"Just About Managing"

I've been a patient at Whetstone Lane since 1989 and generally have found the practice to be responsive, caring and helpful.

Despite the pressures on all practices (as evidenced by the current struggle to recruit enough GPs at Whetstone Lane) to provide vital services under increasing demands, this practice has maintained a decent level of care and access to specific (named) practitioners as well as emergency care, which I have had occasion to use several times.

When you suffer from a mental health condition it is very important to have access to doctors who have an understanding and training in order not to be dismissed as "difficult" and this practice does have at least one such practitioner who has provided excellent care.

It does mean that access to GPs IS effectively more difficult than purely physical health complaints but as the distinction between mental and physical health becomes more blurred and 'parity of esteem' remains an aspiration, hopefully new staff will have been better trained to deal with an increasing demand.

It would be incredibly useful to know which doctors have sympathy and understanding of mental health, perhaps by an indication of their particular interest on leaflets, promotional literature, websites etc.

As said, I regard myself as lucky to have found one such doctor and am extremely grateful to them and to the practice for demonstrating greater awareness and much less prejudice and stigma than is generally found, even in the NHS.

So well done Whetstone Lane; keep up the good work!