ShropDoc

I have a chest infection - I started coughing on Thursday, but I thought if I just took it easy over Friday and Saturday I'd be fine for work on Sunday.
I wasn't getting any better - in fact, I was getting worse, and by Sunday I also had pain in every joint in my body.
I knew I needed medical assistance, but I wasn't sure what to do - it's several years since I've been into Hay Surgery, and I couldn't find their phone number (and they'd be closed on Sunday anyway). I tried NHS 111, and found it was only for England - and then my neighbour brought me the number for ShropDoc.
The first young lady I spoke to took my details, and said someone else would phone back within the hour - and please to keep the line clear. "I'm not going to be chatting to all my friends," I said, somewhat tartly. I tend to get querulous when I feel ill, and it had taken me all my time to crawl downstairs to the phone.
Within the hour, I spoke to a Sister, who took more details, and said I really ought to be seen. Could I get to Brecon? Since I could hardly totter around the house, the answer was no - and I couldn't face the thought of ringing round people I knew with a car to take me. It just seemed like a monumental task which was completely beyond me. By this time I was nearly crying and saying I just wanted the pain to go away. So she said she would send someone to see me.
I crawled back to bed.
A little while later, a lovely lady came and examined me, and to my alarm said that she'd really prefer it if I went into hospital. She wanted to put me on a drip. At least I knew I hadn't called them out for something trivial, but I said I'd really rather not, so she left me with a stack of painkillers and some antibiotics for the chest. And, bless her, she even made me a pot of tea. "I couldn't find a teapot," she said, as she came upstairs with teabags floating in my cafetiere. So she said I should go into Hay Surgery on Monday, and left me to it.

I asked my neighbour to run me down to the surgery, and then I was very surprised to get a phone call from one of the doctors on Monday morning, to find out how I was (better than I had been) and to say that I was already on the list of appointments, as the paperwork from ShropDoc had just come through. I was very impressed.
So I spent a while in the waiting room of the surgery. They have a screen on the wall now where patients who knew what they were doing could check in and see the time of their appointment, and they have a box on the wall which people were using to post forms for repeat prescriptions - and there was a steady stream of people coming in to collect prescriptions from the receptionists (who were all lovely and helpful).
Also, Radio Two is very soothing.
So I was seen, and examined again, and told to keep taking the tablets I'd got.
And now I intend to spend the rest of the week in bed!

I was very impressed with how smoothly it all came together - and I'm very grateful for the NHS!