"The doctor was in a hurry throughout my appointment"

I returned from a skiing holiday having ruptured my cruciate ligament in my right knee. Whilst in Austria my knee was x-rayed and MR scanned and I was given a letter for my doctor, in English, explaining the diagnoses.

On returning to England I went to my surgery and saw a doctor, not my own, who was in a hurry throughout my appointment.

She didn’t read the letter from the Austrian doctors, assuming that the German heading indicated it was all in German, when I handed it to her.

She then told me that there was no opportunity for a follow up scan, early physiotherapy or reference to a consultant.

As I was leaving, she asked to see my injured limb, and was surprised it was not my ankle (I was wearing a knee brace under trousers at the time! ). I left the consultation to the receptionist.

The practice manager rang me at home 2 hours later and resolved the situation. By the end of the week, I had an appointment to the fracture clinic for an x-ray and had been referred for a follow up scan.