Can of worms...

I think it's fair to say that many people who are reading this won't have a clue what I am on about because, one of the things that the info said, is that my GP practice is, 'one of the first in the country to be involved.'

I think what they mean is that I - along with other patients of my doctor's surgery - am some sort of guinea pig.

The idea behind the scheme is that all medical records will be placed on a national register, and on the face of it, it does appear to be a good idea, in so much as if you are away from home, and need medical assistance, then the medical 'professionals' who treat you will have direct access to your medical records, and hopefully this will aid your treatment.

My concern is, what realistic guarantee can the NHS give, and how can they really be sure that - with the exception of what they describe as the 'care team' involved in my treatment - no Tom, Dick or Harry is going to have access to the records, share them with family and friends, tamper with them, steal my identity or sell them to the News of The World?

In addition, not a week seems to go by just lately without we hear of one lot of highly confidential records or another, going missing, being stolen, or being discovered dumped somewhere.

I should point out that my GP and his practice are in a county a few miles out of Sussex '“ over a hundred miles away to be exact - and the reason for this is that I am reluctant to change to a more local GP as it took me years to find a surgery, which not only had doctors who were approachable, understanding and took every ailment seriously, but who also had the most professional caring receptionists, who treated me with the confidentiality and respect that we are all entitled to'¦ and who did not appear to be direct descendants of Attila the Hun.

To be frank, my past experiences with previous doctor's receptionists have also sown seeds of doubt with regards to this new scheme, adding to my reluctance to place private and confidential medical records on what's basically yet another national data base.

Without wishing to cause offence - and I am sure that there are many, many doctors receptionists who do not deserve to be tarred with this particular brush '“ it has been my experience (and, may I add, the experience of lots people I have spoken to about this subject) that parrying with doctor's receptionists can sometimes make the Battle of Waterloo look like a walk in the park.

For example - usually a reasonably fit, healthy person - I know that when I am ill and when a paracetamol and throat lozenge won't work - I do not relish nor embellish illness like some people.

So, if the occasion arises and I really do need medical attention, to see or speak to a health 'professional', then that's exactly what I want, someone who is qualified to deal with the problem, to put my mind at rest, and send me on the road to recovery as fast as humanly possible.

And I'm sorry but I do not believe that a doctor's receptionist is that person.

I can clearly recall one occasion when I felt so ill that I believed I was at deaths door and knew that I had no choice but to make the necessary phone call to either see if the doctor would visit, or if not whether an ambulance could be made available to take me to the surgery, because there was no way on earth I could make it there unaided.

In addition I made myself even more ill and stressed-out because I predicted a battle with the receptionist right from the get-go; but there really was no alternative I had to make that call.

The second the phone was answered I was instantly turned from a reasonably intelligent, coherent woman into a blithering idiot '“ unable to string a sentence together as, on asking the receptionist if a doctor could visit me at home, she proceeded to bark a series of rapid fire questions at me beginning with the dreaded, "Is it an emergency?"

Well for starters I haven't passed the British Medical Board examination so it's bit a hard to tell really..I mean what qualifies as an emergency?

Do I have to be comatose before it's considered life-threatening and, if that were the case, I wouldn't be able to make the call in any event, but I am still breathing so I reply that technically I guess not, at which point you can almost hear her thinking 'shirker', and I am reminded of my Mother whenever I used to try to get a day off school as she replies, "So...what exactly seems to be the problem?"

Now, here's the thing, I tend to feel a bit indignant that a doctor's receptionist actually gets to ask this question '“ when did she pass the BMA exam and, to my mind, just exactly what's it got to do with her?

Furthermore, do doctors actually know that receptionists ask patients this question, or is it something that receptionists believe they are fully entitled to do, seeing as how they have been given the power to field doctor's calls?

Anyway, I simply pointed out that I felt extremely ill, and really would like to see a doctor.

"Are you able to come to the surgery?" She asks.

Surely if I was then I would not have made the phone call asking for a doctor to visit in the first place!

It's at this point, as the stress makes my heart rate slide up the scale, I feel the need to justify myself and proceed to list my symptoms...a roaring sore throat, a temperature of 120 - OK so this is a bit of an exaggeration but I only had a Greek terracotta wall thermometer (shaped like a tea pot) which on my way back from the bathroom I took off the wall and, climbing back into bed, put it under my arm (like I remembered a doctor doing to me once - with a proper thermometer I hasten add - when I was little).

I promptly dozed off and woke sometime later with it stuck to my back, so the reading might not have been entirely accurate - a pounding headache, and I can barely make it off the bed...

"So you are mobile then?"

"Well, not exactly mobile and I felt a bit sort of dizzy when I got up". I say, beginning to flounder now.

To which her expert medical knowledge sums up my ailments and promptly informs me of her diagnosis...

"There's a lot of 'it' going around!"

What.... tonsillitis, mumps, lockjaw, scarlet fever'¦?

Then I ask the question that makes me feel like Oliver Twist begging for more gruel as I feebly say, "I think I may have tonsillitis and might just need some antibiotics."

"Well, antibiotics don't work for tonsillitis and if it's the 'virus' that's going around, antibiotics won't work against that either." Came the terse reply.

By now I have completely lost the will to live and giving it one last ditch attempt say, "Oh and I feel a bit chesty."

"Can you get someone to drive you to the surgery? Your doctor is extremely busy today, we have another doctor on holiday, and he is only making home visits to emergency cases, so if it isn't an emergency all I can say is if you feel that unwell that you come into the surgery and I'll try and get the doctor to fit you in. Alternatively I suggest you make an appointment."

Finally admitting defeat I agree and say OK then, and ask when the first available appointment is....

Two weeks on Friday.

By which case of course it's a fair bet that I will either be a. dead or b. better.

As it turned out on that particular occasion I did drag my weary self to the surgery, where I promptly passed out in the waiting room and ended up spending two days in hospital.

You see, I already think there are 'too many chiefs and not enough Indians' in the NHS as it is and, whilst I realise that as it currently stands receptionists can easily take a quick flick through anyone's medical records - if they so choose - but won't this new scheme lift the lid on a whole big can of worms by actually making it completely acceptable for them and possibly other unqualified NHS personnel to do so? And won't this potentially be a huge invasion of privacy?

At least we all have a fair idea of who has access to our records at the moment, as they are stored at the GP's surgery.

What also baffles me about this Care Records Service is how, with the NHS being in financial crisis, has it managed to find the funds, surely the money could have been put to far better use, and ultimately will the benefits outweigh the cost?