Sorry about the namechange, but need to keep this confidential.
Dh received a letter from the Practice Manager at our GP surgery yesterday, telling him he had been removed from the patient list because he had sworn at a member of staff and had been rude over a period of time.
I am so angry at their treatment of him and need to vent. He is understandably v upset as he has been registered with the practice for over 10 years, the doctors there are generally good and appointments are reasonably easy to get; important to him as he has type 1 diabetes.
About 2 weeks ago, he had to go to the surgery for a blood test. he got there 15 minutes early, but there was a massive queue as some delayed flu jabs had turned up and about 50 people had swarmed to the surgery to get one. Because of the queue, when he finally got to check in at reception, he was checked in 5 minutes late on the system. He was then kept waiting for an hour before being called for his blood test. During that time, he was sent up and down stairs in the surgery about 6 or 7 times, because they couldn't work out which room he should go to for his test (there was chaos because of all the people who had turned up for flu jabs).
He didn't expect to have to take this exercise and started to feel very ill with a bad hypo (it was also v hot in there because of all the people). He knew he was going to collapse if he didn't eat something sugary, so had to eat some of his emergency sweets to try to restore his blood sugar levels.
He was finally sent in to the correct room. he asked why he had been kept waiting for so long and was told he had been made to wait because he turned up 5 mins late for his appointment!!!!!The phlebotomist (sp?) then said, "this is a fasting blood sugar test, have you eaten anything since last night?"
Dh, realised he had had to eat the small amount of sugar and said, "Oh, f*ck". He was in a real state, and after all this was told to go away because the test could not be done.
This is the reason he has been "dismissed".
I asked what other incidents have happened and he said he can't think of anything except that the reception staff have been constantly difficult with him about repeat prescriptions. He needs a fair amount of stuff because of his diabetes. The surgery were aware that he had to change his insulin regime in the last few months, requiring many more blood testing strips than previously prescribed. He explained this and said it was very important he had the additional amount quickly. The surgery has a big sign telling patients that they can have repeat prescriptions (amended for quantity if necessary) within 2 days. When dh asked for this to be done. he was told it was a "privilege, not a right" and they were not duty bound to do this. The poor man was simply trying to get the prescription he needed within the guidelines the surgery had stated. if he doesn't do his blood tests regularly, he is in serious trouble.
I don't understand why he is being treated like this, I am so upset for him. he doesn't need the additional stress at the moment, his Mum died recently very unexpectedly.
he has written a long letter to his GP (bypassing the Practice Manager), explaining how he was treated.
I really do feel as though he has been treated very badly indeed .