Medicentre

Everyone has the right to NHS medical care. However, exercising this right can be tricky when you work full time, and your surgery is where you live, which is some way away from where you work. It becomes even more difficult if your surgery has no non-working hours opening, and make it extraordinarily difficult to get an appointment. Whoever came up with the Medicentre idea was therefore brilliant.


These are walk in doctor's surgeries, dealing with (mostly) minor complaints or issues (at least on a walk in basis). I used the Waterloo one because I desperately needed my right ear syringed, and my surgery wanted me to wait weeks (yes, weeks) to do so, and it would mean taking a whole day off work, due to the restrictive opening ours.


So on my way home from work, I stopped in the Medicentre. The waiting room was clean (and empty) and pleasant. The receptionist was polite and friendly (a refreshing change compared to my normal surgery), and gave me a form to fill in, which wasn't difficult (name, address, any previous complaints, credit card details). Within 5 or at most 10 minutes, I was seen by a friendly doctor, who looked in my ear, confirmed it was full of wax, and got his electric ear syringing machine out. Within minutes, it was job done. I had to sit down for a few minutes, as I was a tadge dizzy.


The whole procedure cost me around £35, but for me, it was £35 well spent. I went in nearly deaf (apart from the sound of my own voice, swallowing and chewing) and came out completely sorted.


In an ideal world, I wouldn't have needed this. But it was conveniently located, easy to use, and a real boon on that day. As I need to have the procedure done once every few years, I wouldn't hesitate to go down that route again.