Doctor’s Appointment

As a Type 1 diabetic I need to have a medical check up every six months. This means an appointment with a phlebotomist to take a blood sample, followed  few weeks later by an appointment with the practice nurse. Now, I used to have the check ups done at the diabetes center at the hospital. However, I managed to get the health center to agree to do them after I got fed up with waiting up to an hour to be seen at the hospital, even when I had made sure that I was the first person in the queue that morning.

So, I had all the appointments sorted out for the beginning of the new year with a phlebotomist appointment on the 4th Jan, followed by an appointment with the practice nurse a few weeks later. However, a colleague at work asked if I could move the appointments as there was an urgent piece of work that a client wanted to do, and they wanted to start on the 4th Jan. So, being the nice guy that I am, I moved my appointments.

Guess what? The work slipped a week and I didn’t have to do anything on the 4th, so I could have kept my appointment!!

Anyway, all of these shaningans meant that I had a new pair of appointments arranged. I went and had my blood taken by the phlebotomist and was hoping to see the nurse a few weeks later. However, more work came up and I had to move that appointment. So I rang the surgery to make any appointment for the nurse on the one day (a Thursday) that I was available. I told the receptionist that I was only available on that Thursday but she still went through “can you make Tuesday, Wednesday…?”

“No!! That why I said I was only available on the Thursday”. Which bit of that did you not understand?

So, she was going to make the appointment for the Thursday and then asked “Its not for a diabetes check up is it?”

So I said it was, as if that would make a difference.

“Oh the practice nurse only sees diabetes check ups on a Wednesday”. I knew that I would never win an argument against the bureacracy of the NHS so agreed to aWednesday appointment. The receptionist then asked about a blood test, and I told her that I had had the blood taken a couple of weeks ago.

“Oh thats no good”, said the receptionist. “The blood test needs to be done a couple of weeks before the appointment”. So I had to make another appointment for the blood test.

Grrrrrr!!!

What I want to know is, are the NHS going to reimburse me for lost earnings for the extra day needed for another blood test?