"2nd Doctor's visit with my elderly disabled mother"

I have accompanied my 83 mother to her 'new' doctor on 2 occasions now - both have been unsatisfactory and frustrating. The doctor kept us waiting longer than need be (there were no other patients around on in the surgery). When we were finally seen, the doctor didn't even get out of his chair to touch or examine my mum. He just sat tapping away at his computer, not even looking at us or talking. Eventually when he did get around to dealing with us, he was very disinteresting, uncaring and unsympathetic. My mother was either offered NO medication/prescriptions/aids/referrals or therapy for her ailments. She suffers badly with Rheumatoid arthritis and severe oedema in her legs as well as high blood pressure. She has had issues with medication that upset her stomach, including co-codemol, iron tablets, water tablets (also a problem for her kidneys), however no suggestions were forthcoming. I had to suggest all of the care and therapy and treatment that would benefit my mother, only to be frowned upon and dismissed within an instant. One can only assume that this would cause too much hassle for the doctor to arrange and cost too much for his budget? I know for a fact that there are loop diuretics and compression stocking that would help the awful swelling in my mum's legs. This is getting so bad, that she can't get up and down the stairs (she lives in a maisonette). I'm not surprised due to the amount and weight of fluid in her legs.

My mum has always prided herself on her independence and her ability to go out to the shops, visit friends and simply get some fresh air. Her restriction at doing any of this now is making her depressed. I don't understand why the GP practices and NHS in general do not seem to realise that if she can cope at home (on her own, for the majority of the time) then this lessens the burden on the NHS services and costs! We could easily ask social services to provide daily visits to care for my mum, but we don't for the reasons I've already outlined. we are not asking for any special treatment, just some treatment would be nice. It seems that the only course open to us, is to go private and pay for consultancy and treatment - something that my mum would find hard to pay for.

The lack of care, sympathy and empathy is incredible and it seems to be getting worse.