"Observations on Munro and the latest no urinary..."

Sadly I have suffered urinary infections over recent years and have needed the testing service more than once. Usually infections are a very painful experience and getting antibiotics swiftly is key to resolution. So I am concerned about the following experience and implementation of “policy”.

1) Firstly nobody understands the policy which is outlawing testing at the working level and the front line staff are in a difficult position in defending this policy that they haven’t seen or understand. So a copy of the national policy would be interesting to read.

2) Presenting yourself at reception is an uncomfortable experience. The last time a few days ago I had to explain my penile cancer in a very public place which is embarrassing for me and the receptionist. Bless her once she understood the problem she was very sweet about it.

3) Assuming no testing is here to stay it is far from clear how early diagnosis and treatment is achieved. It has been suggested to me that you would need to convince the receptionist (not medically trained) that you had a problem (How?) and at that time you would be asked to see the emergency/duty doctor. Is the doctor available 24hrs and at that point do you do a urine sample.

4) Prescribing treatment also seems to be an issue, rather than reviewing the notes and seeing what medication has previously worked for the patient it seems that prescribing the standard and probably cheapest medication is first solution. In my last 2 episodes it took two weeks of a drug that didn’t work before I got an appropriate medication. If this is about reducing resistance to antibiotics I would suggest this is very poor practice.

5) My most recent infection took me 3 weeks to personally see someone and to talk to them about the infection and a lesion on my penis even though the problem had been communicated from the start. This did trigger a response and a hospital appointment however once arriving at the hospital the doctor had no information from the practice, something she was less than pleased about and possibly delayed the hospital visit and subsequent treatment.

6) I have also noted there is a charge for specimen bottles. Only 20p but this significantly above the initial cost and I wonder how this is accounted for in accountancy terms.

So as I start my journey with cancer I am left wondering what role Munro has. Nurses at the hospital have been assigned, district nurse has contacted me and a specialist treatment centre identified. The Munro nursing staff are lovely but I wonder if “Munro policy” is going to dictate my journey.

Ps: I only found this website because the Munro website was down. Subsequent to the initial attempts at accessing the website, it is now up but it doesn’t seem to have a place for patient feedback. Shouldn’t this website be identified and advertised as the main portal for feedback. Sad an organisation that doesn’t want to learn.