"Utter confusion - and complete loss of confidence"

Following a massive pulmonary embolism, I tried in vain to get an appointment with a Whipps Cross hospital consultant, only for my GP's attempts on my behalf to be rejected for weeks until an appointment finally came through at very short notice.

I still have no idea who I saw today (nurse, doctor, consultant?) and what was their specialism, only that they were part of a team led by a named senior consultant.

Staff kept sending me to different parts of outpatients and passing me round the houses.

I was sitting in one area and the person I met by appointment came and fetched me to a different area. There was a major misunderstanding between myself and this person as to the nature of the very powerful drug for which the prescription was changed during my visit, to the extent I could have ended up taking a dangerous overdose of two drugs from the same group.

Luckily I kept asking questions, so we sorted it out by the end of the consultation.

But when I sought reassurance from the pharmacist as to the nature of the new drug in relation to the old, I was told they couldn't comment and that I should go and see 'a different prescriber'.

They kept asking which department had seen me, but I wasn't sure.

In the end I l refused to collect the drugs from the hospital pharmacy and went to see my usual pharmacist.

I'll ask my GP to prescribe something suitable