"A very poor, frustrating experience"

Leaving aside all the normal NHS irritations of long delays and chasing over appointments, waiting for long periods in the waiting area. I recieved a bad service.

For 2 years Ive had a problem with a persistant post nasal drip, depressed appetite, immune system and mood - charactrised by persistent colds and illnesses. This has been a major problem for me, but in all of my 4 visits for consultancy I got the impression of a lack of interest, maybe as I seemed relativly healthy, or the condition not clear cut.

Each time I visited I saw someone else who had a different opinion on how to pursue things - which seemed to waste a lot of everyones time.

The second consulant I saw wanted an MRI scan. When all the chasing for the appointment, and a follow up had been gone through it was 6 months between appointments. I then saw someone else who seemed to have zero interest in the scan and wanted to optically examine my nose again. The consultant was concerned over the collasped state of one side of my nose and reccomended steroids, and if that didnt work, surgery. The consultant sketched out the operation to me and how they think it would help.

I took the steroid course, and after 1 month I was back to square one, so I chased up my follow up appointment and ended up seeing another consultant.

I have to say the atmoshpere of this appointment was nothing I have experienced before. Without going into detail it felt hostile. It felt as if I had something on my notes saying 'timewaster'.

This consultants opinion was that surgery would not work, and basically that was it - they didnt know what the condition was and there were no other routes available.

At the time I didnt really push back much, I was just a bit stunned.

I asked if anything could be done to treat the symptoms e.g. appetite loss and he basically just said 'not my department'.

Just to be clear, this isnt a moan because Ive had poor health for 2 years - I never expect miracle services.

In pretty much any other walk of life you would not put up with such poor customer service, and these people wouldnt be in business.