been made to benefit the public, haven't they? 00:20:48 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yeah, absolutely. So as I just explained really, there's, you don't always need to see a GP. So for example, 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 or a problem to do with and, they're trying to sort of sort out their benefits, for example. 00:21:12 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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 Citizens Advice is there, she can sort of write letters if people need letters written for them. So. 00:21:31 Dr. Ellie Cannon It is. It is really beneficial and obviously if you think about what I said. About somebody with elbow pain, of course. If it's a problem that's ongoing and you need to be referred, then of course you would want to 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 they're more than capable, they're experts in diagnosing that type of thing. So you're you're seeing somebody equivalent, if not better, to be honest. 00:22:04 Alison 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 the reception staff were asking me medical questions, I was quite thrown and I guess, would you say, that because obviously you mentioned it all completely confidential and and we're so used to, to feeling comfortable talking to a GP and we know that's not gonna go any further. So do you think it's, it's almost like a mindset change that we need to have that same feeling of trust towards the reception staff now as well. 00:22:38 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yes, I think so. And I think that, you know, I think that reception teams obviously I know from the other, 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 and. We, they're they're trained now you know in actually understanding which local service you might need so. They can actually, really help you. It, it does need a, it does need a see change. You're absolutely right. Of course. People know that everything is confidential within their GP room within their doctor consultation. 00:23:21 Dr. Ellie Cannon I think that we all think that we know what reception teams do, so I know that there was a survey recently where it showed that sort of ¾ 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, they're they're trained to assess the information you provide. So, 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 a very important to to be dealt with very urgently. And there are sort of lots of things like that. That reception teams are, are trained to know, and then at the other end of the sort of at the other end of the scale with much less important things. 00:24:17 Dr. Ellie Cannon It can really save you so much time, because I mean we, we work a lot now with Community pharmacy for example. And 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. 00:24:38 Dr. Ellie Cannon So, you're struggling to get a GP appointment. You're talking to your receptionist. You say to them, you know, actually, it's perhaps 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 and you don't need an appointment. 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, which is a really important aspect of general practice. 00:25:12 Wendy 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. 00:25:31 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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 GP's 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. 00:26:00 Dr. Ellie Cannon 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, to help that person get into an exercise class, we are very lucky that we have got two people who are called physician associates, or we call them the PA, and they're sort of a, a new type of health professional that I think people will start to see more and more… 00:26:32 Wendy I've never even of heard of one of those. 00:26:35 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yeah, PA, so really highly trained, been at uni for three or four years and they deal with lots of minor ailments and complaints that GP might. So for example, joint pain issues with blood pressure, all sorts of different things and they're really an allied health professional. And can examine you and can treat the information as discussed with a doctor, and so they're they're sort of another person you can see, and often the wait isn't isn't as long. And then also we're very lucky that we have two pharmacists who work within our general practice. And that's becoming more and more common. So they're called clinical pharmacists. 00:27:23 Wendy See my GP has a diabetic pharmacist so you can go and see her if you're diabetic. There are just so many different roles I feel like the public needs know more about this because I just didn't know about PA's, and I saw a GP or I thought I was seeing a GP a few weeks ago, and I was actually seeing he was called a clinical paramedic. 00:27:48 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yeah. So we don't, yeah. So we don't have paramedics, but yeah, absolutely. You can see paramedics and they are obviously paramedics that do whatever paramedics would do if you called an ambulance. But they're doing that within a GP surgery. So obviously incredibly highly trained, great, I'm sure far better than the GP actually, at 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, 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. 00:28:47 Alison So if anybody listening who like Wendy wants to know more about this, where, where, where, can they head to? 00:28:55 Dr. Ellie Cannon Well, if you're in your general practice for 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. So I think people will be really happy to tell you. And it will be different in different places, so there isn't a 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/GP services and it explains about all these different types of healthcare professionals. But it's worth looking on your practice website. Most general practices now will have a practice website and it will, they will explain who the different personnel are. 00:29:37 Wendy And finally, Doctor Ellie's back to frazzled parents during winter. Youwill 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? 00:30:00 Dr. Ellie Cannon Well, you know what I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say get a good night's sleep, which is obviously it's, which is obviously you know, a bit silly for people with young children, cause sometimes they do obviously still wake you up overnight and early mornings and all of that. You have to make the space and it's really, really difficult to do that. As I've said, I've been trying to make this space for exercise, for about 20 years, I haven't quite managed it yet. 00:30:24 Dr. Ellie Cannon You have to try and ring fence some space for yourself. I think you have to prioritise 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 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, PE kit and all of that. If we are doing those small things to look after ourselves, then you know we all, we all feel better. 00:31:14 Wendy Doctor Ellie said I can go to bed and I don't have to do it. It's here. It's recorded. This is it. 00:31:22 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yeah, I'll sign it for you. It's so. 00:31:24 Wendy I can go back. 00:31:26 Dr. Ellie Cannon Absolutely you can have it as an official, official document. 00:31:30 Alison Doctor's orders. 00:31:32 Dr. Ellie Cannon Yeah, definitely. No hoovering and definitely lots of napping. 00:31:36 Alison I love it. I love it. Doctor 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 at Netmums 00:31:43 Wendy Thank you Ellie! 00:31:44 Dr. Ellie Cannon Ohh, thank you. Thank you.