Doctors are now like hens teeth to find.

[secrets22]

After falling flat on my face and damaging my arms and legs 3 weeks ago,plus aches and pains all over,my Phycologist advised me to see a doctor,face to face,and not a telephone appointment.

I spent hours hanging on the phone and either the surgery phone was engaged or there was a voice saying 'you are now 14 in the queue' and in the end i gave up on trying because all the hours hanging on the phone you are charged heavily.

In desperation i wrote a letter and hand delivered it to the health centre,stating my annoyance at their lack of concern,and how badly patients are treated with total disregard for their wellbeing,

I should point out that normally i have the greatest respect for the NHS ,but now they are failing the public alarmingly,bearing in mind that in the last 18 months doctors have certainly not been rushed off their feet as its been impossible to see one,and how on earth can they diagnose a problem by a phone call,instead of face to face.?

The very next day i received a phone call full of apologies,and saying a doctor would phone me and arrange for me to be seen,and i was seen the same day.

I duly arrived for my appointment and apart from me,the surgery was completely empty,I then was ushered in to see a doctor,and he did examine me closely,and i was relieved that nothing dangerously was wrong,and i was told to rest up and do no heavy lifting.

I am still in quite a lot of pain and discomfort but at least i feel a certain relief,but we should not have to go to such lengths for an appointment,but it proves there is power in the pen.

[hypercat54]

What a terrible experience and thank goodness you were able to see a doctor. It just proves they can when they want to. I am glad you are ok though.

Mine are just the same and don't have an ounce of care in them. I had a few bad experiences with mine even before the pandemic. One of the worst ones was when I suddenly felt very ill, couldn't breathe and could hardly walk. I went straight up to the surgery and they asked me whether I had an appointment to which I answered I wasn't ill at 8.30.

I asked to see the emergency doctor and was told she was out and they didn't know how long she would be. Their lack of care was breath taking! I have lung disease so was of course very worried. I was told I would be better off going up to a and e - yeah right! £16.00 in cab fares and waiting all day. I said I have copd and I would tell the hospital how they treated me. Miraculously a doctor became free then.

It turned out I had (without any warning) a very severe chest infection and was given ab's and steroids. Crazy!

[b1b1b1 in reply to hypercat54]

Hypercat54, I just don't understand what is going on with the NHS. Here it is exactly the opposite. So many people are afraid to go to the doctor because of covid, that the offices are empty and you can get an appointment much more quickly than you could before covid. xx

[hypercat54 in reply to b1b1b1]

Well so many are afraid here too. I guess the doctors are the most worried coz most of them seem to be in self isolation!

[b1b1b1 in reply to hypercat54]

The doctors should all be inoculated by now. xx

[hypercat54 in reply to b1b1b1]

Well they are obviously still very scared and are hiding in their posh homes and taking their dogs out for long walks instead. 🤣

[Arymretep]

So glad you got seen in the end, it’s unbelievably hard to get to see a Dr since Covid , I can’t understand it, because as you say if you do manage to get an appointment there is hardly anyone in the surgery, I think they have got used to phone apps now and don’t want to go back to normal apps as it’s easier for them, yet the government has told them that they should be seeing patients face to face.