Saga about how not to get a medical appointment

I took this photo in the waiting room today. It’s not the appointment in my saga; this was just a regular monthly injection appointment.

If you have a new but non urgent health issue, you either get in a very long phone queue ( usually about 40 minutes) or use an online form called Klinik. I submitted this form on April 4th  Three days later I had a text telling me they were too busy, because of strikes and staff sickness, to deal with my form, and I must complete another Klinik form on April 17th!   So I did this, and got a text saying I would be phoned by ‘a clinician’ in 5 - 10 working days. On the 14th day the so/called ‘clinician’ who phoned me was a Receptionist,  who offered me a PHONE appointment with a physiotherapist. I would have to wait another 9 days for this and I’m not even convinced that a physio is the ‘clinician’ I need.

On the appointed day I was driving and had 3 calls from a withheld number. I didn’t answer as I never do, even hands free, while driving. If the number had been displayed showing ‘doctor’ I would have pulled over and answered the call. The appointment was for 4.30 pm. These three calls were at 4.01, 4.02, and 4.13. I was home at 4.20 and waited for my 4.30 call. It didn’t happen. Online on my appointment list it said ‘did not attend’.  So I got in the phone queue to find out what had happened . The receptionistt said I had been phoned 3 times and not answered, and a voicemail had been left. I checked and there was no voicemail. I asked to speak to the Practice Manager, who was of course unavailable, but I was told she would phone me ‘but possibly not today’. Three days later she phoned, and only had excuses. The first new appointment she could offer me was June 1st!!!!!

The answer is of course to change my doctor. There used to be 5 separate GP surgeries in St Austell, but then they amalgamated into one, with only 1 central phone number. They have about 45thousand patients! They call themselves St Austell Healthcare. After the Practice Manager said my health issue (as yet undiagnosed) was a routine issue and therefore not urgent, I told her she should change the name from St Austell Healthcare to just St Austell Health, because there was no ‘Care’.She said ‘I disagree’.

I am now stuck, after initially requesting help on April 4th, waiting for a phone appointment on June 1st. As the saying goes, ‘I am losing the will to live’.

I imagine the waiting room is virtually deserted because most patients are at home waiting for a phone call.