Rammya Mathew: Tackling overmedicalisation must become a political priority

Overmedicalisation has been around as a concept for more than 20 years, with campaigners ardently trying to shine a light on the harms of too much medicine.1 But you only have to speak to fellow colleagues to realise that it’s still very much a peripheral concept. Most doctors still take the view that over-intervention is an infinitely better option than under-intervention. But from the extent of overmedicalisation I see in general practice alone, I don’t believe that this is a helpful perspective.Patients are consulting us more than ever before. The average person now consults their GP eight times a year, with frequent attenders consulting as many as 40 times.2 People seem to have become much less comfortable with the idea of self-management and are increasingly seeking reassurance for mild symptoms, sometimes after only a few days.3 The inherent problem is that, as soon as patients consult a healthcare professional, they’re…
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