Have you ever thought what a typical day in the life of a Doctor is? 

Have you ever wondered how a Doctor in private healthcare goes about his day? 

If the answer is yes to either of these questions (I hope it is) then today I will be breaking this down for you so you can get an insight into my day. 

So first let me tell you a little about myself first. My name is Ashish Srivastava and I am a qualified GP. I have been working with Gogodoc now for three years as a GP, and more recently as a Medical Director also.  

So my usual day involves me waking up around 7am. A glass of hot water with a slice of lemon is how I always start my day, followed by heading out for a 30 minute jog. This jog really clears my head and helps me feel motivated for the day ahead.  

I log myself online onto my Doctors app around 8AM. This is where I can see all my pre-booked appointments which are often a mixture of telephone calls, video calls and home visits. I will call patients for both telephone calls and video consultations via either my app or my laptop depending on how the patient has booked. 

Most of my day however, revolves around home visits. These again can be pre-booked or booked at any time during my shift. My hours on call are 8am to 11pm so as you can imagine, I have to always be alert and close to my phone! 

When calling a patient (for a home visit), I confirm the patient’s identity and then proceed to take a brief history. Based on this, I am trying to get an idea of what I may be dealing with so I can anticipate this on my visit, but most importantly I am assessing for any red flags, i.e. any signs or symptoms that would make me concerned that the patient may be in immediate serious risk to his or her health. 

Once I have taken the telephone history and ruled out any red flags, I make sure to confirm the address with the patient. It is important to do this to again confirm I have the right patient and that I am heading to the correct address. 

I always let the administrator know where I am headed so they are aware of my visit. This is good from a personal safety aspect but also so we can plan to co-ordinate other visits and calls following the visit. 

When I get to my patients house, I once again confirm the patient’s name, and show my ID badge to reassure the patient whom I am before I enter their house. I proceed with the consultation by taking a more detailed history. I prefer to make my notes as I talk to the patient to ensure I don’t forget anything later on. Following this, I will proceed to examine the patient, and together we will make a shared management plan. Usually this may involve me giving advice, and issuing the patient with a script. However, we also regularly arrange for patients to have referrals to a specialist done, provide medications to be delivered to the patient’s door, or a blood test pack sent. 

Once this is over and done with I will again be in contact with the admin and inform them that the consultation has been completed.  My admin team will then tell me what the schedule for the rest of the day is.  

Personally, I find this job great and what I love most about the job is the flexibility. I am able to do day to day tasks and admin while working. It’s a bit different to the usual 9 to 5. I also like the job as it provides a variety to my working week, as two days a week I also work in a clinic for an NHS surgery.  

I hope this insight into my day has been helpful, and I look forward to sharing more blogs with you in the future.  

Dr Ashish Srivastava MBChB MRCGP 

GP and Medical Director at Gogodoc.