We all have a moan about the NHS but I wanted to share a good story for a change.
I’ve been feeling increasingly unwell during the week with a lot of severe upper back pain feeling really wobbly and tearful and weak, totally unlike me as I usually plod on through pain. I was really thinking there was more wrong than a bad back
So this morning I used our email system at 8 am to outlined my problem
I filled in and sent the email off just after at 8
At 845. I had a phone call to ask if I could get to the surgery for 915. I accepted, I was seen dead on 915 by a paramedic who gave me a thorough examination included all my Obs taken. He could see straight away the swelling of a torn muscle in my upper back and put my mind at rest that it was the pain that was causing me to feel so unwell in myself . I came away with information to carry on taking paracetamol and ibuprofen gel and use ice I was home by 9:30
My surgery is a large surgery with thousands of patients and I can’t tell you how impressed I was at the speed of how quickly and thoroughly I was seen
The email system cuts out the awful ‘hanging on the phone for an hour’ business.
I know not all surgeries are using the system yet but it really does work better and releases the phone for those who can’t email in
