"Unwilling to help"

Over the space of a week I was experiencing swelling in my mouth and tongue. This was particularly distressing as it came out of nowhere and caused me to have trouble breathing on multiple occasions. Within that week I presented to the Emergency Department four times - one of those times including an admission and overnight stay due to the severity.

I had attempted to make an appointment with my GP to get a referral, however the next appointment available was not for over a week. Given the severity of my condition over the past week, that seemed too long to wait.

As such, with the most recent flare up of the condition, I returned to the ED. In the most recent visit, I presented with a large amount of discomfort and although there was not breathing issues this particular time, I was really concerned as it was not going away.

I feel that the doctor that saw me was rude and unsympathetic to my condition. I requested a referral to a specialist, as I had needed to go to the ED multiple times over the last week and wanted to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. The doctor told me that they would not give me a referral, and that I'd be right and could wait until next week. Never before have I had such a bad experience with a doctor. The staff here are usually great, however this doctor seemed to show no concern for my condition.

I requested to see another doctor, however there were none available straight away, and as my condition was not considered life-threatening, I needed to wait for another doctor to come in.

I understand that they did not consider my condition life-threatening and that I would therefore need to wait to see the next available doctor - however I expected that the fact that I had presented to the ED with the same issue multiple times and had actually needed to be admitted one of those times due to the severity, that they would actively try to help resolve my condition.