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Telephone phobia

Kitty_E

I emailed my GP to complain about them not phoning me back after NHS111 made an appointment with them to do that. I waited all morning getting more and more stressed and upset. I vomitted, I had stomach cramps, I had a headache all due to my anxiety. In the end my husband drove down to the surgery to ask what was going on and they claimed not to know anything about it. 
Anyway, as I said, I emailed them to complain about the lack of communication between them and NHS111, explained how it made me feel and asked if there could be a different system for neurodivergent patients. So what did they do? they TELEPHONED me. Really, what is the point???

  • in reply to Kitty_E

    People don't read stuff carefully after the first couple of sentences. They won't appreciate a call is really a problem as everyone does calls these days and think you are being dramatic.

    It's not right though. If you'd said you're deaf they would probably still try to call first.

    GPs don't rush to read things in my experience, including results. They rely on you chasing them. I don't expect they would have noticed you needed a call for about a week.

    I don't think you get personal service as it is just a numbers game and ticking things off a to-do list. I've not seen the same person twice in 45 years.

  • in reply to Kitty_E

    This sort of thing bugs the hell out of me, you ask for one simple thing and the opposite happens. I had it from an Autism support group!

  • in reply to Stuart333

    Obviously I didn’t explain properly. GP surgery claimed not to know anything about NHS111 booking a telephone appointment. I wanted to know who had screwed up and how they could stop it happening again. My best guess is that GP surgery didn’t bother to check messages but that’s for them to sort out. My point was that having explained in great detail in my email exactly why I find telephone calls so traumatic, they should have responded to my email BY email and not by telephoning me.

  • To be fair, NHS111 made an appointment for a call, you complained about not having a call, so they called you. It is the simplest solution for them to close the complaint.

    I don't think people realise how hard a phone can be if they have never experienced it.

    My surgery allows for you to email a question to a doctor. They respond within a few days. It does not stop you waiting for the email but there is no pressure to wait by a phone to speak in real time and worry what to say. If they can't answer or they want to see you they may ask you to book an appointment.