![\"Richard](\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/site\/blog\/icons\/bmjh7648e.jpg\")
\nI’m about to spend two weeks in Nigeria and need antimalarial tablets, but it seems that the NHS cannot help me. If I come back with malaria, no doubt it will help me – with two weeks in intensive care and a post mortem if necessary.<\/p>\n
\nI’m about to spend two weeks in Nigeria and need antimalarial tablets, but it seems that the NHS cannot help me. If I come back with malaria, no doubt it will help me – with two weeks in intensive care and a post mortem if necessary.<\/p>\n
It’s Monday morning, and I’m going on Saturday. I should have thought of it sooner, but I’m “only human.”<\/p>\n
I start by ringing my GP. The receptionist tells me that I needed to have come six weeks in advance. Can I just see a GP? She says that’s not possible: I have to go the travel clinic, which happens once a week and isn’t happening this week anyway because the nurse is on holiday.<\/p>\n
She tells me to go to another local clinic, which she describes as “walk in,” or a true walk-in clinic.<\/p>\n
I decide to ring first. I Google the local clinic, ring the number, and discover to my surprise that I’m talking to a university department. The person on the other end says “this happens all the time,” and we discuss how it is happening.<\/p>\n
After Googling again, I ring another number. The (small) centre actually has three practices, none of which seems to know a thing about the others. The first clinic tells me that they don’t have a clinic but one of the others might. They don’t.<\/p>\n
I then guess that the receptionist at my practice confused two local clinics with similar names. I ring the other clinic, a more modern one, where they have nine choices of numbers to press once I get through. None is a travel clinic, so I try making an appointment. They don’t have a travel clinic and can’t help me.<\/p>\n
Next I try the true walk-in clinic, which takes a long time to answer the phone. No, they don’t prescribe antimalarials.<\/p>\n
At this point I give up and ask a GP friend to prescribe me antimalarials. Not everybody has this option.<\/p>\n
Richard Smith<\/strong> was the editor of the <\/i>BMJ until 2004 and is director of the United Health Group’s chronic disease initiative. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m about to spend two weeks in Nigeria and need antimalarial tablets, but it seems that the NHS cannot help me. If I come back with malaria, no doubt it will help me – with two weeks in intensive care and a post mortem if necessary. It’s Monday morning, and I’m going on Saturday. I […]<\/p>\n