"Awful, Waste of Time, Ineffective, Rubbish"

I’ve got complex medical conditions and disability. Unfortunately we have been let down again. Referrals are apparently made but vanish into the ether and then you have to make multiple calls which are futile and stressful.

My poor husband has been in agony with his knee. The surgery told us that they hadn’t received a letter from the physiotherapist. He’s been waiting years and last July was promised he would be referred to orthopaedics once he had physiotherapy. It still hadn’t happened. The last straw is that I need the district nurses to change my dressings following a hospital procedure and I’ve been calling the surgery repeatedly for 24 hours to find out what’s happened to the referral. I’ve just had to call, having been promised a call back from the surgery reception and not received one, to be told that the district nurse won’t be able to come out today!

I can’t stop crying. This is the last straw. I speak to people registered at other GP practices and they don’t have these problems. It’s a shame because when you do get to see the doctors they are very kind and helpful at that moment in time but words don’t transfer to deeds. Something is going wrong - maybe too many patients and poor practice management????