"Humiliation in reception through to appointment"

Due to being held up at work, I was 11 minutes late for my appointment. I was humiliated (loudly, I might add) by the receptionist, despite my apologies and explanation about how it couldn't have been helped. As the doctor passed reception, he was informed of my arrival, and then returned back to his practice room. The same receptionist then told me that I "owed the doctor big time" because he opted to see me despite being "late".

I was already stressed about the (very personal) issue that had led me to make the appointment in the first place, now with the added stress of the humiliation suffered in the waiting room. The male doctor advised that I would need a chaperone for the nature of the appointment, and called in another (male) doctor. The two doctors then concluded that I would need a female present, and so called in a nurse. Faced with three professionals and a personal (and worrying) issue, I was further humiliated by the suggestion of the second doctor that I was "crying wolf". The physical evidence I had meant that there was no doubt this was "crying wolf", and I was totally embarrassed.

Begrudgingly, I was referred to a specialist. After this horrendous experience, I was then dreading this appointment. As I explained to the specialist consultant, he assured me that I absolutely was right to be seen and the issue was a cause of concern. Had I left the issue, I could have been left undiagnosed and if left untreated, could have been faced with a very serious problem.

Thankfully, the specialist team at the other facility were all extremely lovely and treated me with dignity and respect - the complete opposite of how I was treated at Claughton.