Polio - The Late Effects Reality

General Practitioner Services

Although, in general terms, people with disabilities do not regard themselves as "sick", a General Practitioner (GP) who is aware and conversant with the disability is of great benefit. Those who have LEP, as with others suffering from neurological conditions, need it to be managed over a long number of years.

Therefore, the survey contained a section that specifically addressed GP services.

Table 8 – GP aware of Polio History

From the total of 183 (82%) who replied that their GP was aware of their history, 124 (67%) had discussed the subject of LEP with them. Yet Table 6 clearly shows that only some 74 (33%) of that number had a formal diagnosis of LEP.

Table 9 – Discussed LEP with GP

Furthermore, only 62 (50%) of those who had discussed the subject stated that they were offered any help or advice. This may be because only 36 respondents (17%) felt that their GP practice could positively deal with LEP, with another 42 (20%) only being able to do so somewhat.

Table 10 –Advice/help offered by GP practice

Respondents were asked to state what services were available through their GP. These are shown in the Table 11 below:

Interestingly, when asked to comment on the service received from their GP 138 respondents (61%) made "No Comment". (The survey did not pursue the reasons for this high rate.)

Table 11 -Services available through GP