Hows this for service..

[val2]

10.50am this morning I get call from son at school. Mum my tonsils are bad again and can't swallow, can you ring the doctor for an appointment later. Rang medical centre which caters for quite a large area and was given an appointment for 11.30am which is what I call very good as normally you get an appointment but have a good few hours to wait until later that day. How does the UK compare these days, dare I ask where children are concerned?

[Iceni]

>10.50am this morning I get call
>from son at school. Mum
>my tonsils are bad again
>and can't swallow, can you
>ring the doctor for an
>appointment later. Rang medical centre
>which caters for quite a
>large area and was given
>an appointment for 11.30am which
>is what I call very
>good as normally you get
>an appointment but have a
>good few hours to wait
>until later that day.
>How does the UK compare
>these days, dare I ask
>where children are concerned?

My GP can be booked up 2 weeks ahead and you have to beg and grovel for an urgent appointment. I am known as someone who is not a time-waster so I tend to get the urgent appointments but they do not regard tonsils as an urgent matter.

I can relate the story of my disabled daughter who had a hole in her back leaking a very nasty infection - I will not bother you with the saga, just to say that it took 17 months to convince them to remove the dead kidney causing the problem (they did not even tell me about this for almost a year) as they were so sure she would die from the complications (this they told me to my face) and she was not 'cost effective'. They only referred her to a specialist when the cost of treating her chronic septicaemia was getting out of hand. Thankfully she is still with us and enjoying life after her major operation which no-one thought she would survive.

We have a health service which depends on where you live and this is a total lottery. If you are referred to a hospital in the next county you will be treated to their level of care - either better or worse than locally - in my husbands case far worse - told he would never walk again after a back problem, our local GP paid for private care from her own budget and he is fitter than he has been for over 30 years and although still in pain copes without recourse to medical care and works as a temp postman when he is between other work - they specifically ask for him!

Di

http://www.iceni-it.co.uk