Tilehurst Village Surgery 2018-04-24 Person 1 5 0

Once you have attained the Holy Grail of an appointment you are well treated but boy, you're sure made to jump through hoops to get one. Despite A&E advising I get a Doctor's appointment for an unrelated condition and despite physically visiting the surgery to book one, I still had to endure the telephone reception torture next morning. This involves repeated attempts to an engaged line, no ring back service here, and eventually the line opens and you think Hooray! but no. It's now the fun starts. A voice message warns you that surgery staff will not tolerate abuse and the phone will be put down if you do. Why? Has their system upset others before me or is it an excuse? Eventually a human appears on the line and now you have to share your symptoms with a formidable gateway, untrained in medicine but the sole arbiter of whether your ailment is serious enough to see her boss. In my case, I was fobbed off with a call back as one doctor had pulled a sucker. Said call back eventually arrived and after passing a second oral diagnosis, by a Doctor this time, I am actually going to see one tonight. Hopefully, he can provide the service for which the NHS is often praised