So today the little altercation i had with my angle grinder last week took a turn for the worse. My finger was swollen when i got up this morning but i had a busy day planned so wasn’t going to let it get in the way. Sadly it got worse and by 2pm my hand was starting to look like a football. I knew Denise had an appointment for a skin check so asked her to ask at the surgery reception if there was any chance of me seeing a doctor as it was obviously infected. The answer was a definite yes, tell her to come in so i quickly tidied up at the painting job I’m currently doing and made my way to the surgery. I had hardly got through the door when i was greeted by name by one of the receptionists and asked to go down to the treatment room at the end of the corridor. Once there i was seen almost straight away by a lovely nurse called Kate who carefully took off the dressing and inspected the wound, gave it a clean up then went to get a doctor to look at it. Within a couple of minutes she returned with a doctor who was equally lovely. He had a good look and after some discussion came up with a strategy. He wanted me to have an X-ray to make sure there is nothing sinister going on in the bone and gave me a prescription for some antibiotics. By this time Denise had finished her appointment and came in to join us so we left together and made our way to the hospital for the x-ray.
Once again we were seen almost straight away, booked in and asked to take a seat. A few minutes later a young lady opened the door opposite where we were sitting and called my name. The X-ray took only a few minutes and we were done, back into the car and to the pharmacy to get the prescription filled. It was all so instant, you could not have asked for better service in any way and it left me realising how lucky we are in our part of the world to have such amazing healthcare. Yes, i know we pay for it (my only cost today was the prescription!) but it’s a small price to pay for such a wonderful service. As one of my best friends in the UK works in a doctors surgery i know how different a story it is there, it might be free but it is so overstretched that just getting to see a GP is much more difficult than here so i know which system i prefer. A huge thank you to all at Broadwater Medical Centre, you look after me in such a kind and compassionate way!
