If you turn to Google for advice when your child gets sick or pick up the phone to your mother - you’re not alone.
A new study shows mums are more likely to turn to Google or their mother for guidance on children’s health issues than their GP.
Not wanting to bother their GP unnecessarily, finding it hard to get through on the phone and feeling like they will only get fobbed off means mums avoid contacting their doctor until they really need to.
It also emerged that people are just as likely to trust their mum when their child is suffering from a rash or high temperature as their local doctor.
Lisa Jordan, a specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, which commissioned the survey, said “There was a time when the GP was the first person we turned to whenever we had a medical concern. And that doctor would most likely know you personally and be familiar with you and your family’s health.
"But now, people rarely see the same doctor each time they visit a surgery, let alone get an appointment with their actual GP.
"As a result, our reliance on our local doctor is falling and it seems we are turning to someone closer to us like our mums. “
The study of 2,000 mums found that just one in five said their first port of call would be their doctor if they or their child were ill.
Instead, 29% would ask their mum for advice, while another 26% would rely on the internet for guidance on what they should do about the symptoms.
But the delay in turning to a doctor could prove costly with 16% of mums admitting their child has become more seriously ill because they put off seeing a medical profession after a previous bad experience.
28% of mums even said typing symptoms into Google is the first thing they do when their child complains of being ill, with rashes, high temperatures and vomiting the most common searches in this situation.
Concerns were also raised about not being taken seriously and having a wrong diagnosis in the past in the study.
Worryingly, 58% of mums have been made to feel like a paranoid mother after visiting their doctor with their child. And 61% of mums feel like they have been brushed off by their GP after visiting them with an ill child.
“While doctors and nurses should always be the first point of call for any illness or injury concerns, patients do have the right to ask questions and challenge their treatment or that of their children if they are worried by what they might have read elsewhere on the internet or heard from others,” said Jordon
Top ten children’s symptoms/illnesses mums Google
1. Rashes
2. High temperature
3. Vomiting
4. Diarrhoea
5. Ear pain
6. Coughing
7. Stomach ache
8. Poor appetite
9. Sore throat
10. Swelling
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