What do young people think about primary care?

In 2011, young volunteers from Right Here Brighton and Hove undertook research with over 170 young people on the topic of their experiences of using primary care services, both positive and negative¹.

This research highlighted a number of areas of primary care that influenced how young people viewed the quality of the support received.

These were:

• How GP practices are organised
• The attitudes and behaviours of those working within primary care
• The mental health treatment and support options available

In this guide, we explore these areas individually, describing some of the issues young people have experienced and highlighting ideas
and solutions adopted by individual practices to address these barriers.

How GP practices are organised

The way in which GP surgeries are organised can sometimes seem mystifying or inaccessible to young people. However, there are also many examples of steps that individual practices have taken to make themselves more young-person friendly.

On the next page are the key organisational barriers and bridges, as suggested by young people.

“I wanted to see a woman, but I got given a man that I had never met before, and the appointment was really rushed so I just felt like he didn’t care… my mum asked me ‘did he say this, did he ask that’ and it really worried me that he hadn’t.”

– Young person