Walk around Woodford

I had to go to our doctors’ surgery this afternoon to chase a prescription for Smithers’ eye drops. His hospital consultant prescribed six drops a day for six months back in October, but despite having a copy of that letter, the surgery won’t add them to his regular medicines because his condition is classed as acute and not chronic. This then requires me to put in a request every time via the eConsult online system, navigating through a whole raft of questions, and confirming that I know we have to go to A & E for urgent matters, and declining to send a photograph of any part of Smithers’ body which is a cause for concern, because all I want is a medication which he has been prescribed and which we are expected to be faithfully administering. It takes about a week to get the prescription in this manner after the various hurdles have been jumped and the request has been passed on to someone else in the surgery for authorisation (but never to his doctor!).

The eye drops bottles are tiny (5ml) and it’s impossible to see how much is left because the label covers the entire bottle, so I find it stressful in case we run out, despite me attempting to get more in what should be plenty of time.

Today the receptionist, who was trying very hard to be helpful, said the prescription had been sent to the chemist last Thursday (although we didn’t get a notification from either the doctor or the pharmacy) but when I asked if, as requested, the item is now on Smithers’ list of medications, she said no. She will ask the surgery’s dispensing pharmacist to ring us on Friday – four more days to wait. It’s the second time I’ve gone through these hoops because nothing came of it the first time. I confess I left the surgery fighting back the tears. I’m doing my best to ensure that Smithers gets all the care he needs, but feel as though I’m pushing a rock up a hill when dealing with ‘the system’. Fortunately the eye drops were ready when I got to the chemist, so we’re OK for another four weeks (having got two bottles as requested) and then the procedure will start all over again.

I had taken my camera with me on my quest to get the eye drops because I wanted to enjoy a few minutes’ escapism while I was out, looking for a blip for today. So, starting at top left and working clockwise, these are the first tête à têtes to come up in our front lawn, which I’m thrilled about, followed by the (rather strangely situated) sign for Woodford Green which was erected by the Woodford Green Amenity Group (which in my head is called "Friends of Woodford Green" because I much prefer that name!), followed by a mysterious-looking passage, complete with ornamental arch, between the last one of a terrace of Victorian houses and a piece of waste ground and, finally, a sign on a gate at a block of flats which caught my eye and rather amused me. I’m not sure how else you close a gate if it isn’t manually. Possibly by kicking it?