I am sick of how difficult it is becoming to access medical treatment in the UK. I’ve spoken on here before about how, as a result of my cancer treatment, I have developed foot problems, open ulcers and infections. I’ve had one minor surgery to clear some of the infection as it hasn’t responded to other treatment, and I have another appointment for a further surgery on 23rd Jan. Over the past couple of days, it’s gotten worse. Today I woke up to find three of my toes on one foot are now extremely red, swollen up and I can hardly move that part of my foot. It feels tingly too. I’m actually scared. It’s Saturday so neither the podiatrist clinic, who have been dealing with this, nor the GP, are open. In fact it’s impossible to see the GP anyway, no matter what is wrong now you can’t get an appointment, they’d just tell me to wait for a podiatrist appointment. I know when I phone the podiatrist when they open on Monday I’ll probably have to wait ages for an emergency appointment. The only other option is going to the emergency department, but I doubt they would take this seriously either. I have enough experience to know what they’re like, I’ll sit there all day waiting to be seen, and then they’ll just refer me back to the podiatrist.

I am so exhausted by how difficult accessing medical treatment is. Nothing is taken seriously. It took them 3.5 years to diagnose my cancer because they refused to do any tests because they thought I was just being a hypochaondriac. When I was having a stroke they left me in the emergency department, waiting to be seen, for hours. I am so tired of all this.