Why Doesn’t My GP Understand ADHD & What’s Really Happening in the 10-Minute Appointment

If you've ever left a GP appointment feeling dismissed, confused or like you had to fight to be taken seriously, this episode will help you understand why, and what you can actually do about it.

On this week's episode of The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast, I'm joined by Dr Victoria Galvis, a GP based in Greater Manchester with over 20 years of lived experience of neurodivergence and a fierce passion for changing how the healthcare system supports neurodivergent people.

Victoria qualified as a doctor in Colombia and has been practising in the UK since 2010, working across both hospital medicine and primary care. Alongside Dr Safiya Virji, GP and Associate Professor at Queen Mary University of London, she has written Neurodivergence in Primary Care: A Practical Guide for UK Healthcare Professionals, a comprehensive, research-backed resource designed to educate clinicians and support patients in navigating the system more effectively.

In this episode, Victoria explains the structural reasons why GPs often don't know enough about ADHD and neurodivergence, and it is not as simple as them not caring. She talks about the discrimination she faced as a neurodivergent doctor, why the 10-minute consultation is both a challenge and something patients can learn to work with, and how the book came about from 20 years of clinical experience and a determination to change things for her son, her patients and the next generation of healthcare professionals.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why GPs receive less than two hours of ADHD training and have zero budget to update their knowledge
• How media narratives and ableist assumptions about ADHD have shaped clinical attitudes
• Victoria's own experience of disability discrimination as a neurodivergent doctor, and why she kept going
• Why ADHD and autism could not even be co-diagnosed until 2013, and what that means for the doctors currently practising
• How the 10-minute GP consultation works, and practical ways to make the most of it
• Why bringing a list to a GP appointment is genuinely helpful, not annoying
• How to ask for the right GP in your practice for your specific needs
• When and how to share your own research with your doctor, and how most GPs actually receive it
• Why executive dysfunction affects how patients experience healthcare at every stage
• The importance of bringing someone with you, recording the appointment or using other memory tools
• Why most mental health presentations in primary care have a deep-rooted neurodivergent component
• Kate and Victoria's grassroots idea for getting this book into every GP surgery

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Welcome and introducing Dr Victoria Galvis
• 02:00 - Victoria's ADHD diagnosis at 19 and her early career in the UK
• 05:00 - The discrimination she faced as a neurodivergent doctor and why she fought back
• 09:00 - Why GPs don't know more about ADHD, and why it is not their fault
• 13:00 - Zero training budget, no CPD funding and what that means in practice
• 16:00 - Why most mental health presentations have a neurodivergent component
• 19:00 - How the 10-minute consultation works from the doctor's side
• 23:00 - Practical tips for making the most of your GP appointment
• 28:00 - How to share your own research with your GP and what to expect
• 32:00 - When to ask for a follow-up, and why you should book with the right person
• 36:00 - How the book came about, and what it covers
• 40:00 - Kate and Victoria's grassroots idea: getting the book into every GP surgery
• 43:00 - How to get the book and where to find Victoria

Links and Resources:

• Find my popular ADHD Women's Wellbeing workshops and resources on my website ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.
• Connect with the podcast on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@adhd_womenswellbeing_pod⁠⁠⁠
• Get my book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit (also available in ebook and audiobook) ⁠⁠⁠here
• Join the More Yourself membership community ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠
• Visit Victoria's website: victoriagalvis.com
• Get the book: Neurodivergence in Primary Care: A Practical Guide for UK Healthcare Professionals - Also available free on Kindle Unlimited

Kate Moryoussef is a women's ADHD lifestyle and wellbeing coach and EFT practitioner who helps overwhelmed and unfulfilled newly diagnosed women with ADHD find more calm, balance, hope, health, compassion, creativity, and clarity.

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