"Disappointed"

After visiting the MIU for the first time today I can safely say I don't think I'll be bothering again. The trainee nursing associate was kind but after waiting for over 3 hours with 2 small children and running out of milk for the baby I was finally called to see the practitioner. While I realise that patients are seen in order of clinical priority, I got the district impression that they felt I was wasting their time. I would understand this view if I visited the centre on a regular basis for silly reasons but this is not the case. I was told that they thought I had tendonitis and to rest (with a 4 month old and a 3 year old!!) And take regular pain relief - I had already told them that I am unable to take Ibuprofen so I would have to just make do with paracetamol.

Since coming home I have googled and found more about strapping up my wrist and applying certain creams which this practitioner never thought to tell me, knowing that I would struggle to heal with it constantly being exacerbated when trying to look after a baby. The next bit of Stirling advice was to tell me to contact my GP if it didn't get better! I'm almost sure that the GP would tell me to head down to the Cumberland centre for an x-ray.

I wouldn't have minded waiting so long if I was on my own but making a 4 month old baby and his bored brother wait for almost 4 hours has really upset me and I was with the practitioner for all of 2 minutes before she couldn't wait for me to bustle out of the door.

I have come away feeling like I put my children through a miserable day for nothing when in fact I'm in a fair bit of pain otherwise I would never have taken them there with me. Just because I'm a mother and manage to put on a brave face and get on with things doesn't mean that I'm not in a great deal of pain and I honestly feel that they should have gone through more of how I could help it heal. Thank heavens for Google!