Is there a doctor in the house?

When I came over to the UK, one of the things that I found highly unusual was the national health system. In the Philippines, and even Singapore, I was used to being able to walk into a hospital or a clinic and request to be seen by a doctor. Not in the UK, apparently. To be seen by a doctor in a hospital, one has to:

1. Register with a surgery house (clinic).
2. Set appointment for preliminary check-up. For me, this was four days after I registered.
3. Set another appointment to either see a doctor or a practice nurse. This was another week of waiting.

Only when your GP feels that you need specialist help, will you be directed to go to the hospital.

WHEW! It took me 2 weeks to see a GP. Something I could've done in 2-4 hours in Manila or SG. You can just imagine my bewilderment on what the fuss was all about.

I do realize that it is important for a doctor to have a patient's complete medical history before treatment but I sincerely believe this is a bit overkill.

Also, my surgery has this annoying rule of only being able to set an appointment the morning of the day you want to be seen. Now, I think that is totally absurd, given the fact that they seem to be driven by appointments. Arrgh!!

Taking out a private plan is starting to look reeaally good..