I turned up for a pre arranged MRI scan. It was arranged by phone and a follow- up confirmation letter was promised.
I got there almost an hour early. Parking anywhere nearby was a nightmare particularly with the extensive on - street roadworks that never seem to ever end.
I was kept waiting 20 minutes beyond my appointment time without any acknowledgment or apology and this was despite the fact I'd been fasting for 5 hours.
So by the time I got into the polo mint MRI contraption I was very far from impressed and a tad testy - this is private medical and the administration is shoddy.
I was within 20 minutes. I held breath 10 times for between 15 and 20 seconds each time. I had headphones on to hear the stop breathing instructions from the radiographer and piped music in - between. A radio station.
Once done I was told the results would go back to my consultant in 5 days.
I had phoned them earlier in the morning to check which place I had to go as I didn't get the promised letter. I held on the call for 25 minutes before a human spoke.
I told her I'd been holding a long time but she said 'oh you came through on the NHS referral number not the private patient one'.
I was almost lost for words. A two tier private medicine service and I've no doubt the NHS is paying handsomely for this crap attitude to ill people.
So I was then put through on the private patient line and only waited 8 minutes for a matter that took 12 seconds to complete.
The most galling thing is we have a perfectly good NHS but it's being deliberately starved of resources by a lunatic Tory dogma for 13 years.
They remain happy to pay 3/4 times the cost, using our tax pounds, to the private sector to undermine and destroy public medicine while the private sector donates to the Tory party and the boards of these places are populated by Tory supporters. The sooner all these bastards are sent packing the better. read more