Hereford Medical Group
A
Anonymouse one month ago
Poor
With two exceptions, I have found people working for HMG to be helpful and generally wanting to deliver quality healthcare. However I am a diabetic and since HMG was formed I am lucky if I get to see a doctor, and I am also lucky if I see any sort of medical practitioner more than once. Each new person is a stranger with no in-depth knowledge of me or my medical history. At a guess each new person has at most 5 minutes to get their head around my 50+ years of medical history before the appointment. They frequently suggest treatments that were tried years previously and discarded. In contrast, before moving to Hereford, I was with a small practice and lucky to have the same doctor and diabetic nurse each for over 15 years. We knew each other as people and my diabetic medical care was very holistic - centred around my needs, integrated with my other medical conditions and tailored to what worked for me. Anything that impacted on my diabetes could be discussed and they were like an expert partner at my side. My diabetes healthcare now however is data driven, managed by increasingly more pills and advice given seems to assume no linkage with or ignore any other medical condition I have or anything else going on with my life. It was brought to a head at my last diabetic review when the data they had was trusted more than my 30+ years experience as a diabetic and ended with a very bullying lecture from one of the two people I mention above on how I was doing everything wrong - where I was injecting myself, when I was injecting myself, how much I was injecting myself. Doubt was also cast on my ability to recognise a hypo, my reliance on readings of a finger prick based glucose monitor rather than the LibraLink that was supplying them with data and my general ability to manage my condition. It all felt very patronising and I left the appointment feeling there was no care, no empathy, no support for my wellbeing.
Robin C.