Carden Medical Centre 2017-03-13 Person 2 5 0

I have been with the Carden Medical Practice since it became the new premises for the Queen's Road Medical Group and I had been registered with Dr Geoffery Clarke (now retired, who by the way was an exceptionally caring and much loved doctor) since oh, the early 1990s. Until last Friday I would have given this practice 5-stars through-out. But last Friday, at an appointment with Dr Adrian Crofton, he refused to write me a sick/fit note and subsequently the practice manager has written to me stating "The GPs as a group discussed your request for a sick/fit note during our business meeting this morning, and would confirm that the practice is in agreement with Dr Crofton's clinical judgement and will not be issuing a certificate confirming that you are not fit to work. We will not therefore be booking additional appointments with any other GP within the practice to discuss this request." None of the other doctors have examined me to give a 2nd opinion and so I suppose they must be parroting Dr Crofton's view which he came to after a 10 minute consultation. I have been on the sick for the last ten years suffering from a history of fragile mental health, stress and behavioural problems. How on earth Dr Crofton can cast aside a 10 year history of mental illness in 10 minutes I have no idea? I was in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) until January 2017 when the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) stopped my ESA after a work capability assessment decided WRONGLY to ignore my mental ill health and decide that I am supposedly "fit to work". I'm not fit to work. I had a mental breakdown at the Jobcentre in 2006 after 20 years of applying for work with no references (which was pointless and a cruel and unusual punishment) and in distress I made threatening comments to the Jobcentre staff, the police were called, I was arrested, I got a letter from the DWP's lawyers banning me from the jobcentre and I was advised to get a sick note from my doctor for stress which I did and I have been on the sick ever since, until January 2017. If I try to do the Jobseeking again I will have another nervous breakdown. I am NOT fit to work. So I intend to appeal to an independent tribunal but for my appeal I need fresh evidence of my mental health problems and that's why I NEED a new sick/fit note from my GP, which has been refused. I have a precarious state of social security. I am living off savings and heading for a financial and social crisis with no way of making ends meet and that's because Carden Medical Practice is throwing me to the wolves. So perhaps you can see why my opinion of Carden Medical Practice has now changed from 5 stars to 1 star.