In England, you're only allowed to be ill for 2 hours in the mornings and 2 in the late afternoon, Monday to Friday and not at all for 2 weeks at each of Easter and Christmas! Consultants do one clinic a week, on a good week!

In an emergency, you go to A and E and sit and wait for a minimum of 4 hours to see an overworked Junior Doctor who doesn't even speak English and get left on a trolley in a corridor for hours!

Am about to go through same scenario Helen--now have 2 painful lumps on neck. doc I saw last week is supposed to be 'consulting' and ringing me back tomorrow to say if I'm going for biopsy or not--but if I am, you can bet yer boots it won't be til January!
My 'urgent' MRI scan was ordered on April 19th--it happened on May 15th!!

But, hey, c'mon---we get all this neglect for free!!!!!
(Er, no, praps not quite free--have been, and still am, paying my 'National Health' contributions!!

Cynically, Bren x

Brenda in UK--Diagnosis 30/5/07--undifferentiated carcinoma in right jawbone and muscles. Stage 4
6/7/07--new diagnosis primary is in lung. Finished 4cycles of palliative carboplatin/gemcitabine
therapy September 07
Now dying to live!