"Overstretched and over here"

I have been a patient of Vine House Surgery since we moved here in July 2002.

I have found over time that you can no longer get an appointment via the telephone or the internet.

I have to physically go to the surgery to get an appointment and then not in a suitable time period.

The staff who greet you are on the whole pleasant and obliging and helpful when they can be. Unfortunately, they are not good at answering the phone because they are overstretched dealing with the overburdensome administration they have to deal with.

The doctors who I have met, and they have been helpful on the whole, are obliging, but with current changes in certain view with regards to heart disease, diabetes, and understanding food groups, they are not up to date and follow outdated practices in my humble opinion.

It is not helped by the outmoded NHS services they have to work with either.

And I for one am terrified of being seriously ill on the NHS.

The last two times with the benefit of private healthcare, my life was literally saved, and the GP was helpful in selecting appropriate doctors who could help me get the treatment I needed and recover in a suitable and efficient manner.