66% success rate

We’re back in Brownsover for my annual dental check and bi-annual prescription renewal.  On Friday morning I walked into Rugby for the dental appointment.  Either the dentist has forgotten me or I’m getting better looking as she wanted to take a couple of photos.  However it seemed rather strange that both she and her assistant stood around the corner when pressing the shutter button.  They developed the photos on the spot and I was back on the street 20 minutes after entering the clinic.

In the afternoon it was another walk into Rugby to see the doctor about more of my ‘go slow’ heartworm tablets.  I never see the same doctor so I do hope they maintain accurate records.  After waiting 35minutes the receptionist arrived in the waiting room to tell me the doctor had been double booked and would I see another?  “No problem”.  Twenty minutes later she returned to tell me the first doctor would find time for me and asked me to return to the original waiting room.  50 minutes later and after several people had seen the doctor ahead of me I went back to query the situation with the receptionist. “Had I been forgotten?”  That resulted in me being the next to see the doctor.  Five minutes later I was a free man with a prescription for the next six months.  The pharmacy is attached to the surgery so that’s the next stop. After yet another wait I’m advised by the pharmacist that they can only partially fulfil my prescription and could I come back tomorrow for the rest (nothing new there; it has happened every time).  I tell her ”I’ll come back tomorrow afternoon!”

After lunch yesterday I walked into Rugby for the third time.  The main door to the pharmacy was unlocked but the lights were off and the security mesh door was down and locked.  The sandwich board was out the front and according to it the pharmacy should be open.

It’s not open today so we’re stuck in Brownsover until tomorrow. 

I have very mixed feelings about the NHS.  Part of me believe the idea of universal health care is very worthy.  However another part of me believes anything perceived as “free” is open to abuse by all parties.  Of course the NHS isn’t free.  The cost of operating it comes from direct and indirect taxes. 

I don’t want a return to my parents “bad old days” and remember my father telling me you had to pay to see the doctor and didn’t call him for things like measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken pox, cuts, sprains, etc.  These were all home treated.  My mother contracted polio aged 10 and was home treated by her parents using the standard family remedy for all illnesses.  They called it ‘hot and cold tets’ and it involved wrapping the patient in blankets that had been alternately soaked in either boiling or freezing water.  Apparently her family did this continuously for several days and she obviously survived.

There has to be a better way!

So much ranting… I won’t mention the boats overstaying on the water point!

We had lunch at The Harvester beside the canal. nothing special about the meal but Jan was slightly pleased knowing she would get some cash back via Quidco.