So what has made me realise this important fact after a number of years of being told that I am slowly but surely becoming what I always said I wouldn’t be, a grumpy old man?<\/p>\n
Today, after about 12 days of suffering from a sore throat and my tongue feeling as if it has pins and needles at the tip and sides, I decided to visit my doctor’s surgery, have a consultation and then pick up my free prescription and be back home by 10 o\/c ready to do some work. I told my wife I was doing this so she gave me a shopping list and I decided to do some banking which I could fit in while waiting for the prescription to be filled.<\/p>\n
Here where I live, you can’t make appointments for the doctor on the day you are unwell, you either have to guess that in two weeks you need to see a doctor or turn up at around 8:15 and queue until they open and hope they have an empty slot for you. So standing there in the drizzle for 20 minutes put me in a great frame of mind and then I was told the earliest I could see any doctor was 10:10 so I took that appointment and decided a coffee in Maccie D’s while reading my book would pass some time.<\/p>\n
So 40 minutes later after dropping my shoes in the cobblers for new heels, I arrived back at the doctors for my appointment with around thirty minutes to wait so got out my book and read a bit more. At the appointed time I packed up my book and readied myself for the call to the inner sanctum for a quick look down my throat, a printed prescription and away. It was only when a woman asked the time that I found they were running thirty minutes late already on appointments.<\/p>\n
I got out my book and read for another fifty minutes before I was called in and four minutes later, I was away with my prescription and to complete my shopping. Why can’t everyone be as easy to diagnose as me?<\/p>\n
So a 90 minutes visit to the doctor took nearly three and a half hours from leaving my house to getting back there again and my whole day is falling apart as things that should be done are being put off till tomorrow!<\/p>\n
And why does it take so long to see your doctor here in the UK? The waiting room was full most of the time and there were others who wandered in and got seen before me as their doctor seemed to recycle their patients so much quicker than mine!<\/p>\n
Oh and another thing! There was one teenage girl there with her mother and they were exploring the wonders of their mobile phones and neither of them saw their name appear in big bright lights on the calling board and they sat there in complete oblivion until the receptionist came over and told them it was their turn. The old boy next to me commented that this would never have happened in his day as if you missed your slot, you were not seen! He was also the next patient in to see their doctor so I can see where he was coming from!<\/p>\n
So is it me getting old and expecting more or is the whole system in the UK falling to bits? Hopefully it is not just me as I’m sure that when I was younger there was never this sort of problem in getting in to see your doctor!<\/p>\n
Anyway, I’m sure there will be more instances in the future where the Grumpy Old Man inside me rears its ugly head and I’ll be sure to share them with you!<\/p>\n
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