"Blood clot appointment"

I had an appointment at 8.30am and I missed it. Without going into too many excuses, I have two young kids, and I have been on blood thinning injections for the past 6 weeks for a blood clot in my leg. This appointment was to follow up and to see whether I had to keep going on the injections or stop. I am also going away tomorrow, so I needed to come to ED as I was worried.

I went to the pharmacy and spoke to the pharmacist because the clot has decreased in size, and I wanted to check with them to see if I could stop my injections. They said no, you need to see a doctor and go to triage. So I went to triage, spoke to reception, and sat down. The nurse in triage was lovely.

The nurse put me through, did my observations and that was all fine. I sat down and did not have to wait very long. A doctor came out and called my name. They did not take me into a private room. There were a couple of other things I wanted to talk to them about privately, one of them being that I needed to know if I could up the dose of my antidepressant and wanted to check with them if I could do that.

The doctor pulled me aside, and we stood right in the corridor, they didn't even take me into a triage room or a private area. The doctor asked how long I had been on injections for. I said 6 weeks. They said okay, well you can stop them. I felt really dismissed. I feel the doctor could have taken me into a triage room and closed the door.

The doctor then said this is an ED department and if you need to speak to a doctor, make another appointment. I said I get that and that I was sorry I missed my appointment, but if I can stop taking these injections I would like to stop them today if I can.

The doctor did not check if the clot had disappeared. The ultrasound showed it was 6cm big at 6 weeks ago. They did not sit me down or check to see if it was still there. I felt like the doctor was just saying, oh you have been on injections for 6 weeks so you can stop them now, and I felt that they had not checked so how would they know.

When I had the ultrasound and the injections were prescribed, I was told to book an appointment the week before Christmas, which is now, to determine if it was still there or had disappeared. The doctor did not seem to know this. The appointment I missed this morning was for that reason, so they could feel around to see if it was still there, and if it was still there they would get another ultrasound.

I felt dismissed. I was not taken in for an ultrasound.

I asked for a prescription. I figured I was here so I might as well ask. We have always gone to ED if there are no appointments available, and there were no appointments available the week before Christmas. Before I could even say what medication I was on, the doctor said no, we are in ED and you need to book an appointment if you want that script.

I felt dismissed and like the doctor overpowered me. They were not helpful. I burst into tears and went to the reception desk and could not even get the words out. I was trying to explain and ask for another appointment to speak to a doctor about other things I need. I have never had that experience at Exmouth Hospital before.