NHS - Not all bad.

Pharmacy 2U is brilliant....faultless. We used it for my Dad's medication...

 

Which is why they all keep taking more patients even though they can't deal with the ones they already have.

My surgery was taking on new patients just after Christmas, but try to get an appointment and it's come back next week and try again.

It really isn't a place for ill people any more, just waiting outside in the street for 40 minutes or so is too much if you are not well.
It's basically a repeat prescription and referral service rather than a doctor's surgery, any sign of illness on your part and they say go to A&E.

 

Had 3 visits to A&E recently and although the wait times are long, at least you get a seat to sit on and they are pretty good at what they do.

 

At least you see what a Doctor looks like

 

My one gripe, if I can call it that, is you can't always understand them.

It's a crazy world when doctors who train here go off somewhere else to practice, because they can earn more money or a better life style, then we take doctors from poorer countries that really need them.
I think it used to be called, the brain drain.

 

There was a doctor at our local surgery who's English was terrible (although still miles better than I can speak a second language).

He had a terrible reputation, and I encountered him myself and also thought he was rubbish. I was there because both my knees were done in. Nothing permanent, just overuse injuries from too much martial arts and mistaking myself for a teenager.

Without referring me for any diagnostic tests, he just prescribed anti inflammatory meds, and suggested I go for a walk twice a week for no more than two miles at a time.

I was furious. I felt like he'd simply written me off. But with hindsight, his plan was bang on. The anti inflammatory meds were to get any swelling down to make it easier to carry out further tests, and the very limited walks were to keep things moving just enough to avoid muscle atrophy while waiting to see what the anti inflammatory meds did. It was perfect advice, only let down by his limited English. I feel a bit guilty for writing him off as a rubbish doctor now. He was an excellent doctor, and making a commendable effort with his English. I don't know where he works now but a few years on, presumably with better English by now so he can explain better, I hope he isn't still hindered by his unfair reputation.

 

50 years ago we had two GPs one was from the Ukraine the other Polish, both had heavy accents especially the Ukranian one. Many patients didn't like them because they were both direct, no nonsense doctors. Antibiotics? No you have a sore throat it will clear up in a few days. Remove tonsils? No! they do a job and are supposed to be there etc. Yet if you were ill, they were good, house calls no problem and I'll drop back again later to see how .... is doing.

 

The main one I came across was a consultant.
He said my hernia wasn't bad enough and I should come back when it's causing me real problems.
He kept me waiting 75min past my appointment time and I was the only one there all that time.
The nurse must have felt sorry for me because she spent 30 minutes just chatting to me, and then explained that he was doing phone appointments first.
If I had had a phone appointment I would have given up straight away, I managed to catch about one word in three.
I sometimes wonder how safe this kind of thing is when there is a language problem.

 

When I tore a tendon in my shoulder, I had an ultrasound scan to work out what had bust. The guy conducting the scan was also the consultant. He had me move my arm in different ways while he watched the screen.

There was a funny bit. He asked me to put my hand in my bucket. I looked at the nurse who was assisting and she quietly translated, 'he means buttock, put your hand on your buttock'. The foreign consultant raised an eyebrow, then remembered the word he was looking for. He wanted me to put my hand in my pocket so that my shoulder would rotate backwards while relaxed.

 

I wanted it checked because I didn't want it to get worse, but apparently you have to be in really bad state before they will put you on the 12 month plus, waiting list.

Until they work out that sorting something early tends to give a complete recovery, whereas waiting until it's a debilitating problem means that the outcome is unlikely to be good, they will be running in order to stand still.

 

I saw the consultant at the beginning of March and was put on the list for a hip replacement. 4 months on and the only word I have had is it could be next year. Lothian Health Board.