"Access and consistency"

I am writing this on behalf of my Mother. I appreciate that the main issue is lack of resources (including staff) to cope with the vastly increasing number of patients/users and this is a nationwide problem and not one specifically the responsibility of Trowbridge Health Centre, I understand the stresses and strains medical and admin staff have to endure through no fault of their own.

I do worry that within this current environment, a lot of people who need health care are being forgotten and neglected, the ones who demand and complain the loudest are the ones who get dealt with I think.

The ones who are worried and nervous of authorities, and feel they do not want to be a bother (i.e. mainly the elderly and possibly most vulnerable and needy) are the ones who are forgotten and neglected. My Mother (aged 89) is one such individual. I am her full time carer, but so often come against obstacles that take time and effort to overcome to get her the care she needs. Luckily I am from an admin background otherwise I would probably give up. Having said that, I too, like my Mother, hate to make any demands, and dislike confrontation and am easily upset by attitudes of reception staff on the telephone who are, I suppose, trying to block unneeded callers.

Sadly it is this that also puts off those who I think deserve a little more attention. My Mother is 89, has never had a home visit from a Dr and we have always struggled to get her to a surgery on the rare occasions she has to go. Now she is housebound. I put her name down for the flu jab a month ago. The receptionist made me feel like I was asking for the Earth when I requested this! And no contact since then, As Mums carer I too usually have a letter inviting me for a flu jab but not had one yet. I am too nervous to phone again to ask about this or to ask about Mums home visit because of past experience of being made to feel like I was being unreasonable and too demanding I also would like a Dr to review Mums health and give advice as to how I need to continue, as I am her only carer and basically giving her palliative care, but again I am afraid to ask for something that I fear will be met by a wall of, not indifference, but actual negativity and "well what are you expecting us to do?" kind of response.

It is very sad that it has come to this. That some people who genuinely do not wish to cause the Drs any trouble are scared to ask for anything until it is too late yet many others are there at the surgery every 5 minutes and maybe for fairly trivial and not life affecting issues.

A general email address for enquiries and concerns (w/out the need for documentation to set up) dealt with with by a few members of staff who can then advise and redirect the queries to the relevant Drs or Nurses if deemed necessary, would help,it is less scary for the people with concerns who can't face the receptionist barrier, and would help staff detect those who actually do need some support advice and healthcare.