I saw a specialist a week ago last Monday. He prescribed an anti-epileptic drug and posted a request to my GP to issue it. I called on Friday to find they had not yet received it. I called the specialist’s secretary who told me it had been posted on Thursday.
Monday was a bank holiday, the GP said nothing received on Tuesday. Today the GP is not taking calls because they’re having one of their frequent ‘training days’.
I have said before that the NHS is falling apart.
I’d pay to see a GP privately, but I believe to do that would require me to arrange it with my GP…
who is often inaccessible!
I can’t wait to see what they say tomorrow… assuming, of course, that I can actually get through to them tomorrow!
I make such a drama when something like this happens. Emotional blackmail, persuasion, charm, project managing a solution, I’ve even burst into tears on the phone. Always gets me results. In your particular situation I would have persuaded the specialist’s secretary to email me the letter and then posted it through the GPs letter box myself. If the hospital was nearby I’d turn up there and talk the reception staff in the clinic to print me a copy. Luckily most hospitals tend to send a copy of the letter to the patient. So if the GP tells me they don’t have it I scan and email it to them. Surprised they don’t do that in your area.
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I’m afraid that since the Covid excuse, our GP practice has become less and less reliable. But then, isn’t that the case for the whole NHS now anyway?
Actually, yesterday evening I received a text message from one of the doctors at the practice, that’s at the end of their ‘training day’, asking me to telephone the practice and arrange for a telephone consultation with any doctor. (I wonder how people who don’t have telephones get on!). I suspect that someone there has just realised that this medication might just be something needed urgently. So why didn’t they just send the prescription to the chemist straight away?
Yes, I was told that my pacemaker’s battery was flat. That was 18 moths ago, They (Harefield Hospital) checked it, again, six months later, still flat.
On Tuesday, I’m to be checked again - probably still flat!
I’ve drafted a note asking if they will post a new pacemaker battery, to me, to self fit!
If they reply, I think they might demur!
I’m wondering what is the best way out of the healthcare problems we face at the moment in this country, especially as I’ve read that it’s likely to go on for many years yet.
And then it occurred to me that the Royal Family don’t have any such problems. They seem to be seen by whatever specialists they need at the drop of a hat.
So I had a brilliant idea: marry into the Royal Family.
Some years ago I’d have happily married Princess Anne. Unfortunately, she’s now old and no longer beautiful… and married too, to make matters worse.
Andrew’s two sprogs were nowhere near as attractive, but needs must. However, they’ve both become hitched now as well.
I can’t see any others on offer, I’m afraid. What to do?
The Queen is unencumbered nowadays JBR, whether she is ‘open to offers’ though I have no idea!
No, she’s certainly a nice lady, but just a little too old for my liking. Thanks for the suggestion, though.
Hi
Posted it?
How old fashioned is that?
NHS email, there in seconds.
, With proof of delivery.
I know my hospital number and NHS Number off by heart, i can rattle them out.
My history and medications are freely accessible to all registered NHS users.
The problem is my GP practice never bother to read them, much less action them.
Ah, I wondered what you were talking about. Then the penny dropped.
Rhian, I promise you that I am sure that you do have doctors in Wales. I certainly wasn’t implying that they’re all witch-doctors. Just a little joke.
In fact, I am absolutely certain that you even have teachers in Wales. 
Hi
They have lots of Doctors in Wales, but not that many large hospitals in Mid Wales.
They have a contract with my local Hospital in Shrewsbury, loads of Welsh Patients in A and E and Coronary Care, delivered by Air Ambulance or ordinary Ambulance.
Quite a number of nurses etc in Shrewsbury Hospital live over the border in Wales.
Absolutely.
I knew a Welsh bloke in the RAF, and I can assure you that most Welsh people are surprisingly civilised. 
(I do hope that Rhian has a good sense of humour.)
Oh dear! Is ‘sais’ a rude word?
I probably deserve it. 
Do your homework boy
Look it up!!!
Yes Miss. I did… with some difficulty.
All I could find was that it means ‘Englishman’, which isn’t particularly rude.
However, one thing I did come up with was this report, featuring the words ‘Twll din pob sais’:
Actually, I found that very amusing. Perhaps you missed out the first three words in error!
No problem, though. I don’t mind being laughed at!
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Good work JBR 
See me after class 
Ooh, yes please, Miss! 
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Better late than never, JBR, but this might help answer your question.
Todger could do with reading it too: 
" Licensed naturopathic doctors attend a four-year, graduate-level naturopathic medical school and are educated in all of the same basic sciences as an MD, but also study holistic and nontoxic approaches to therapy with a strong emphasis on disease prevention and optimizing wellness.".
May I assume that this is in America? The ‘MD’ gave it away. In the UK, an MD is a post-qualification academic degree for doctors who have previously followed a five-year MB ChB degree course, and that is just the beginning of their career as a doctor.
A four-year degree course is exactly what I did, and that certainly didn’t make me a doctor and certainly not an MD!
We shall have to disagree on our opinions of course, Mups, but what you describe as that four-year MD-type course doesn’t sound very convincing to me. I assure you that I would never trust my existing medical problems (diabetes, kidney problems, ?epilepsy and ?cardiac problems) to a quack doctor who would probably tell me to treat myself with mint tea and a few berries! 