Litchdon Medical Centre

Written by a patient

I had a bad ear ache the other day where it was soo bad that the side of my face had swelled up and my jaw so i rang litchdon medical centre in barnstaple in desprite need of seeing someone instead they said they will get a all day nurse to ring back sometime in the next two hours! when i spoke to them they said it sounds like my ear is blocked and may need shringing but said to use warm olive oil in my ear for few days and then if no better to ring back and make a appointment for the "sister" to shringe my ear,so i tried that for bout 2 days and it made my ear ten times worse! it got to the point where i couldnt hear anything from my ear and where i was up all night not being able to sleep because of the pain! so i rang back and yet again they said they will get a member of the "same day team" to ring me back sometime that morning and i told them on the phone its got worse i cant eat or sleep because of my jaw etc and that olive oil has just made it worse and they finally made me a appointment and it turned out that it didnt need schringing it was acctually a condition called xperia otitous!! and the nurse said not to use olive oil again on this ear- after a few days before i was told to by the team!! I was given some ear drops which are slowly helping, i just wish that instead of ringing patients up thinking they know what the problem is that they would next time make a appointment to acctually see the patients problem rather than just guessing over the phone! as it was not "blocked" or needed "shringing" it was a condition that if they had bothard to see me the first day i rang it wouldnt have got this bad by now! and it wasnt what they assumed it was on the phone! Next time i will be insisting i see a doctor and not over some silly phone call as until you see the patient you dont know what the problem is as in my case!! could have been sorted sooner instead of suffering the next few days! I just think this is disgusting really! i pay my taxes and so on and have every right to be able to have a appointment straight away instead of having a phone call-which acctually made me worse as they told me to use olive oil in the first place thinking they knew best! In future it would be nice if they can look at people's problems rather than discussing it over the phone!

Cleanliness

Efficiency

Caring

Nursing staff

Dignity/Respect