In the world we live in today, It's just too easy to complain.
Nothing's perfect; everything breaks, and nobody does what they're supposed to do.
The media reinforces this at every possible step: the failing NHS, the failing education system, the roads, the airports, all of that stuff.
I get it, I see it, I experience it every day.
But amongst this, we are loaded with extraordinary people.
No, sorry, let me correct myself… ordinary people doing extraordinary things on a daily.
These are the people that are the heroes, not the influencers with 2 million followers and this or that, being sent all the free stuff, not the footballers spending a little bit of their money on charity, not the rockstars; just the people that make up what we like to know, or used to like to know, as society.
And so, please let me give you an example.
The GP system in the United Kingdom is wrecked, isn't it?
No one can get an appointment, no one can speak to a human, you can't get in, it's awful, it's terrible, I understand that people find this really difficult.
But I have an extraordinary GP practice in Nottingham.
A while ago, we decided to change practice because we found it very difficult for various reasons at the practice we were at, but we were able to change to this practice which was recommended to us, which is extraordinary, and it wasn't difficult to change, and they weren't stopping us getting in, and so we changed to that practice.
But it didn't matter to me because I didn't need to see the GP, and so I never needed to go, except then I did when my thyroid stopped working.
And so, on this 2-year journey of hypothyroidism and other associated bits and bobs, I ended up seeing a private endocrinologist that I've written about here many times.
If you're looking for an endocrinologist in the Nottingham or East Midlands area for menopause, diabetes, thyroid, or anything else, contact Dr Maksoud.
And so, he looks after me now privately.
I get my blood test sent through the post, I get it taken at the practice, it goes back to him, and I see him for 1 hour every 3-6 months, whatever is necessary. He's brilliant, he writes to my GP practice.
I had cause to change my medication at my most recent appointment, and for some loophole of the law, because I'm hypothyroid, my prescriptions are free, so he wrote to my GP practice and said he's paid for the first month of this prescription, but please will you try to get it on prescription for him on the NHS.
Then I had two missed calls from my GP practice a couple of weeks later, wondering what that was and expecting it to be some rant about me being seen privately and them not having blood tests or them refusing to prescribe me medication, which I should be paying privately for but of course it wasn't that, that was me thinking about what the media tells me.
It was, in fact, the most extraordinary, brilliant and empathic practice pharmacist who wanted to have a chat with me about the new medication.
He wanted to see if I was OK, to see if it was making any difference to my symptoms, to see if my bloods were being done or if we needed help with that, and to add it to my NHS prescription on the app so that I didn't have to come into the practice.
This is happening every single day, everywhere: in teaching, in healthcare, in social care, and all over the place.
Shall we celebrate this a little bit more and whinge a little bit less?
Maybe we're responsible for the atmosphere; maybe we're the ones that can change what it looks like.
Blog Post Number - 3998
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