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"Rude receptionist and nurse at my GP practice"

About: Millcroft Medical Centre

(as a service user),

The first time I called was for some advice about heartburn and reflux. I'd been suffering with this for a while now and felt  that I should speak to the doctor about it because over the counter remedies hadn't helped. I rang my local GP and was told that somebody would call me later that day. I was contacted by a nurse who was very helpful and told me I would be prescribed omeprazole. I told the nurse I was trying to conceive and asked if this drug was safe. During this call I received another call from the same building but I didn't answer this and just assumed that it was for the same thing and there had just been a mix up. 

I went to collect my prescription the following day, but I had been prescribed lansoprazole instead and asked the pharmacist for advice as I am trying to conceive and didn't know if this drug was safe during pregnancy. The pharmacist advised not to take it and to return to the GP. I then contacted a pharmacist at the GP practice as I felt that this didnt require an appointment. The lady that I spoke to didnt seem to understand what I was asking and subsequently left a note for the doctor about the wrong drug and I was told I needed to book an appointment because the doctor didnt understand what I was trying to ask. 

I rang the practice again and explained the situation. This lady told me that she would ask the district nurse to contact me to change the prescription. In the mean time I had also developed cystitis and had to call again to make an appointment. During this call, the receptionist I was speaking to shouted to her colleague that I already had an appointment. My phone rang again and somebody at the practice was trying to ring me at the same time. I told her and she hung up so that i could answer this call. Unfortunately I missed this call and had to call back again. 

At this point, a different receptionist answered and told me that the district nurse had tried to call me and that this was the second time I'd missed her calling and that I was wasting NHS time and money. I explained to her twice that it was purely accidental and she informed me that I should answer my phone or even purchase a new phone especially for this situation (?!). I was very upset by this and then had to wait for the nurse to call again. The nurse changed my prescription for me but also told me that perhaps I should sort out my reflux and lose some weight before trying to get pregnant! She also told me to drop off a urine sample to test for cystitis, although I had explained that my symptoms included frequent urination, pain and blood in my urine. I dropped off my urine sample and was told I would be contacted if I needed any antibiotics.

I heard nothing for two days and my symptoms worsened and I began to feel sick and have a fever. I called the practice again and was told there were no results yet and to try again later, I did call again later as I felt worse and was contacted by a lovely nurse who prescribed me antibiotics as she had seen my sample and found the results. 

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