"Good administrative staff, some professional..."

Average 2-star rating, including a 7-star podiatrist and two 4-star GP’s (one of whom I was ‘discouraged’ from contacting by one of the practice partners on the grounds that said GP is ‘overworked’ because he tries too hard. No, he works to standards – if all the other practitioners did the same, he wouldn’t be so overworked).

Communication, continuity of care & record-keeping is not the practice strongpoint, though channels are obviously wide open when it comes to clearing up outstanding issues when patients like me are moving away. Eg, having been on the waiting list for several months for a minor orthopaedic op (I couldn’t take the major version offered to me because of my unpaid carer duties), I then received a hospital letter (not re-directed, addressed to my new home 90-odd miles away) inviting me to a pre-op assessment at 8 a.m. the following morning for a general anaesthetic the following week. Our house-move has to be transitional because of my spouse’s disability. I had to ensure we were registered at a new practice to see to his health needs.

So, a week after this registration, the hospital where I’m on a waiting list (which managed to maintain a discreet silence for months) suddenly has access to my new address to issue an invitation which is physically impossible for me to take up. Full marks for something, I’m not sure it would qualify as health care. Similarly, a couple of weeks ago, while pushing 13-and-a-half stone of wheelchair-plus-user around a local supermarket, I took a call on my mobile from an unknown number. The caller identified herself as ‘the Haworth practice nurse’ (no name given) and invited me to have my asthma review. I thought she meant arrange an appointment, but no, she wants me to do it there and then, over the phone, against a background of supermarket noises. This just a few weeks after I had an asthma-related admission following a respiratory infection picked up at the surgery from an agency practitioner running my husband’s

INR clinic.

No marks for that one. (I was issued asthma medication for over 2 years before I realised the diagnosis was somehow ‘official’; nobody discussed with me the entitlement/obligation for an annual review – I only suspected this was the case when prescription requests came back with a snottily-worded ‘You must make an appointment for a review before further medication can be issued’ highlighted on the returned prescription form).

And the way the surgery handled my spouse’s dementia diagnosis – which affects him both physically & mentally – was beyond disgraceful.

It has be repeated – dementia is a neurological condition, just because it’s dementia & not, say, MS, doesn’t make it any easier for either the carer or the caree. Neither does it obviate the NHS legal duty of care towards either carer or caree.

From my 40 yr-long experience of raising issues with said surgery, this review will not be welcomed with open arms; an open mind would help other patients.