Definition of "emergency" at Dulwich medical centre

[PSJ]

Does anyone know what the definition of am "emergency" is for an "emergency appointment" at DMC? Do they expect you to be coughing blood, or is a infection that you need antibiotics for enough?

[muffins78]

Its if you need antibiotics! The doctor told me when I didn't ask for an emergency appt over something else wrong with me, and he told me that if it is anything that requires antibiotics or more as an example.

[melisabeth]

Hi

I saw a very interesting documentary about airplane crashes some time ago and your post simply brought it to surface.

Some years ago, a non-native pilot needed to make an immediate landing in an airport because oil leakage from his airplane. After requesting for landing authorisation several times while flying in circles for a couple of hours over a very busy airport in the USA the plane did crash and no one survived this terrible accident.

Surprisingly, the black box revealed that the cause of the accident was miscommunication between the pilot and the airport control tower and not the oil leakage from the plane per se. There was enough time for the pilot to land the plane safely.

It seems that the pilot used the word ?urgency? rather than ?emergency? when making his numerous requests and so, was made to wait for some hours.

I got a bit puzzled about what was the main difference between the two words at the time (I, as the deceased pilot, speak English as a second language and very similar false-friend words exist in our languages)

Since then I learnt that in the UK:

?Emergency = IMMEDIATE threat to the well-being

?Urgency = the threat to the well-being IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Perhaps the best option available here is to enquire the DMC about what they understand by ?an emergency appointment? and to exemplify with concrete examples. Otherwise, I am afraid to say that different people, different centres will have a different definition.

I did the same in a different medical centre on the past and a very helpful receptionist gave me useful written materials and some pictures on what exactly the centre classed as an emergency appointment. I hope this helps?.

Regards,

Melisabeth

[ska valley]

Dulwich Medical Centre appear to be an oversubscribed surgery. Given the near impossible task of getting through to them on the phone and the sobering experience of having to explain one's symptoms to the receptionist (hardly a medical person)in the unlikely event of finally getting through, the answer, invariably, is: Sorry, fully booked - try again tomorrow. If they were a school, the pupils would be able to attend class once a fortnight. This is simply unacceptable.

They have clearly stuffed their books with more patients than they can cope with in order to benefit from the patient premium. This smacks of greed and runs counter to all tenets of patient care. My family and I are so sickened by this that we will be looking elsewhere. It would be great if more people boycotted this type of surgeries so that such shameful practices become less prevalent

[nic32]

hat was the emergency?