Doctors in St Andrews

[suffering]

Sorry, this post is mainly just a mini rant but I also wanted to get other people's opinions on this issue. I think I have a throat infection, not too serious but need some sort of painkiller/antibiotic and I phoned up for an appointment today. The nurse on the phone was rude all the way through the conversation and offered me an appointment at a tutorial time. When i told her about said tutorial she said that i should question if I was really ill if i can go to a tutorial (despite it being 3 weeks till exams and compulsory hour etc) and refused to give me another appointment time. Ok so im not dying but am i right in thinking this is a really inappropriate way to speak to someone, I also get the feeling if I were not a student she may have handled me differently. Ok rant over, but has anyone else experienced similar problems with the health centre?

[holden caulfield]

While it is unacceptable for the receptionist to have been rude to you, I think I would probably agree that if it were serious you should miss your tutorial. I have done it several times before - it is a legitimate abscence that tutors dont mind, and mine usually let me come to a different tutorial slot that week if they have one. And at least they offered you a quick appointment, I always seem to ahve to wait about a week for one.


This isnt supposed to be a rant against you, hope you get better soon.

[Tigger]

Dont even get me started on this... the health centre is a shambles. most of the time its dependent on whether they can be bothered. avoid dr. morris like the plague, he will tell you you have a virus, no matter what the complaint. true, you could miss your tutorial, but better yet, if you get no joy, go to the memorial hospital after 6, someone will have to see you, you'll get a prescription straightaway, and at least you dont have to speak to "miss rude" or "mrs Couldntgiveafuck"

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My Wings Are Like A Shield of Steel...
(Claire Raynor)

[Guest]

Having worked summer jobs in GP surgeries for the past three years, I have to say I really don't have any sympathy for your plight - every last one of the surgeries in Fife has well over the government's recommended number of patients per doctor, and as such appointments are very hard to come by, and same - day appointments even more so. The nurse has a point - if you're well enough to go to a tutorial, three weeks 'till the exams or not, you're well enough not to need a doctor.

[themushroomgod]

No, Tigger, the time of your appointment is dependant on whether there are any appointments available. And if Dr. Morris tells you you have a virus, you probably do, and all the while he's probably thinking "how can I get rid of this ignorant bastard who's using up time I could be treating genuinely ill patients, and'll probably just go away and moan about the fine service I've just done for him?"

If you don't like the NHS service, go private, you prick. Or die.

Oh, and it's pretty damn selfish to use up hospital time for something that's really a case for a GP.

[hr]

Ooh! A Monkey!

[beeny]

Quoting themushroomgod from 13:20, 27th Apr 2006

If you don't like the NHS service, go private, you prick. Or die.

[hr]

Ooh! A Monkey!

Yeah, cos that's a good idea. Moron. No wonder the NHS is in such a poor state when people like you are ushering others to go private because they voice a genuine concern over the state of healthcare in the UK. The more flooded the private sector becomes, the fewer doctors elect to work in the NHS hence the NHS suffers.

Waiting times are a shambles - when I first phoned up Morris and partners, I couldn't get an appointment for 3 WEEKS with ANY doctor. Luckily my more recent dealings with the practice have been nothing short of brilliant; I managed to get an appointment the same day with the doctor of my choice and one following that less than a week later.

Back to the OP however, I tend to agree that if you can go to a tutorial, you don't need a doctor that badly. May I recommend a throat anaesthetic available over the counter in Boots etc? Worked wonders for one of my friends recently whose throat was in agony. You can pick it up on your way to your tutorial!

[hr]

'But what do I know? I'm a bear; I suck the heads off fish.'

[Thalia]

I don't think that the health centre should refuse to offer another appointment time based on the fact that they wanted to go to their tutorial. I suffer from throat infections quite often (more often than most anyway) and i have gone to tutorials before while suffering from one - but that doesn't mean that i need antibiotics any less than someone who's willing to skip their classes over it.

I'm assuming the original poster asked for an emergency appointment and that's why they were given hassle, but i've asked for emergency appointments before and been offered a time that i couldn't make. I just said that and they suggested another time. That's the way the original poster should have been treated too - they shouldn't have been questioned as to their judgement of what was worth seeing the doctor over.

And to the person about the hospital: I wouldn't trust the place over anything other than straight-forward, common illnesses. Went there in the middle of the night once, after already having been to the GP, because i was feverish and my throat was in pain. They gave me antibiotics. Went home a few days later cos i couldn't cope on my own anymore, GP back home took one look at me and said 'Glandular fever'. And then when i broke my wrist a week after i got my cast it was so loose i could almost get it off my arm. I was told, by them and by the GP when i went to him, that they wouldn't have anyone who could recast it for a week and i was just to put up with it. Went to Ninewells to get it done, was seen in five minutes and told that i never should have been recommended to leave my cast like that for a week.

Anyway, there's my rant of the day over

[hr]

The shadow proves the sunshine...

[beeny]

How can you postpone an 'emergency' appointment? Sorry, maybe I'm being obtuse but if you're calling your medical complaint an emergency, you take whatever appointment you can, class or no. You can rearrange tutorials too.

[hr]

'But what do I know? I'm a bear; I suck the heads off fish.'

[Thalia]

An emergency appointment means that you feel you need to be seen that day - it doesn't necessarily have to be an emergency, more just that it's urgent enough you think it needs to be checked now rather than next week. That doesn't mean that you have to drop all prior commitments just to fit it in. The surgery puts aside a certain amount of time each day for those who need to be seen urgently so it's not like you're just blocking up everyone else's times.

[hr]

The shadow proves the sunshine...

[Pandora]

95% of all throat infections are viral. Knowing this and coupled with the fact you are well enough to go to your tutorial I am not surprised you got hassle. Why don't you look into symptom relief instead? I have some sympathy with the receptionist. They have to decide allocation of emergency appointments and only have a limited number available. Perhaps on the day you phoned it was really busy and she was trying to put you off so this list wasn't too full.

[box_of_delights]

I have to agree that if your throat was severe enough to really warrant a doctor's attention, you should have taken the time offered. Tutorials (by using that term it implies you're a 1st or 2nd year) aren't that important you can't miss one for a valid reason. Even if you're at honours level with seminars it's still quite acceptable to miss one for a valid reason.

As for the health centre, I've never had a problem there. The staff have always been very accomodating and polite, in person or over the phone. Dr Karen Graham is lovely, too.

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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37101440

[Tigger]

yes... the "virus" was an infected tonsil that had abcessed. thats how much attention he payed. i ended up in hospital for three days becuase of it. and it isnt the first time either. there was a case last year when he told a student that she felt sick cos she had indigestion, two days later her appendix burst.
so get your facts right. k.

[hr]

My Wings Are Like A Shield of Steel...
(Claire Raynor)

[Tigger]

ps.... as for going private mushroomgod, not everyone can have there daddy or pimp or whoever supplying them with money and medicaid, and more to the point, anger management classes.

[hr]

My Wings Are Like A Shield of Steel...
(Claire Raynor)

[beeny]

Quoting Tigger from 15:35, 27th Apr 2006
ps.... as for going private mushroomgod, not everyone can have there daddy or pimp or whoever supplying them with money and medicaid, and more to the point, anger management classes.

[hr]

My Wings Are Like A Shield of Steel...
(Claire Raynor)

YAY!!! Go Tigger!!

[hr]

'But what do I know? I'm a bear; I suck the heads off fish.'

[Pandora]

For goodness sake. Doctors sometimes get the diagnosis wrong. Its part of life and doesnt always indicate incompitance. Two doctors missed my appendicitis. I dont feel angry about it- I wasnt presenting in a typical way that appendicitis presents. If you see a patient early on in their illness it might not have developed fully and therefore the diagnosis might be wrong. You just have to go back as things get worse.

[BeccaLydia]

Often having private coverage doesn't make a difference here anyway. I have never tried it here cos I usually just wait for things to get better on their own, but certainly in Durham when my sister was very ill, she couldn't get any appointment with any doctor within a week whether nhs or private. It was really very serious in that she had a bad ear infection in a reconstructed ear drum and she is a violinist, as well as doing her music degree. It got to the point that she just went to the surgery at 9am and refused to leave until she was seen. Even when she was seen they eventually gave her antibiotics, but told her that normally they would not give her anything, despite the fact that if her eardrum had burst she would have gone back to 40% hearing and had been throwing up. Not overly impressed, however the problem is mainly a lack of doctors, which is probably the government's fault.

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http://facebook.com/p.php?id=37100244&l

[themushroomgod]

I'd like to clarify, as I got a little carried away; I don't really condone private healthcare, don't use it myself, and hold the view that both it and private education should be banned. I was trying to get across the view that a doctor, who dfoes a very hard job to the best of his abilities, shouldn't have to put up with any crap from wretched ingrate patients who disagree with a TRAINED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL's diagnosis, or who take it out on NHS staff beacuse they can't be seen exactly when they want.

I won't deny that sometimes problems occur - a doctor is, after all, only human. However, yourself and some girl having trouble? What about the other 15, 000 patients a doctor sees each year? Were they similarly treated? If a doctor misdiagnosed you, fine - I'm sure he's sorry. Just don't go around implying that he's in some way incompetent because of it.

[hr]

Ooh! A Monkey!

[pea]

If you feel you've been mistreated by a doctor, nurse or the receptionist, why not tell the practise that so they can try to do something about it?

[hr]

I'm a little pea... I love the sky and the trees.

[floatingonmycloud]

To the original poster I have to agree that the receptionist should have offered another time (unless there were genuinely no appointments for weeks), I have never had a problem with this when I couldn't make times that they offered me. Some people have to make appointments every so often to get checkups on how there medication is working or not and preferably you don't want to miss tutorials at these times.

[angel_kohaku]

I once had a really bad throat infection. I spent Raisin weekend in bed with a raging fever, swollen glands and couldn't swallow without being in AGONY!

Could barely speak, so got my mate to call the doctor on the Tuesday, they said they'd see me on Friday. I said I couldn't (SSS appt) and she got really shirty and said that she was sorry, but the next available appointment was 2 weeks away. I went to boots instead.

I bet if I'd been some old coffin dodger wanting a flu jab they'd have seen me right away, no questions

[hr]

I wanna be an anarchist, get pissed, destroy