Turned away as future patient

Discovery Health wanted me to appoint a GP as my primary doctor. Dr Kruger was recommended to me by a friend who has been a patient of his for years. He said both the doctor and his receptionist, Vicky, are very warm, caring people who always make you feel welcome.

Unfortunately I had a very different experience. I sent a very friendly email to the receptionist asking if the doctor is still taking new patients. In the last paragraph of my email I mentioned that I very seldom get sick, but that I am on several schedule 5 psychiatric pills at higher than normal dosages. I only mentioned it to give him some background information about my medical history.

I have been seeing my specialist psychiatrist, dr Koller, for about four years. He prescribed a long list of schedule 5 medications for me when I first went to see him. I admitted myself to a mental hospital for three weeks so that he could monitor me.

The pills did wonders and I started to feel normal again. The doctor never increased my dosage and I take the pills exactly as prescribed.

After my first email I received a reply from dr Kruger's receptionist saying that the doctor still accepts new patients and asked on which Discovery plan I am. She also asked me to send my latest chronic script to her and said appointments were to be made telephonically. I only wanted some information and was in perfect health so I assumed it was only a general comment. She never once told me that the preferred method of communication was by phone and not by email.

A simple paragraph like: "Welcome Rikus! So nice to have you as a new patient. We are quite busy, so I am not always able to reply to emails, so please give me a call and I will gladly answer any questions you have." That would have prevented me from sending more emails to gather information.

In my second email I sent my four last scripts to her, including my latest script which is still valid for four months. I did this so that dr Kruger, as my future primary doctor, would know exactly which medication I am on and at what dosages.

I received no reply so I sent another email with some relevant questions I needed answers to. I asked whether dr Kruger had a direct email address so that my psychiatrist and previous GPs could send my private medical information directly to him.

I also wanted to know if they just needed all the documents and notes in my file or whether my doctor had to write a report. One of my questions was whether a GP is allowed to write out a short script for schedule 5 psychiatric medication. The doctor might not have thought so, but one CAN have medical emergencies when it comes to psychiatric medication.

Two months ago I had an emergency situation like that. I drank the last of my Venlafaxine XR pills that morning, but I wasn't worried because I knew I still had one repeat left. I went to the pharmacy in my lunch time to quickly pick up the pills.

The pharmacy loaded the repeats incorrectly and told me I had already received my last repeat. I knew they were wrong, but they would not listen to my explanation (they later admitted that they made a mistake and that I did in fact have another repeat left). They insisted on a new script from my psychiatrist, otherwise they would not give me my pills. Getting a script from my psychiatrist can take anywhere from three days to a week.

Venlafaxine has a very short half life, which means it leaves your system very quickly. I knew that if I did not get the pills that day and drink them the next morning I would start feeling very bad and experience withdrawal-like symptoms.

I frantically phoned my psychiatrist's receptionist but could not get hold of her. I then sent emails marked "Urgent" to the receptionist and my doctor. I whatsapped the doctor on his private WhatsApp number and even tried to phone him several times on the same number. I could not get hold of either of them and did not have the number of another psychiatrist who knew my prescription and medical history.

I arrived back at work and burst out in tears. I was in such a state that they sent me home to try and sort out the situation. It was for very, very rare occasions like that, that I wanted to know if a normal GP would be able to assist as a Plan B.

The reply I eventually got from dr Kruger's receptionist did not answer my question about whether a GP can prescribe schedule 5 psychiatric medication for a very short period of time (a week or less) in an emercency.

The reply I received was rather blunt and just said I must get my scripts from my psychiatrist or go to the ER (who would not be able to help me).

I sent another email asking the same question and asked her to please answer my previous questions. I never heard from her again. I then wrote a polite email asking if they still wanted me as a new patient because she stopped replying to my emails and did not answer any of my questions. I sent the email on the Friday.

When I still received no reply by Tuesday evening I wrote a short, rather blunt email expressing my dissatisfaction and told them that they could have at least let me know that dr Kruger does not want me as a new patient.

Shortly afterwards I received a relatively professional email from dr Kruger saying that my emails give the impression that "I am very hard up for schedule 5 and 6 medication". It made me feel like he thinks I am a druggie looking for a new doctor to get my next fix. This despite the fact that I told him on numerous occasions that I ONLY need him as a GP. And only because Discovery required it.

He also told me to stop "harassing" his receptionist with my emails. As mentioned, it would not have been necessary to send numerous emails if she answered my questions the first time round.

I felt angry and humiliated by his reply because he was 100% wrong about me and my situation and neither he nor his receptionist bothered to find out the truth.

I rep**** that I am still seeing my psychiatrist, that he is still writing out all my scripts and that I still have a valid prescrption for four months, so I am not "very hard up" for pills.

I worded the situation a bit stronger in my previous review about dr Kruger, but he had it removed and managed to put a hellopeter.com block on me so that my queries about the reason for it would not go through.

Luckily I managed to get hold of a friendly lady at hellopeter.com by following a different route. She pointed out all the problematic areas and said I am welcome to post my review again once all their guidelines are met.

Dr Kruger ended his email to me saying he would advise that I find another GP. I felt very rejected.

All in all it was a very unpleasant, disappointing experience for me and I am still traumatised by it. At no point did I experience the warmth, empathy and welcoming spirit the doctor and his receptionist are known for.