If you're not feeling well, then getting to the surgery at some unholy hour isn't very easy. Like you Miro, I am hypothyroid and it seems to affect my sleep. I often do not sleep at well night but eventually sleep heavily in the early hours making it very difficult to not only get up before 9am but to 'come to' for at least an hour in the mornings. It would be a real struggle to get anywhere at that timeMiro wrote: I was dismayed to find that the earliest online appointment available was three weeks hence. But they had told me when registering that it's possible to see a doctor the same day if you come in the morning, so I went along at 9:00, only to discover that they open at 8:00 and all yesterday's appointments had already been taken. Wiser, I got there at 7:50 this morning, and got an appointment for 10:30
Similar to other people's experience, I was in hospital near Manchester in the early 1990s and a lady with MS had had an op and couldn't fend for herself. She was left a drink with a straw in front of her for hours but it was never replenished. She used to have a newspaper open in front of her but she was stuck on the same page, so once I was unhooked from my drip I used to go across to turn the pages and talk to her along with some of the other mobile patients on the ward. I can't remember who helped her eat her meal. It was quite a big ward but there only seemed to be one or two nurses available. I dread to think what it is like now with all the cutbacks and staff shortages you hear about.