"Impossible if you have chronic debilitating…"

It is impossible to get an appointment if you are too unwell to repeatedly call everyday at 8am until you are lucky enough to get an appointment. As I'm usually to unwell to speak on the phone, suffer with anxiety and depression and too unwell to sit in the surgery - I simply don't get seen. Due to the nature of my illness it is exhausting to repeat and explain my symptoms time and time again to the different GPs, it actually makes me more ill. Some patients need to be allocated a named GP and be given the opportunity to call and make an appointment as and when needed to manage chronic debilitating illness. I now suffer at home and my husband has to take leave from work regularly to look after me. I have become increasingly isolated and alienated. My illness is not understood and my pleas for help and support go unheard. It is a battle to manage such an illness but an even bigger battle to have my voice heard as a disabled person. I have been left to either survive by whatever means I can - or quite simply, not. I don't get the level of care and support I need from my surgery to manage my illness because their systems are designed with the idea that one size fits all. This is sadly likely to be reflective of all GP Surgeries and not unique to Firdale. We have nowhere to go.