My real name is Garfield, though most people just call me Gary. I’m a project manager for a brand implementation agency and I’ve recently turned 51.

My jobs can take me away from home quite a lot. When I’m really busy, I tend to travel to Paris at least twice a week. When projects are not so busy, it's more like once every three weeks but I’d say I travel for work about once a month.

If I’m not away for work, I like to visit my parents in the Midlands and I tend to get away for a weekend somewhere in the UK at least once every three months. I love going walking. I’m off to New York in November and then on to Miami. Since I tend to go away for big periods of time, when I am back in London, I socialise a lot. Out and about is my middle name. 

Given how much travelling I do, if you're abroad and you don’t speak the language, it's great to be able to speak to a doctor who speaks English, can access your records and help get to the issue straight away.

I had a call with Dr. Alvin Chan to discuss a small niggle that's been reoccurring for a while. It wasn’t a real health issue but it was something I was keen to get his advice on.

I had my appointment at 7pm in the evening and I got a reminder at 6.45pm. I like that my notes were ready for me to review so soon after the consultation - that was a novelty and it made it clear to me what the follow up should be. 

We ended up talking for about 15 minutes or so. Dr. Chan was very knowledgeable and offered some really good solutions to the issue as well as some follow up he thinks I should consider. He gave me a whole new take on how to approach something I'd been worrying about for so long. 

Being able to add to my notes before my appointment meant Dr. Chan was prepared when we spoke and was able to come to a quick prognosis for my ailment. For me, it was time well spent as adding my own notes stopped me from rambling on.

Dr. Chan was able to pinpoint and pick up on certain things I said and advise me accordingly. When you're time poor, that kind of being straight-to-the-point is very important.

I think I'm in fairly good nick. I tend to have a health check up every year and because I'm getting older now also, I really value my health and fitness. 

As I've explained to Dr. Chan, I like taking part in half marathons, 5k runs and that kind of thing outside work.

I injured my ankle about 8 years ago and was put on a referral waiting list to see either a sports injuries specialist or the sports muscular and skeletal injuries specialist. As there were only 5 or so available and the waiting time was really long, it took ages to finally see someone. At the time, I was in acute pain and I just wanted to be referred to straight away. When I told Dr. Chan, he advised me on other specialists I could get referred to and gave me various options which was really helpful.

The last 5k I did was about a month and a half ago. I'm still in recovery from that because of my returning injury. I don’t want to make things worse so I won’t be fully back to my racing best until I get it completely sorted.

That’s why I think it's so nice to have a service you can just call up and say "These are my issues at the moment, what do you think?".  

I really appreciate that. For me, it’s pretty ideal.