Harnall Lane Medical Centre

Harnall Lane Medical Centre 2021-09-25 Person 4 5 0

My own experiences of the Harnall Lane Practice have been excellent. My GP, Dr Abdul Khan, has been brilliant for me and my wife. In late 2018, he in effect diagnosed my prostate cancer and referred me for what resulted in radiotherapy treatment in summer 2019. During that process he phoned me regularly to check on how I was feeling and progressing; it was reassurance that at the time was very welcomed and supportive. He has followed my recovery since then. I am due my next check-up next week at the oncology clinic (over the phone - they have been quite amazing at UHCW too) so I had a blood test on Thursday. I accompanied my wife to her appointment on Friday, and Dr Khan checked my PSA results. I was so pleased it was he who was able to confirm that my PSA level is so negligible it is unreadable. I did not enter a third year of hormone therapy (all agreed with UHCW), so no injection last March: this was the crunch time, and the PSA reading means my cancer is behind me. I have NOTHING but grateful thanks and praise for the support and care I have received from the Harnall Lane team (I include in this Drs Mustafa Arshad and Jan Kapma) AND the reception staff . . . My wife and I have both had issues with the Green Lane reception staff in the becoming-distant past, but that too is getting better. The staff at Harnall Lane however are, in our experience, FANTASTIC. Of course sometimes you have to wait to get connected on a phone call. Of course you can't always see a doctor within five minutes of asking for an appointment, but not only do they do their best, they have devised - again from our perspective - a system and processes that make the massive daily challenge they face of dealing with overwhelming demand for limited resources as efficient and effective as they can. in 2010, I experienced a hernia and I also had damage to a cartilage in my left knee that I had been managing as best I could for about 30 years! When there was a change of government that year, I decided I had better get both fixed as quickly as possible before the NHS was closed down. Was I wrong? There is no disputing that the pandemic has been a massive challenge to the UK, as it has been to the world. What is made it a disaster for all those families that have been personally affected by loss is the decade not just of underfunding but of defunding the NHS. The austerity cuts and the determined efforts to outsource NHS services to private organisations is bleeding the NHS to death. You have to be careful what you wish for. If you are better off, you can side step the devastation that has become so painfully visible over the last 18 months. If you are in or on the edge of poverty you have no escape. You will suffer. In these circumstances, I have nothing but praise for the Sky Blue Medical Group and in particular the Harnall Lane surgery. If there is anywhere better to look after your health and provide the care and support you need when you need it, it will be an extraordinary place. Thank you Sky Blue.

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