Surgery woes

My enthusiasm for our surgery as already waned. On Friday I rang to make an appointment for a couple of health issues that are niggling me – itchy scalp & eyes. I suspect neither are urgent. The only appointment available was at 8.30am in Morecambe, a couple of miles away. Otherwise I would have to wait until mid-April. I should ring just before 10am today & further appointments would be available.

I booked the 8.30am provisionally, thinking if I can get a more convenient one, I could cancel it. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve concluded that 8.30 is silly. Both conditions get worse as the day goes on. Just looking you can’t see anything wrong with my eyes. Later on the lids around the nose area have become redly sore & the skin is flaking whitely. It feels papery. The corner of the eye feels gritty making my eyes feel permanently tired. However, when I’ve just had my morning wash the skin looks fine. It would be better to see a doctor later on.

So this morning, about 9.55am I ring the surgery. There’s already a queue of at least 10 people awaiting appointments. It’s obviously going to be a long wait with no certainty of a better option being available. It dawned upon me this afternoon we are intending to go along past the surgery. I’m thinking my best bet is to pop in & talk to the receptionist there. Maybe I will have better luck.

On the whole the doctors at our surgery are good. I’m still touched that my own allocated GP should have bothered to ring to check how I was coping with the breast cancer & its treatment.

It’s the appointment system that gets to me. I dread having to make an appointment. It always takes so long on the phone waiting, listening to some boring musack interspersed with various plugs for the practice’s services. I just want to get to those services easily, without all the hassle.