Dr Richard Powell 2019-01-25 Person 1 5 0

I recently saw Dr. Powell as I was suffering from chronic hives (urticaria). His "bedside manner" was abrupt and condescending. He did not give a me thorough physical exam, just glanced through some photos of my skin that I has sent him, and then told me, that in his experience, chronic urticaria was usually due to the patient being a perfectionist and highly strung, and nothing to do with allergies. He they said to me that there was something I was not "telling him", effectively suggesting to me that I should say that I had a particular personality type. I then had an allergy test, which he said came up negative even though one of the allergens had clearly caused an adverse reaction on my skin. I then told him that I had been taking anti-histamines for my condition, but could he do anything else? At this point - as I found out later - a competent specialist should have suggested a number of blood tests, as recommended for example by the BMJ in 2015 for chronic urticaria, e.g. thyroid function and thyroid antibodies, serum-specific IgE, etc. to exclude various physical causes. He did not offer any kind of blood test, but just told me to take an over-the-counter antihistamine at a high dose, and that I could have psychiatric treatment if that did not work. Finally, he charged a very high fee for the "consultation", which resulted in me being misinformed and confused.