High speed NHS

We’ve discovered high speed National Health.

Last Friday we made an appointment for the Fox to see a doctor about his hip. The appointment was for yesterday, just a couple of working days later.

After an examination the doctor came to the same conclusion we had. It was one of two things, either arthritis in the hip or a muscular imbalance, a consequence of his stroke. So he duly decided the Fox needed an X-ray and he also should see a physiotherapist. We were told that it would probably take about 6 weeks.

So you can imagine our surprise to discover that the local hospital in Morecambe did a walk-in X-ray service. Our surgery has three sites. It just happens I have to go to the Morecambe site for my blood-letting today. This site is at the back of the Morecambe Queen Victoria hospital, so while I wait for the nurse in the surgery, the Fox can wait for an X-ray in the hospital next door.

Before we left the surgery yesterday, the receptionist organised the physiotherapy appointment. It’s on Friday, this Friday. Someone had cancelled an appointment. So it would seem the Fox should know exactly what the problem is by the end of the week, beginning of next, and may even have started to have treatment for it.

It comes as quite a shock, having been warned of a 6 week waiting list and having experienced even longer waits in the past. It’s all the more amazing when you can hardly call the problem life-threatening, just an uncomfortable nuisance.