"Access to sexual health services in Lewisham"

I want to have my coil removed and contacted my GP to find out the process. Even though having a coil is a common, normal thing, my surgery has no trained staff to do the procedure. The borough has only two clinics that can perform it for me, the third one only serving under 25s.

I called the phone number given (which is the same for both clinics) over 10 times, and after listening to a long and slow pre-recorded message, and selecting from 4 options, every single time the line rang for a short time and then was put down. No hold, no queue system, no indication as to why.

I later found a page where I was offered the option to book online... no appointments available, even months into the future. The site says that if no appointments are available to call the number. Which as explained above doesn't work.

So I called my GP back, who advised me to go to one of the clinics and see if I could make an appointment that way. With there being so few clinics, it took me an hour via public transport to get there, only to be spoken to I felt extremely rudely by the receptionist who told me I had to phone or book online.

I explained that online there are no appointments visible online and that the phone line repeatedly hung up, but they didn't believe me and kept saying how they could see they were available on her system. I gave them my phone to see, and even seeing that it said no appointments, they continued to say there were some available and I had to call or book online. Both of these options I had already explained were not working.

We ended up going around in circles with me being told  to keep calling, me calling, and the line repeatedly going dead. The security person then started getting involved, telling me to not upset myself and asking me why I was upset, which was completely inappropriate. I was not upsetting myself - the receptionist and the dehumanising, inefficient, and frustrating system which had the effect of blocking me from getting safe and effective healthcare, is the thing that upset me.

Later, another member of staff came out, and tried to help, but it ended with me having to share elements of my health history - in front of a waiting room of people - which was extremely uncomfortable and upsetting.

Eventually, someone mentioned that new appointments are released every 48 hours, and that you can only book an appointment 48 hours in advance - which is not mentioned on the website. The staff member just told me to keep calling and keep checking online between the hours of 10:00 am and 3;00 pm every day. That's 5 hours of time per day, when I also work a full time job, just to get an appointment which is unlikely to be at a convenient time and would still require 2 hours out of work just to travel. The other centre they mentioned is a walk-in clinic, but patients can expect to wait 2-3 hours on the day. A completely ridiculous and inefficient system which devalues the patients' time entirely.

That the borough expect patients to do a 2 hour round trip, and wait for 2-3 hours in a waiting room, or refresh a webpage and call for a 5 hour period every day in the hope of getting an appointment, to get basic access to safe healthcare is degrading, dehumanising, and completely disregards the patient and their time as worth anything. No acceptable solution was offered and I left feeling frustrated, dehumanised, and still don't know how I can get an appointment without having to spend hours off work - and therefore unpaid.

To be told that "this is the system" is simply not good enough. The system is terrible and needs changing. Women in particular - who bear the burden of contraception in many cases - are bearing a huge burden in terms of time, which also equals money with time taken off work and even childcare, just to get basic access to healthcare. It's a genuine disgrace - I left in tears.