I’m a thyroid cancer patient, amongst other health issues. I’ve been having endless problems with the dosage of my meds and all the side effects, it’s ruined my life. However I have to fight tooth and nail for any medical help. Every time my blood tests suggest my levels are stable, the endocrinologist immediately discharges me, regardless of my symptoms. When the symptoms become unbearable again I have to go through a whole rigmarole to get an appointment again, often waiting up to a year on the waiting list.

Now my GP surgery makes it almost impossible to get a GP appointment too. You’re supposed to request an appointment via their new app, but you need to be a tech wizard to work out how to use it. They don’t take phone calls for booking appointments any more. The only thing to do then is turn up at 8.30am when they open and get in the queue of weary desperate souls and hope there is still an appointment left by the time you reach the front of the queue. 9 times out of 10, there are none left. You just get turned away without help. If there are any appointments the receptionist can’t even book one. You get put on a triage list and a doctor will contact you later and decide whether you need an appointment.

On Friday I woke up to find a very noticeable bald patch at the front of my head. Another one appeared a few days later. My hair is literally falling out in clumps. You don’t get chemo for thyroid cancer (the treatment for this is arguably even worse) so that is not why my hair is falling out. I don’t know why it is, but it can’t be a good sign.

I had to phone the endocrinologist’s office multiple times and speak to multiple people over several days before they finally agreed to book me in for an appointment. It’s a month away but the NHS is such a shambles I feel lucky to get one so soon. I also spent days trying to get a GP appointment and after all the queueing and begging and waiting on the triage list, finally I got one. It was useless.

The doctor was some random locum (all the usual GPs have retired and they never get full time staff now, just different locums each day) who didn’t care a bit and was clearly just there for money. I asked for blood tests to determine the cause of hair loss - after all it could be something serious and better caught early. He said “We don’t know what causes hair loss and there are no blood tests for it.” Then sent me away with a steroid shampoo and nothing else.

I got home and googled it and there are blood tests for it, many as it could be caused by thyroid issues, autoimmune, adrenals, deficiencies and many other things. I wanted these tests but I knew they would never agree. So I had to employ subterfuge to get medical help. I told the receptionist that I had an endo appointment and the endo had requested these tests. So they did them. Don’t have the results yet.

It’s so exhausting having to fight for every little bit of medical help, especially when I am unwell. And it’s getting more and more difficult all the time. A recent news report said just 12% of GP appointments are now face to face - the rest of the time it’s by phone. And that’s for the things the GP will actually deal with. They no longer deal with muscular-skeletal issues, they tell you to refer yourself to the physiotherapist for that (and spend 4 months on the waiting list). They won’t see you for infections - you have to go to the pharmacy and the pharmacist will prescribe antibiotics. And many other things. It’s like they are gradually closing down healthcare altogether.