NHS crisis hits KCL as students told to wait THREE MONTHS for appointment at King’s Health Centre

Their website claims that “every patient deserves their personal best”.

But jaded students are naming and shaming KCL Health Centre for the “appalling” care they’ve received in the past few months.

In November, some poorly students claimed they were told the waiting time for an appointment was a colossal three months, meaning anyone with a sudden illness would have to wait until JANUARY before getting seen.

Unbelievably, even those with an appointment can still be left waiting for up to an hour before being seen by the doctor or nurse.

Think I’ll be here a while

When faced with these damning claims, a representative for the Health Centre told The Tab: “This is a national issue, something that has been attributed to widespread NHS cuts.”

“Despite NHS funding cuts we have increased GP sessions by recruiting two new regular GPs and adding two sessions a week starting this term as well as having already increased the sessions by one last term.”

But it’s not only the ridiculous waiting times that bothers students. When students finally make it into the surgery, some students report receiving outrageously poor care.

Another student, who didn’t want to be named, told us her traumatic experience of an incorrect diagnosis.

She said: “I have had these weird ‘stabbing-like’ pains in my chest for several years and I went to King’s Health Centre to see if they could diagnose it.

“I was assured these were just normal occurrences and are quite common and that just relaxing more would ease off the pain.

“I was given no information about what was causing it nor any substantial advice.

“It took me going to A&E one night for doctors to actually start thinking about treatments and what the underlying cause was.

“It was also ridiculous that the next appointments were a month away, which by then my illness had gotten worse and there was little I could do to help it.”

At least they do nice displays

Meanwhile, second year politics student Sara Kamouni shared her feelings that the GPs simply “can’t be bothered”.

She explained: ‘’I went to the doctor with shoulder pain from an old injury from the gym.

“The nurse said he’d refer me for physio or at least give me some painkillers. But the doctor just told me I didn’t go to the gym enough and I needed to lift some weights to ‘stretch it out’.

“He didn’t even look up from his computer when I said goodbye.”

“I ended up going to a private physio who told me that if I’d taken the doctor’s advice I could’ve done permanent damage.

“The whole experience totally destroyed my trust in the health centre. I know the NHS is under a lot of strain but my experience was unacceptable. “

And it’s not just the doctors – students are also being failed by the centre’s chaotic administration, which has left some students without any GP at all.

We spoke to second year midwifery student Pav Samrai, who was shocked when she was told that she could not stayed registered at the Health Centre after moving out from halls, despite still living in the catchment area.

She said: “I think it’s appalling. I live with four other people, and I have been the only one that has been told, multiple times, that I can no longer be registered there due to my address – even though we all obviously have the same address!”

In response to Pavan’s problem, the Health Centre’s representative responded: “Students living within the same household should all come under the same rules so we can only apologise if this did not happen.”

“GPs can, at their discretion, register patients living outside of their catchment areas without the obligation to visit when visits are needed.”

Upon hearing of students’ problems, Jamie Sweeney, the KCLSU Vice-President for Welfare and Community said: “It is concerning that some students feel that the Health Centre is failing them. I will take forward these concerns to the Health Centre Manager and the Director of Student Services for King’s, who oversee the service, to see how students can better access the standard of healthcare they require.”

Have you been let down by the KCL Health Centre? If you want your story heard, e-mail [email protected]