"Patient patience"

Even although I started taking 'one a day' anti-histamine a week prior to going abroad I was  subjected to numerous  insect bites on various parts of my body, the one on my ankle (which happened the day before I came home) turned into a big blister with redness spreading around it. The heat and the flight home on Tuesday afternoon no doubt contributed to my ankles/feet swelling too so I elevated my feet as much as possible the rest of Tuesday evening and on going to bed rested my feet on raised pillows. I took photographs of the affected ankle on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, observing that the blister seemed to be very raised and the surrounding area very red. 

After numerous attempts at contacting my health centre on Wednesday morning I eventually got through to a receptionist asking for an appointment with a GP. After explaining the reason for this request I was advised that the practice nurse would contact me later, which they did. I explained why I thought I needed to see a GP, the nurse asked if I had been to see a pharmacist because they can often help by offering appropriate solutions. I said I hadn't, so they recommended I go to see a pharmacist and phone back if they couldn't help. By the time I got to a chemist, the blister had burst and I was advised by the pharmacist to see my GP so tried again to phone the health centre, to no avail, assuming the surgery was closed on a Wednesday afternoon. I bathed my foot and again rested/elevated my feet as much as much as possible. I tried from 8 o'clock this morning dialling every couple of minutes until about 9.15  a receptionist answered  and after telling her my tale of woe, managed to get an emergency appointment for this afternoon.

Perhaps the 'system' is designed to test a patient's patience, hoping that by not having at least a 'queueing system' for accessing the health centre then the patient will 'give up'?