Argh I'm so frustrated!!!

Bibbi09

Very new to this so bare with me!:)

maybe its just me but this really, really annoyed me...

I'm in NUI, and was in need of seeing a doctor this morning... I rang the health unit, was told that couldnt see a doctor as appts are only given on a monday morning for the whole week. Could go to the walk in nurses clinic but as it was already 9.15 i'd be waiting hours and wouldnt see a doctor. Given number of another GP...
Rang this GP, on headford rd near tesco? rang here and told its only a walk in clinic, could be waiting hours. i explained to them that I was 4months pregnant as well has being sick and was told that i should probably justy travel home to own GP... which is an hour away and i couldnt afford to do that today..
so rang westdoc, which is across from where im living atm. Told that they wouldnt see me because im a student... would have to ring emergency college doctor! which seems like a waste of time to me because while i'm really not well, i dont think it would count as an emergency??
Im so fed up!!!!!:mad:
I think i have a bad chest infection but not only that I've a temperature and am worried that it could hurt baby so I really wanted to see someone(anyone) just to ease my worry... why the hell couldnt westdoc see me?!?? It would prob only take 5 min! Im not serious enough to need an emergency doctor or a&e!!!

galwayguy22

Well if you are worried about hurting the baby then get the emergency doctor, or whatever medical department they have in the college.

majiktripp

Unfortunately this is the reality of Galway. You could just go to the local GP and wait however long it takes to be seen just like everyone else. Im sure Westdoc would have seen to you aswell but you would have to pay full whack, along with the waiting time of course. Bit of a rock and a hard place really, although there are pplenty of local GP's to try but wait times would vary along with pricing I imagine.

dapto1

If you go into the Health Unit and tell them that you really need to be seen that day because it's urgent, they will see you.

LadyMayBelle

I didn't think Westdoc could refuse you just because you're a student..never refused me, yeah I had to pay the 60quid but never said no..

muppetkiller

No don't take this the wrong way ....but you went looking at 9:15am and are complaining that you would have had to wait for hours if you had gone to a walk in Clinic ..it's now 19:54 when you posted this ?

So if you had gone to the walk in clinic you would've been seen and treated by now..

Sorry but welcome to the real world where our health system may not be the best in the world but at least you get seen to the same day (if you're prepared to wait).

McConkey

From my experience you won't be seen in Westdoc if your GP is in college as Westdoc are a co-op of doctors who provide on-call service at nights and weekends which allows GPs to have some evenings and weekends off. They only see patients who are belonging to the docs in the co-op as they have no access to other doctors/patients records etc.

As well as this, the university doctors are not part of Westdoc and afaik are members of Galway City GP rota in the Bon Secours hospital.

Mrs OBumble

For what it's worth, I had good experience walking into the medical practice in Whitehall (back door of Eyre Square centre) at 9:05am, saying "Hi - I'm not registered, don't have an appointment, any chance I could see a doctor this morning?". It probably helped that I was feeling pretty miserable at the time, and looked it. Someone saw me in 15 minutes.

It's unlucky that the practice near Tesco is the one you rang, it's one of the few walk-in clinics in the city, most work off appointments.

TBH, it sounds odd to me that the college only give out appointments a week ahead, are you sure they didn't mis-understand what you wanted?

_Whimsical_

The college used to run a system whereby you would see a nurse on the day you went looking for an appointment and she would assess if your case was a priority and needed to be seen by the Dr that day. She'd make an appointment for another day or recommend something over the counter for you if you didn't need a Dr immediately.
Maybe whoever you spoke to might not have explained that if you are a priority you will usually be seen that day.You should always explain that you are pregnant to the receptionist if you need an ugent appointment by the way.

gary82

dapto1 wrote: »

If you go into the Health Unit and tell them that you really need to be seen that day because it's urgent, they will see you.

+1

They might let you see the nurse straigh away, and the nurse will bring you straight into the doc if she thinks it's necessary.

You should consider signing up to a regular GP in Galway though. And find out where they do their out-of-hours (westdoc or Bon Secours hospital). Sometimes the college center just doesn't cut it.

What other GP with 15,000 patients works out of a just a tiny setup eh?! :rolleyes:

JustMary

JustMary wrote: »

For what it's worth, I had good experience walking into the medical practice in Whitehall (back door of Eyre Square centre) at 9:05am, saying "Hi - I'm not registered, don't have an appointment, any chance I could see a doctor this morning?". It probably helped that I was feeling pretty miserable at the time, and looked it. Someone saw me in 15 minutes.

It's unlucky that the practice near Tesco is the one you rang, it's one of the few walk-in clinics in the city, most work off appointments.

TBH, it sounds odd to me that the college only give out appointments a week ahead, are you sure they didn't mis-understand what you wanted?

+1 for Whitehall.

Went there one day. Was given an appointment to see a doctor 45 minutes later.

LadyMayBelle

the college system is messy.. you do have to book a week in advance and with regards to the walk in clinic you need to be there super early and sit it out..

Interceptor

Dr.Ger Brennan on Distillery Rd - opposite the AIB is always worth a try. I rarely have to wait and its almost on campus.

'cptr

banshee_bones

yeah i go to Whitehall aswell, was a student at GMIT and never had any problems with our health centre thank god, would always be seen by a nurse no matter what. Listening to how bad it is in NUIG makes me feel very lucky.

Anyway id try Whitehall, they will more than likely take you if your not registered with them and you will be seen fairly sharpish too.