"Humiliated in reception"

On the 31st of May 2017 I went to Churchview Surgery for a bp check. I had called the surgery the day before to speak to someone about a problem I had with my foot and hadn't received a call back. I was a little early for my appointment so decided to ask at reception as to why no one had called me back the previous day. The receptionist told me didn't know, but they could get someone to phone me. I am disabled, had taken 2 buses to get there for the bp check, wouldn't be able to get back for a prescription so asked if someone could help me. I was told to go to A and E. Another 2 buses? And 2 more home? I could hardly walk. I was feeling very distressed by now. I said I would wait in reception and was told by the receptionist that I could sit and wait there until they closed at 6.30 but no one would see me. I was now on the point of tears. I asked if i could speak with the manager, it was their day off apparently and there was no one who I could talk to. I left reception and made my way to a seat by the blood pressure machine as I didn't want other patients to see me in tears. I was found by a nurse who took me into a side room, I was now sobbing. I felt, hurt, uncared for and totally humiliated. Eventually I was spoken to by a nurse practitioner who did give me a prescription. This has had a profound effect on me since and as I suffer from depression and stress, has taken me a long time to get over. I have not made an official complaint about this because when I did a few years ago about the rudeness of a receptionist, nothing was done and then when I went to see my gp one day the was an alert about me on my details screen warning about the fact I had complained about a receptionist. I did work in a doctors and those alerts really are not for that kind of thing!

As there was no way I could ever walk into that surgery again or even phone them, I had to go without my medication and couldn't get a bp appointment (I had extremely high bp at the time), until I could register with another practice. I am now somewhere where I am treated with respect and help. Where the receptionists listen, can signpost and actually care about their patients.