Project aims:
We aimed to develop a tool that can be used in General Practice (GP) appointments when it is not clear what might be causing symptoms. We wanted to create a personalised plan to help patients keep track of their symptoms by specifying what they need to monitor and when to get back in touch if their symptoms continue, get worse, or if new symptoms appear.
What you told us:
During workshops with members of the public and patients they told us that they would like the choice of a paper and electronic version of the action plan, and what information they would like it to include.
What we did next:
Based on this information we changed the plan to include the information the group wanted. We then presented that to GPs to see what they thought. We then presented the GPs thoughts back to the public and patient group to see what they thought of the GPs suggestions. We then kept changing the intervention, so it included the public and patient suggestions and was also believed to be acceptable by the GPs.
Final or key finding:
We now have a ‘prototype’ plan ready to test with GPs and patients to see if it works. This work is ongoing.
What does this mean:
The action plan may help to improve the diagnosis of vague symptoms and earlier cancer diagnosis. By including the preferences and needs of members of the public, patients and GPs we are hopeful we have developed an intervention that will be used by patients and is accepted by GPs.