"Overall a Frustrating and Negative Experience"

I have been a patient at this surgery for 4 years and made appointments on about 5 occasions: on each occasion I was seen by a different doctor, one of whom who I believe to be a locum was excellent, but otherwise my experience has been largely negative in terms of continuity of care and treatment, which is not surprising when you are seen by a different doctor each time who do not know your personal history and which in my case may be exacerbated by the notes from my previous surgery being lost (according to the last doctor I saw) and in storage (according to the doctor I saw today). At my previous surgery there was a continuity of care and one was able to build up a relationship with one's doctor and establish trust, which is a vital component of the doctor/patient relationship and enables one to get the care that is necessary.

Today was my last consultation as I have lost patience with the cursory attention paid to individual needs, compounded by a suspicion and lack of trust about one's ability to manage one's own medication needs. This is disappointing but perhaps not surprising when every appointment is with a different doctor. I have a long-term problem with insomnia and associated severe migraines that are caused by a lack of sleep, and which I have suffered from since I my late teens but am otherwise healthy. Fortunately I was able to successfully manage the insomnia over the last 15 or see years through the careful use of medications whenever I would go through an extended period of insomnia, which not only got my sleeping back on track after a week but almost completely eradicated the migraines and were prescribed to me by my previous doctor.

Unfortunately, however, I am not to be trusted to use these medications by this surgery and am now going through increased and more intense periods of insomnia and accompanying migraines: having not had a serious migraine or bout of insomnia until recently. I have yet to receive a reasonable explanation, just the implied suspicion that I am an addict: when I point to the fact they could check my records and see for themselves a low usage pattern this is brushed away, again with little explanation.

In summary, while all of the doctors I have seen have been courteous, there is little to recommend a surgery where you are not listened to, where you're health needs are dismissed, where there seems to be little effective continuity of care.

Hence my decision to leave this surgery.