In Which I Tour Colchester General's Switchboard

Well, those of you with inbuilt calendars will remember that it's been over a month since I had my EEG and my MRI that the consultant neurologist recommended. I can't remember if I've mentioned it, but the neurologist I saw at the time who diagnosed me just from the clothes I was wearing that day said that I'd get the results three weeks after the tests. A phone call to the surgery confirmed my GP had received nowt, and they suggested I bitch at the Neurology and Neurophysiology departments in Colchester General. So that's what I've done- or tried to do. As I've alluded to before, the individual departments of the NHS are grand, but they aren't really good at having anything to do with each other. A case of the left hand not knowing that the right arm has been doused in napalm, that sort of thing. So I rang Neurology and they suggested that my results were about and I should arrange a follow up appointment with a consultant neurologist, and gave me a number for the neurology secretary. I was a bit puzzled about this because I had definitely been told I'd have a letter through either to me or my GP. I decided to ring the Neurophysiology department to confirm all this, and was met with an answerphone that said something along these lines "If you're not ringing to confirm an appointment time, then get the fuck out of my robot life." So I did, and phoned up the neurology secretary who told me that what Neurology had told me about making an appointment was utter balls. "It doesn't work like that, you get a letter from us that gives you a follow up appointment." She also let slip that my results were sitting around somewhere in an ever growing pile because one of the two consultant neurologists who deal with this kind of thing had "left". It turns out that it was the man who diagnosed me- I should probably have asked why he buggered off. Was it for a golfing holiday, malpractice or solely to leave me in the lurch? Regardless, it means that I might have to wait another three weeks for them- they couldn't give me a timeframe as this was new territory for them- doctors aren't really meant to disappear like that. She also said that it might be more complicated and take longer for me because my notes might still be in the bowels of Gastroscopy, so to speak. It's comforting that they have records of where my records are I suppose. But this stuff happens, and I refuse to be melodramatic about it.

Today's Tune