Beversbrook Medical Centre 2018-04-27 Person 4 5 0

I have read many letters regarding the service the NHS offer and problems associated with Great Western Hospital (which I have never previously needed the services of). I’d like to add my own. I recently noticed that my right leg was swollen, red and tender. At 8:30am on Thursday last week, while at work in Malmesbury, I contacted Beversbrook surgery in to request an appointment. I was directed to a self-diagnosis help site, which when I entered my symptoms advised me that I could be suffering from deep vein thrombosis and advised that I should immediately arrange for some else to drive me to A&E. This was scary. Unable to arrange this, I drove myself to the surgery in Calne where I was given an appointment in 90 minutes time. My regular doctor advised that the problem could indeed be DVT, and phoned GWH to make an appointment for me to have an ultrascan. At 1:15pm I received a call from Neil at GWH saying that I should arrive for a 3:15pm appointment. I arrived early at 2:30pm and by 2:50pm, 25 minutes early than my appointment time, I was undergoing the scan, which I was told there and then did not indicate DVT. I then went to the Ambuology department to discuss this, where I joined five other people undergoing assessment. I waited for around 40 minutes, during which my contact details where updated and my blood pressure, heart rate and temperature were checked, before I was assessed by a medic. An alternative cause for the symptoms was advised for discussion with my GP, and I returned to my car at 3:50pm. Between 8:30am and 4:00pm I had been self-diagnosed in Malmesbury, had a face-to-face assessment with my doctor in Calne, undergone an ultrascan in Swindon, and was leaving the hospital for home, reassured and with a new course of investigation mapped out. This service is incredible! Thank you to all involved.