"I felt there was no real interest in my conditions"

I asked to be referred because of one particular doctor who had very good reviews. Maybe if you have certain conditions, they would be better. But I felt there was no real interest in my conditions and my daily life trying to survive them. In fact, I was forgotten about for a year after being told I'd have a follow up call a month later and it being incorrectly scheduled.

Getting through to them to query it was absolutely impossible. Their manner was cold. Their knowledge of it was quite poor - the latest research never mentioned. I was pointed towards literature about overdiagnosis in a way that made me feel I was chasing diagnoses somehow.

If patients are trying to search for answers because they are desperate, cannot cope with symptoms, or because other conditions have never been tested or explored, surely that is a positive thing. I never hear a doctor complain that too many people have been in a surgery thinking they may have cancer. In fact, they rightly encourage you to be proactive. Why can't this be the case for other illnesses?

Some doctors seem to fully embrace and absorb the experiences of the patients, the wealth of information out there from people who go through these symptoms every day of their lives, the latest research and studies. I did not find those doctors at Kings.