{"id":1345,"date":"2018-07-23T15:14:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T14:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/?p=1345"},"modified":"2018-07-23T15:17:13","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T14:17:13","slug":"our-wonderful-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/2018\/07\/our-wonderful-nhs\/","title":{"rendered":"Our \u2018Wonderful\u2019 NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every time I turned on the TV or radio a couple of weeks back it was to hear praise of our NHS on its 70th birthday. \u00a0I think the NHS is brilliant. We pay for it without noticing and it\u2019s always there when we need it; much better than any insurance cover. \u00a0I can\u2019t imagine what it must be like to have to save up or go without food or other essentials \u00a0in order to pay to see a doctor. I do think it needs a serious overhaul and that huge holes that leak money, such as the millions spent on interpreters, some cosmetic procedures, treating those who have never paid in, need to be repaired but on the whole, I like it!<\/p>\n

So, having recently moved back to Dagenham I decided I had to enroll with a local GP. \u00a0Unfortunately, in the years I have been away my brilliant Doctor Kumar – the kindest, best GP I ever had – retired and the practice closed. So, I Googled \u2018GPs in Dagenham East\u2019 and was delighted to find one just a couple of streets away. \u00a0I got an application form, filled it in, grabbed my ID and went to sort out my application.<\/p>\n

In line with the demographic changes in Dagenham over the last fifteen years, the receptionist was Eastern European. \u00a0I explained why I was there.<\/p>\n

\u201dWhere do you live?\u201d I was unsure whether her tone, which\u00a0was slightly softer than a Regimental Sergeant Major, was\u00a0due to lack of training, courtesy or linguistic skills, \u201dYou in our catchment area?\u201d<\/p>\n

I gave her my address. She didn\u2019t know where it was so I explained. She slowly nodded. I pushed my documents towards her. She thrust them back at me.<\/p>\n

\u201dYou must come 10 to 12 only.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was 12.50pm.<\/p>\n

And I know this how? \u00a0There\u2019s nothing on the surgery\u2019s website about a specific time.<\/p>\n

So, I shrugged and went back the following day at the designated hour.<\/p>\n

This time the receptionist was English so no lack of linguistic skills. \u00a0It soon became obvious she had been trained at the Colditz School of Charm and Customer Service.<\/p>\n

She asked where I lived and reluctantly agreed I was in the catchment area.<\/p>\n

\u201dHave you brought ID and proof of address.\u201d<\/p>\n

I produced my driving licence.<\/p>\n

\u201dWe don\u2019t accept that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was told to bring photographic ID and proof of address,\u201d I protested. \u00a0\u201cMy driving licence shows both.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dNo. It has to be your passport.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t say that on your website, or application form…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a letter with your address on. Like council tax,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\u201dBut I pay online.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dThen you\u2019ll have to ask them to send you a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with that she turned back to her computer screen.<\/p>\n

Fast forward a week and it\u2019s this morning. Armed with application form, passport, Council Tax Demand from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham I re-entered the arena. \u00a0A sign indicated I should wait beside it until called forward. \u00a0The English receptionist was once again staring at her computer screen. I waited a couple of minutes; not even an acknowledgement. I jangled my keys. Nothing. I coughed. Nothing. \u00a0She sipped her coffee and shuffled some papers.<\/p>\n

\u201dGood morning,\u201d I ventured.<\/p>\n

She froze, obviously shocked and affronted someone would call out a greeting when they have been instructed to stand and wait. Slowly her eyes swivelled round and stared at me. I stared back.<\/p>\n

\u201dI\u2019ve come to register,\u201d I began.<\/p>\n

Her hand reached towards me for the form, I assumed, while her eyes returned to the screen. \u00a0I placed the form into her outstretched hand where it remained for several, long moments while she studied the screen and then she began to look at it.<\/p>\n

\u201dYou haven\u2019t fully completed it. \u00a0You haven\u2019t filled in your NHS number.\u201d<\/p>\n

The form was slapped on the counter.<\/p>\n

\u201dI don\u2019t know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dYou\u2019ll have to get it from your present surgery,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dCan\u2019t we add it when they send my records over?\u201d I ventured.<\/p>\n

From her expression that would be a hanging offence.<\/p>\n

\u201dNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

She turned back to her computer and coffee, thus dismissing me.<\/p>\n

I will admit to growling as I marched out.<\/p>\n

I rang my present GP to be told by the automated phone system I was sixth in the queue. I hung up. \u00a0Life\u2019s too short, quite frankly. \u00a0I shall try again later.<\/p>\n

And then go back tomorrow and hope it\u2019s fourth time lucky.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Beautiful roses. With love from Me to Me.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

To cheer myself up I went and stood in the freezer aisle at Tesco. Air-conditioned heaven! \u00a0And then I bought myself some gorgeous roses.<\/p>\n

Because I\u2019m worth it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every time I turned on the TV or radio a couple of weeks back it was to hear praise of our NHS on its 70th birthday. \u00a0I think the NHS is brilliant. We pay for it without noticing and it\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[768,807,806,805],"class_list":["post-1345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dagenham","tag-dagenham-east","tag-dr-kumar","tag-nhs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1345"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1350,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions\/1350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}