The doctors will see you now, and so will the viewers

There was a time when you went to see your local GP if you were ill or had an ailment.

These days though, getting an appointment at your doctor’s practice can be a bit like trying to arrange an audience with the Pope, or at least it can feel like that sometimes.

So perhaps a new Channel 4 TV show where viewers will be able to seek medical advice from doctors without moving from the sofa can help.

Instead of sitting in a surgery waiting to see a GP, viewers will be able to call a team of doctors for advice on anything from headaches to halitosis.

Live From The Clinic, a prime-time series to be broadcast this summer, will feature Dr Christian Jessen and Dr Dawn Harper from Embarrassing Bodies, the popular TV programme where people seek advice for conditions they feel uncomfortable talking to their own GP about.

The series of six one-hour live episodes will feature the doctors and guest specialists in a specially-designed studio and people will either be able to make a video call or pre-book through the clinic’s website. Channel 4 say the programme, which will also test over-the-counter treatments and look at popular procedures such as laser eye surgery, will showcase the way patients might be diagnosed in future.

“Imagine being able to get an appointment with one of our doctors as the programme is live on air”, says features commissioning editor Kate Teckman. “This is a truly innovative public service broadcast commission that will take us into the future of health programming.”

Whether they are leading the charge into this brave new world is open to conjecture, but there is no escaping the fact that the growing obsession with our health has made easy fodder for programme makers. In recent years the TV schedule has become littered with reality-style health shows like Supersize vs Superskinny, Embarrassing Bodies and Too Fat To Toddle (honestly, I’m not kidding).

The best of these, it could be argued, are the kind of engaging, accessible public health projects that the NHS arguably, should be doing. But can a live TV clinic really help people?

Nutrition consultant Dr Carina Norris believes so. “In a way it can be seen as a gimmick because TV producers are constantly looking for something different.

“We’ve had reality shows where people lose weight and there’s no doubt that we are more interested in our health and diet than we used to be.

“So my view is anything that encourages people to be more aware of their health is a good thing,” she says.

“It could trigger alarm bells in people who perhaps didn’t realise they had a problem, or who didn’t think they could something about it, and spur them to visit their GP.

“I could put my scientist’s hat on and say it’s shame that people aren’t interested in a dry medical programme about healthy eating, but a show like that wouldn’t get many viewers.”

However, she does have concerns. “There is a proviso that people may misunderstand the answer given to someone else’s problem and think they’re okay and are put off from going to see a doctor. If someone is worried about their health then they should get themselves checked out.”

Dr Sarah Brewer is a medical consultant who has worked as a GP and she questions whether a show like this is really going to make a difference.

“If anybody can make it work then it’s Christian and Dawn because they are excellent doctors and genuine callers will get sound medical advice. My worry is that lots of people will want their 15 seconds of fame and ring in with outrageous stories, but anyone with a problem should really go and see their own GP,” she says.

“Doctor’s conversations with patients are supposed to be private and if someone has a genuine problem you wouldn’t want millions of people earwigging, although by agreeing to go on telly they are giving their implicit consent.

“But I suspect a lot of people will contact the show to get a second opinion because they don’t like what their own doctor has told them, so they will have to be careful what they say about fellow doctors on live TV.”

But at the end of the day, whether it’s about entertainment or genuine medical issues, will people actually tune in to watch? “Who wants to sit and watch someone being diagnosed with piles? I’d much rather be out cycling, or going for a walk in the sunshine,” said Dr Brewer.

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