I've had a persistent, hacking cough for months now, and it has been annoying Ros, my work colleagues and random strangers for almost as long so, this morning I went to my local doctor's surgery, where a very attentive young doctor checked this, shone a light at that and measured the other.
His conclusion? A chest x-ray was needed. My heart sank, "That'll be weeks...", I thought, but far from it. He gave me a form with some surprisingly legible handwriting on it (is this man really a doctor?) and explained that I should just turn up at Ipswich Hospital during the opening hours for the Chest X-Ray Unit.
And so, less than five hours later, I was in a slightly dreary room with two dozen or so other people, all waiting to have their innards photographed. The receptionists were very friendly, as had been every member of staff I asked for directions - Ipswich Hospital is a bit like one of those mazes you put rats in to bemuse them - so I was fairly relaxed at being told that I'd probably have to wait for about an hour to be seen. Not bad for our 'crisis-torn' NHS, really, and I'd brought a book...
And, before long, my name was called and I was ushered into a smaller waiting room with cubicles in it, given a plastic shopping basket with a remarkably unfashionable tunic and asked to strip to the waist and put the tunic on. Eventually, I managed this (regular inpatients clearly know how this works) and took a seat for the next wait.
My name was then called somewhat inaccurately - hell, I don't always get it right first time - and I was beckoned into a slightly dimly lit room full of interesting looking bits of equipment (you may have guessed by now that I have very little experience of hospitals) where a very nice radiologist asked about the surname and we made Johnny Depp jokes (he is, it seems, welcome to visit any time he likes...).
The procedure itself was over before I really knew it, and I was packed off again to dress and hand in my shopping basket. Apparently, my surgery will get the results late next week...
3 comments:
Mark - you did the right thing - you went to the GP rather than just turning up at A&E as so many people seem to be doing.
I suspect the 'turn up for your xray without needing an appointment' procedure may be common at hospitals now - I was despatched to the hospital by my dentist to get a panoramic xray of my entire set of fangs and it was done within the hour.
I'm lucky, my GP practice are pretty good, I'm fairly stoic about inconvenience and, to be honest, I tend to take the words 'accident and emergency' somewhat literally.
I do wonder if people are more self-centred and less self-aware than they used to be.
Sounds like a positive experience. You did right to get it checked out. Hope results are fine.
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