"Feels like she is undeserving of services and a bother"

My elderly mum, who has a history of memory problems, has recently been having lots of bother with her knee to a point where she can barely walk. Took her to minor injuries for a scan as per GP request and knee looks intact but advised she may need an MRI. Minor injuries wrote to my mum's GP with results and told my mum to call GP if her condition does not improve. She has been trying for weeks to get an appointment, as have I, with no luck. 

Eventually she explained to receptionist she was in pain and could not walk. We have recently purchased her a walking stick and she can’t even use it because she can’t weight bear. We have spoke to occupational therapists who are having to adapt her home.  Receptionist arranged a call back with a doctor.

On the call back, the doctor made my my mum cry by advising she should never have got through because she is not an emergency and they only deal with emergencies. My mum explained she only took direction from the receptionist but the doctor spent more time moaning about her not being an emergency rather than finding out what was going on with her. They advised her there were no X-ray results then in the same breath advised her the X-ray was fine (we already know the bone is fine). They said she would need to make an appointment and if she wanted further investigation it would take up to a year. They then moaned again that she shouldn’t have got through to this appointment line, making my mum feel like she had done something wrong by seeking support. 

My mum never calls her doctor. They have made my mum feel like she is undeserving of services and is a bother, she’s now so upset that she does not want to call her doctor anymore. We can’t even get a home appointment or anyone to look at what is going on with my mum and she is deteriorating before our eyes. 

 I understand the pressures but I do not think it is ok to make patients, elderly patients, feel like they are a problem. It’s not hard to treat people with a bit of dignity and with some compassion. Possibly a bit of additional training on trauma informed practice and how to speak to people with a cognitive impairment might be useful?

 My mum has never been a bother and only comes into the doctor once a year for her regular wee check ups with the nurse and now she is too scared to phone the GP because she thinks she is a bother. I am absolutely disgusted and all we wanted was for a GP to have a look at my mum's knee and refer her for an MRI, as per the discussion with minor injuries. 

After eventually getting to speak with the practice manager, they still did not offer my mum an appointment. We had to go to the practice  for an urgent appointment to request a house call because my mum deteriorated over night. The GP came (a doctor who is always great) and was concerned mum has a potential clot or sepsis. She was sent to hospital with a fever for all sorts of checks.

If the first doctor had agreed to see her, she might have been seen to quicker. I am honestly disgusted at the way she has been treated. So she was in fact an emergency and they completely dismissed her.