Holmhurst Medical Centre 2015-04-29 Person 3 5 0

Getting an appointment to see a specific GP is virtually impossible. You have to keep phoning every morning before about 9am to see if they have released any non-emergency appointments, and then they only seem to be two weeks ahead. This practice basically has too many patients on its books. For example, I suddenly developed a problem with my heartbeat, which although alarming didn't appear to be an emergency but I wanted to get checked out with my GP. Despite explaining the situation to the receptionist they couldn't offer me ANY appointments, and suggested that I phone back daily to try to book one or two weeks ahead. I am not available 8 - 9am as I have to drive to care for my elderly mother, so it took several days of phoning to get an appointment, two weeks ahead. An ECG was then booked, but was only run for 10 seconds, despite me pointing out that the problem only happens about every 30 seconds. So they didn't pick up the problem I've been experiencing! What a waste of time. So my problem is still un-diagnosed. I can't afford to be ill due to my caring responsibilities for my mum. It is odd that the surgery seems very keen with leaflets, posters, etc to find out if you provide care for someone, but then don't seem to act on it. I'm not expecting to jump the queue as a result, but when you're trying to juggle a job with caring for a disabled relative who also has Alzheimer's, plus look after your own family whilst also suffering from depression, some help in looking after your own health would be appreciated. At the start of my depression the service I received was also appallingly slow. It took about 17 weeks before a practice counsellor was available to see me. Fortunately I didn't act on any of my thoughts of suicide, and although I was seeing a GP weekly over that period I felt that my cries for help were just being put on the shelf until the counsellor became available.