2 NEWS
2 NEWS
3 NOVEMBER 2023 ausdoc . com . au
GPs get Blake apology
Carmel Sparke COMEDIAN Hamish Blake has apologised to GPs and retracted his claim he could bluff his way through a day as a GP .
In a podcast last month , the comedian originally declared : “ I say this with the greatest respect for this profession , and I don ’ t want this to be confused with me saying you don ’ t need to train … but I honestly think that I could get through one day of being a GP .”
He added : “ I think I have enough general medical knowledge , I do a lot of googling [ of ] medical issues and I ’ ve got now 20 years ’ experience of going to the GP for what they would see .”
A transcript of the segment was shared among doctors , who were not much impressed , with one saying his judgement felt like a “ stab in the heart ”.
Melbourne GP Dr Preeya Alexander said she understood the segment was lighthearted but that it was a dig at a specialty “ already on its knees ”.
A week after the podcast aired , Mr Blake said the response from the medical community and emails from GPs had given him reason to rethink the wisdom of his comment .
Hamish Blake .
He revealed : “ I had some great conversations with GPs , some kinder than others , on email , but I have learnt a lot from the kinder ones .
“ The step here is to formally retract my answer .
“ Nine years of training , extremely hard conditions , incredible job they do .” He added : “ When something gets transcribed from a silly environment like our show , and then
‘ Doctors , here ’ s how I look at it . They took an oath to do no harm . I broke their oath on them .’
FACEBOOK you see it online , you go , ‘ Oh , okay , no-one wins out of this ; this doesn ’ t end well .’
“ I reckon in that instance you go ,
we ’ ve got two choices here ,” he told co-host Andy Lee . “ You either dig in or you apologise .
“ In this case , I think it ’ s a very , very easy choice to apologise because number one , obviously … we love doctors .”
During his email exchanges with GPs , he said a few had lightheartedly suggested they were owed an apology song , as the show had done in the past to others it had offended .
“ In reading those emails , that really were listing in great depth the incredible work that a GP does , no part of me was going , ‘ I think these guys want a funny song ,’” Mr Blake said .
“ Doctors , here ’ s how I look at it . They took an oath to do no harm . I broke their oath on them .
“ And I feel for those doctors who heard that and they were hurt . I ’ m very sorry .”
Mr Blake said he was going to decline the many offers he had received to sit in a GP surgery for a day , saying patients would not want it . “ I think you ’ d be bummed out if you were a patient and you turned up to a GP and [ it was ] like , ‘ Today , we ’ re doing a test where this idiot is the doctor for the day .’” See Letters , page 15
‘ Start screening at 45 ’
FROM PAGE 1 Professor Graham Newstead , medical director of Bowel Cancer Australia .
“ What we do know is that people under the age of 50 have an increased risk of developing bowel cancer when they experience one or more symptoms of abdominal pain , rectal bleeding , diarrhoea and iron-deficiency anaemia between three months and two years prior to diagnosis .”
The new recommendations were approved by the NHMRC in September ; however , it is unclear when the changes will be reflected in the screening program itself .
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Aged Care said : “ The government is carefully considering the implications of the recommendation in the updated guidelines to lower the eligible age of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program to 45 years , including the costs and flow-on implications for the broader health system .”