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Tuesday 27 August 2013

Approaching The End Of The Road

I recently changed doctors - if you have followed my blog for a while you will know that the blood tests were negative.

Six days after I had seen that GP, I went back for clarification, and six days after diagnosing me with a heart condition, she lost her temper with me for refusing to accept that there is nothing wrong with my heart - which seems (a) unprofessional behaviour and (b) hard to reconcile with her diagnosis of the previous week.

When I outlined the symptons I had had the previous day, she flew off the handle again, having a go at me for "troubling" the surgery with this.

I got up, walked to receptionist, asked them to make the GP aware of the Zero Tolerance rules and to ensure that her behaviour met with these rules, went to another surgery to register, got home and wrote a letter to the General Medical Council's Fitness To Practice Directorate.

So this morning I overslept, and wondered whether to just phone up and cancel - after all, I had been let down enough and didn't want it again. But I decided that instead I would hurridly get up and out and go.

This was a very positive meeting. The GP, a locum, had seen the notes I had written about my heart problems (yes, there is a standard form about your health history, but I felt this warranted a complete A4 sheet). And he noted that I had been let down so many times over this, and it was time something was done. So he'll be writing to the cardiology department at Southampton General Hospital to move things on, and he was talking about either minor surgery to correct the problem or medicines to manage it.

In addition, he noted the effect all this has had on me - the uncertainty over my health, the financial stress of ending up unemployed over it etc.

And finally I felt like I was being taken seriously, and that we will get to the bottom of this.

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